Programming & Motivation

[Sentencings]

Hey,
Before I start with what I want to say/ask I'd like to give some background information. I have been attempting to get into programming for the past 2 years, I always ended up quitting after a week, two, or three if I was lucky enough. Throughout these past couple of months I have somehow been able to program for about 4-5 months, however, I always end up losing my motivation when something goes wrong or when I see other developers being able to do things I can't even imagine of doing. I have stopped programming for 1-2 months some times, however, then I get an idea and jump back into it, and yet again... I get demotivated from programming due to having dreams of being able to program things which are out of my capacity at the moment. Sometimes when talking to developers they keep on telling me start learning java books or that's so easy just figure it out, and maybe it might feel that easy due to how long they have been programming for, however, for me it really isn't and it makes me frustrated having to spend hours upon hours trying to figure out how to do something, and no I'm not "whining" or "complaining" about how hard it is to get into the programming field, I'm glad it's that hard as if not it wouldn't be one of the highest paying jobs in some places. I was wondering what some of you who have been coding for long periods of time have done in order to keep being motivated if you ever ended up quitting for weeks(or months in some cases).

 

[Alex32]

Having goals keep me motivated. Staying up all night to accomplish something even bigger and going to sleep with the satisfaction I got work done motivates me. Yes books are good but if you don't even know what you want to do with Java. Learning it is a waste. That's a mistake many people make. Before you can choose a language. Figure out what you want to do. I wanted to build web applications and create software I could run on the computer and play around with it's hardware so I picked JavaScript/Golang/C++ as my main languages. Took a lot of time and me even having times where I'll be at work on my break reading code and documentation but all of that was worth it since like you said. If it wasn't hard. A lot more people would do it which is why I like it being hard. It's all about having a goal. Like my goal is to build a startup I'm working. Not one of them MCM startups but an open source application I will add to my resume which in return would allow me to work in an environment with people just like myself which is my motivation everyday.

 

[Sentencings]

Having goals keep me motivated. Staying up all night to accomplish something even bigger and going to sleep with the satisfaction I got work done motivates me. Yes books are good but if you don't even know what you want to do with Java. Learning it is a waste. That's a mistake many people make. Before you can choose a language. Figure out what you want to do. I wanted to build web applications and create software I could run on the computer and play around with it's hardware so I picked JavaScript/Golang/C++ as my main languages. Took a lot of time and me even having times where I'll be at work on my break reading code and documentation but all of that was worth it since like you said. If it wasn't hard. A lot more people would do it which is why I like it being hard. It's all about having a goal. Like my goal is to build a startup I'm working. Not one of them MCM startups but an open source application I will add to my resume which in return would allow me to work in an environment with people just like myself which is my motivation everyday.

Hey there, thank you for taking the time to read my post and giving me a response which kind of boosted my motivation. Some people have told me that it might not be my passion or something along those lines, however, I do feel as if it is, just I haven't gotten to the point where I'm truly able to do whatever I want with the knowledge I have gained.

 

[HatefulMoron]

I was wondering what some of you who have been coding for long periods of time have done in order to keep being motivated if you ever ended up quitting for weeks(or months in some cases).

Speaking to the latter specifically, I've taken many breaks from programming for a few weeks at a time. Stepping back from what I've been doing for the last few months is what allows me to gain some perspective.

As for the former, research and a wide breadth of knowledge is a sign of a healthy mind. With that in mind, I'd disagree with what Alex32 wrote specifically on choosing 'main languages.' I've written C++ since C++11 was called C++0x, getting too hung up on specialising on a specific set of languages pushes you to mindlessly adopt the warts that comes with them. These days I'm writing a lot of Rust and Clojure, the latter of which is the first dynamically typed language I've ever enjoyed writing.

In conclusion, I would implore you to step back from your work regularly to evaluate your goals. Tunnel-visioning into a particular project or problem feels productive, but smashing your head against a wall is often only effective in producing a concussion. Take the scenic route through different programming languages, paradigms and tools, if nothing else you'll come back with knowledge of what works and what doesn't.

 

[Sentencings]

Speaking to the latter specifically, I've taken many breaks from programming for a few weeks at a time. Stepping back from what I've been doing for the last few months is what allows me to gain some perspective.

As for the former, research and a wide breadth of knowledge is a sign of a healthy mind. With that in mind, I'd disagree with what Alex32 wrote specifically on choosing 'main languages.' I've written C++ since C++11 was called C++0x, getting too hung up on specialising on a specific set of languages pushes you to mindlessly adopt the warts that comes with them. These days I'm writing a lot of Rust and Clojure, the latter of which is the first dynamically typed language I've ever enjoyed writing.

In conclusion, I would implore you to step back from your work regularly to evaluate your goals. Tunnel-visioning into a particular project or problem feels productive, but smashing your head against a wall is often only effective in producing a concussion. Take the scenic route through different programming languages, paradigms and tools, if nothing else you'll come back with knowledge of what works and what doesn't.

Alrighty, well thanks, I also agree that you shouldn't simply choose one language.