What are some of the things you're currently struggling with or did struggle with as a self taught programmer?

When I asked my uncle how to become a programmer: Outside of working hours, you must always learn and keep up with coding updates. During working hours, usually 1 hour for discussion, 2 hours for googling, 3 hours crying in despair, 2 hours writing code.

It’s not a race to be a Dev , it’s a marathon . Just stay consistent

Thanks a lot for this! Great advice, short and to the point!

Cant believe i am taking advice from jonny sins

🤯 WOW, Dorian, it feels like you were speaking directly to me in this one. I am there, all the boxes you mentioned, I'm checking ALL of 'em. I'm currently in deep dive into JS, so I can pass bootcamp assessment. I really appreciate you, and your content, thankyou!👊🏾

I want to be a web dev and my entire family is absolutely encouraging and giving me all of the support I need. My boyfriend even allowed me to take a step back from my dead end job and go all in with becoming a developer for the next few months. I just struggle with the discipline and not having any guidance and it definitely worries me.

Fab words! Thank you for keep guiding us!

The biggest key is learning a language. Any language. Once you master a language, learning another one becomes easy. It took me over a year to master JavaScript. But it only took 2 months to learn Python.

When learning something new, it will get hard at times, sometimes very hard, and that's when you will learn the most. The reason it's hard is because it means that you don't understand something. Don't give up, or shy away, because that process of working through the difficult challenges is where you learn the most. The less you know about something the more you learn when you dive into it. Learning is a process and it takes time.

This video came at the right time, thank you!

Thanks for the video Dorian

takes a lot of discipline to do so, i know for me im not that disciplined so i went into a bootcamp. Im glad i picked that option

Fail to plan or plan to fail, this is so true and something I've been learning these past couple of years. I now have a clear plan/path ahead, I know what I want to learn to land a job and what I want to learn in order to build my own projects. The goal is to be 100% independent and self dependent. I am so done being expendable to an employer. I love being creative, and coding feels like the ultimate canvas/playground. I really do believe you can create anything you can imagine with the tools available today, just have to know how to use those tools...

Thanks for the video!

listening to you every time before I start learning about code really helps me become motivated and grounded

I felt like I struggled learning for so long, trying JS/React, Python, SQL, C#, jumping from one to another as soon as I had hard issues. I finally realized weeks ago that I was struggling because I WAS AFRAID TO STRUGGLE. Once I acknowledged that and truly settled on my path, I swore to myself I would master FullStack Web3 development (already had familiarity with blockchain from crypto). Now I’m a month into learning Web3 development, I understand programming better than I ever have and I’m loving every moment of discovery, pain and growth that comes along with it because I’m passionate about the technologies I’m using and I know where I want my future to be. Attending my first meetup on the 14th with another scheduled for the 28th.

Thank you for the motivation

Thank you for the pep talk 😉

One and only the person who reveals the truth. Thanks a lot for your advice.. I am 32 years old learning programming to become a full stack developer.

Thanks sir for this Great advice

I've been on this journey for about five months now and have been getting a lot of feedback from my Software Engineering friends. A lot of the feedback I get reassures me that I'm on the right path, however, some of them still recommend taking a BootCamp to even get considered over someone who has a CS degree.

Thanks for the advice Agent 47.

Hey Dorian, I know you always speak of networking by meeting developers, going to conventions, etc can you make a video on how you can find out about such events and also platforms to meet developers. Thanks in advance.

I have a CS degree with 10 years of experience as a systems engineer. Earlier this year I was working on a project and I got stuck on two problems and it took 1 week to figure out each one. Reaching out for help and collaborating with others helped a lot. But my work with Ansible will pay for itself because the automation it provides will save us weeks of labor.

You got 140k subscriber I am very happy for u best of luck for 500k

Agree 100%, I would add that not perfect plan/road map is better the no plan

I needed this.

The main reason why i started by taking lesson about logics of programming, was to have a plan to start and then decide what i liked the most and what route should i take. On that course we learn a Brazilian/Portuguese code language called Portugol, inspired in Algol and Pascal. Then they take you to C, C++, Java and Phyton. Solving problems. From there i now understand some parts of codes that i've never seen before. I find easier for me if done with some education to start, at least. Head up to people that can do it on they're own.

Trusting the process, and not believing that you are an outlier/not good enough for it to work on you is FANTASTIC advice for life in general.

just scrolled past a chris sean video he posted two days ago about tutorial hell, & he totally yoinked your thumbnail style broh! >:0

That is true for almost everything. There are always many people starting out and only a few who push through. Even for easier things like playing through a game it is like that. You can look at achievement statistics of steam and see how many people start and never finish. It doesn't even mean that people aren't able to do it, they probably just figure out it's not for them or they find something that's better for them. But if you truly want to do something, you just have to stick to it.

Nicely said. For me, the first thing is that you need is to have a passion for finding solutions in software coding. And remember, every road block, once you find the solution, will make you a better coder. Learnt Fortran II and IV in 1966-67.. And my referred is Perl.. Still love it!

Currently in a freemote Boot Camp. I prepared by going into this with the right mindset. For me I have to learn at a gradual pace. I study every day for 2 hours in the morning but during that 2 hours I am only focusing on a little bit of content at a time to help me “retain it”. The hardest thing for me is patience. Progress is progress and it is better than no progress. BTW your channel is awesome and has helped me out a lot.

I like how you caption your video. At first sight I feel it's going to discourage me but I still go ahead and watch and afterwards I rather find something worthwhile.

😍 I self-taught Microsoft Quickbasic back in the days and it was nice. That Programming Language has the best Documentation I ever seen even for todays standards. where you have to see videos, buy books or take courses in order to learn.

Just what I needed today

Dorian. With all the news going around about the tech layoffs, could you do a video on your thoughts regarding the tech layoffs? How do you think it affects the self-taught programmers?

I haven't fully decided what to do. Despite doing a bootcamp(which wasn't all that) . But probably do front end. I was told backend is way easier. I don't mind getting into pen testing. Everything jus jumble mumble. Go where the demand is.

Best advice ever -- learn how to solve difficult problems. These days it feels anyone can write code, but not many can problem solve efficiently and effectively.

The problems I have faced while trying to become a programmer is really the first one. If you search about programming now and what does what, it is very hard to get an actual answer of what language or type of programming there is because the web is filled with shoving down your through that "programming makes lots of money, money money, ohhhh programmers live the dream life!" and it is really demotivating seeing that stuff because you know the communities usually only care about making easy money at that point. Almost all the discord communities I have joined for courses or in general are usually people asking how fast they can get a job or make money and how can they make 200k in a month, if this is that video. You know at that point if you ask for guidance, or help (actual help), that you will most likely not get an answer and this makes it hard. Makes it seem like bootcamps is the only way (for me at least, since I cannot do colleges). I too want to code for work because I enjoy the challenges of coding but it is very difficult to find the real paths of interviews or what roadmap to even try for since all the posts are about how easy it is to become a coder and make bank, but all the job posts require masters or BA degrees with 10 years experience, etc. Still havent found what direction to actually go. I figure just learn multiple languages and hope for the best at this point. Because it is hard to find a roadmap, this is also true for trying to find projects that you are interested in. I dont know what the programs can or cannot do or when to use X modules, etc so it is hard to come up with a project that is actually achievable or not and if it is too advanced or not. I took a course on Python. I can write python and make it do stuff but I still have no idea how to use it for something. lol The last part of meeting other people in person is difficult. For some reason, in AZ, we dont have many groups or coding meetups, etc. Instead, it is all discord etc. I have tried going to the few coding meetups I have found on facebook, etc out here but most of the time it is soldering courses and a tiny bit of an interactive code site. Not exactly typing the code but click and dragging it (Forgot the name). I have worked in IT for 15 years and sadly, all the programmers I have met have been for web design and "meeting" them was over an email to let them know an issue with the websites. Never met in person so I have no idea who they were and I dont have their contact anymore. It feels like a whole 'nother world in IT that I am trying to get into.

I am computer engineer with university diploma and working for big French IT company as a SW developer/integrator/tester and I am in the IT for more than 20 years till now. For me, it looks easy, but when I think what you need to know to do this job, it takes a lot of time because everything is changig very fast. The only good thing is that basic principles based on applied mathematics are not changing. Now, everything is up t the person. Try to read some of IT books for dummies in 2-3 days and if you can understand quickkly basic principles in a way to apply them then you are the man for a job, but if you are struggling with every concept, basic example, you can't understand basic mathematical apstract principles DON'T DO IT, because you will not have enough time to learn what you need!!! There are a lot of PREREQUISITES just to come in a position to START learning coding. You have to be familliar with at least 2 Operating systems (MS Windows and UNIX/Linux) because most of the jobs are in applications for these platforms. You need to read at least 2 books per OS to get deeply involved with these Operating Systems. The first book let be some book for 'dummies' and the second one intermediate know-how book. Regarding coding, you will have to read 7-12 books regarding targeted programming language(C++, C#, JAVA, Python), COMPUTER NETWORKS, COMPUTER ALGORITHMS, Open Source Web servers(e.g. Apache TOMCAT) and Theory behind Databases and its declarative DB Language SQL. Those technologies are MUST HAVE for every IT developer and it takes years to learn it day by day for many years. For all young people UNIVERSITY (course COMPUTER SCIENCE) is THE BEST CHOICE because university will give you the BEST GROUND LEVEL KNOWLEDGE you can get. There are many Math courses, Physics courses, Applied science courses and one important thing, YOU WILL MEET MANY SMART PEOPLE THAT ARE SMARTER THAN YOU and you can learn just talking to them. Later in life you will meet many of these people and they can help you because they know you.

I tried to become a self taught developer.... burnt out hard after 9 months and am going back to my old field. I still try to do algos and build apps as I enjoy it but everything is so hopelessly demanding in today's job market. Personally I'll do it part time while I try to recoop my finances.

I will always be an immature kid at heart. I like making buttons connected to fart sounds and animal sounds, styling something with CSS and then animate it to fly apart on hover, and lots of other stuff. While I do have dedicated study times, it’s all about having fun for me! No fun, no go!

After over 10 years as a dev, i can agree with this. while it's hard to code, it's not much harder, i think anyway, to self learn than it would be to go to uni. in fact (at least for me), it was easier to self learn than go to uni. as soon as you get hired, you learn SO much on the job, it's pricelsss

I am #1 self taught programmers. Started in 2014, made some mistakes along the way but now can make any game in godot, C# (godot engine), C++, Javascript, Python, ES5/ES6. If you are a beta male, I don't expect you'll be making anything instead of complaining that this doesn't work. So many developers over-complicate it and it isn't hard. Yes learning something new, you are going to have your issues but doesn't mean you wont improve. Life is a journey. DEAL WITH IT.

Hi, I believe you are right. Can I ask you, how do you stay so focused on your objectives and never get distracted by indulgences and vices ?? For me, growing up I was always addicted to videogames. Now as an adult, I still am absolutely addicted, even though there are times I take long breaks. Of course, I do have a life, I work out, have an employment..etc But whenever I need to focus on my objectives like learning how to code, my entire being just wants to play Crusader Kings 3 or Red Dead Redemption 2 or any of the other multiplayer games. How do you say, no, to yourself and remain disciplined for over 10 months??

man i needed to hear this, personally i dont find it hard per say, once i get in that zone of proximal development i absorb and understand a lot of the information, (already have a grasp on swiftui) currently learning web dev, python and c++ each for specific goals and with the structure i have in place i’m on the right track, honestly all it takes is consistency and discipline, motivation goes out the window within the first couple of months and just like my crossfit/fitness training schedule i rely on discipline to get me going 98% of the time

I've been mentoring junior engineers, open source users and beginners for years. The reality is most courses are created by people who forgot what it's like to be a beginner. Most online resources like leetcode, code academy, coursera, udacity and pluralsight focus on basic exercise and tests. That doesn't teach you software development and completely ignores the three key things employers want. The three things we look for: team work, communication and problem solving. The most effective way to learn to be a productive software engineer is to work on a real project with a real business stakeholder. Building a piece of software takes a team and team work skills are critical to success. I've lost count of how many junior developers said "the CS program has too much theory and very little practice. It didn't teach me the skills I actually need." CS programs are structured to weed out everyone that isn't grad school material. As a result, they don't really teach people the skills they need to be a good software engineer. Learning to program is an iterative process. You learn some stuff, apply it, learn some more, apply it and repeat.

I wanted to develop games that told a story, but when taking game development courses, I was getting frustrated and confused because of the way the instructor would come out of nowhere with different lines of code that I had no idea would be needed. I moved over to Visual Scripting for now

140k subs? Damn. That's wassup bro.

When I was finished with the dev teaching it was gen the actual learning started.. it like all other job.. you become a god developer by experience and constantly learning

You the best 👌 when it comes to genuine advice in the self programming journey.

Being together with other coders will make you a better coder.. and there is so much more to being a developer than code

About 4 months in. Finished up CSS and HTML a few weeks ago and moved into JS. Yo this shit has been kicking my ass. I have a lot of self doubt, but I have never felt like giving up. But like I said this shit is madd hard.

Local community college is a great and cheap alternative to boot camps. Having a programming goal/path in mind is also critical as he said. "I'm going to learn to code" is WAY too open ended. Code what? For whom? Answering those questions will help you narrow your focus and help you avoid some of the paths which look interesting but don't help you with your goal. Go in too many directions at once and you'll feel lost and dispirited in short order.

Thank you

Dude you're the best

Hey Dorian, a bit unrelated but Meta released front end and back end courses with certificates on coursera, they also claim people who complete the course can connect with 200+ meta developers, if you can review it and give your thoughts it be great.

Nice video.,thnx.

Programming is like Dark Souls, sometimes you will die 56 times before making any progress, the reality is most people quit on their 12th death.

I am not a programmer, however, I just had to learn at least one language well, so I enrolled in community college classes. I initially learned Java, then C++, now Python. To be a GOOD developer and programmer takes a lot of hard work. I am just doing this for personal enrichment, but I love it 😊

Like they always say, "Mind over power" or something like that. Means, if you got the will-power to succeed, you will. Mind is much stronger than will if you got a strong mind.

My friend, whats that under your desk at 3:19? Overloaded powercord fire? I wanna look up that fire thing, seems cool.

I study code at work on free time using free courses on a website, and more when I get home. I got a long way to go but I’m hoping it eventually lands me and a new job.

So… when are you dropping the roadmap vid

I didn't fail so much as change focus. I went SRE and then switched to SDET. Pure coding doesn't exist; on our devops teams it's 1/4 to 1/3 coding, 1/3 meetings, and 1/3 design/research/ops/oncall. Meh. I'd rather do other things though I still do programming classes and such so I know what's going on and how to better invent tests.

can you make the volume on your videos higher? i like to watch when i’m out but i can never hear you in any reasonable setting 😭

4:22 even Dorian steals someone else code on youtube. I actually feel really useless when I do that but still I do cuz I'm new and still learning. Grinding is never gonna stop I know that but still I feel like I know nothing especially while doing this

Started in August 2021 with c# and now 11 month later got my first job and an offer from another company at 15 years old. Hope this inspires someone, good luck y'all and don't give up!

Yes. You're right, Dorian. I'm learning on my own, 6 hours a day, sacrificing my week days with my kids and wife I'm creating a medical system. It'll use a lot of new technologies.

These days coding is so hip thing to do partly because of the opportunity, I see so many bootcamps and courses flying around its getting ridiculous. The truth is, coding is not for everyone and thats OK!! Everyone should find their own path.

I am still very much attempting to create a Python application that will convert our Python script close as possible purely into a Javascript code basically making it 1000* times easier to develop Javascript applications. Had been wondering for many years why nobody else has shared quite the Py-To-JS solution, because it should be possible to get it to function beautifully in a matter of a month by somebody who knows both languages quite enough.

well tbh , the only reason why I'm planning to go to college is because I can get in touch with people related to this field .... and won't get left behind in this crowd .... colleges don't teach every thing you need for your professional career.... You study on your own ........ start competing among the friends you know .... and this way you won't feel depressed about anything

I'm still in highschool for my country (which is secondary school) but I already know that I'm going to fail the last exam because to pass it's required to pass in Malay(National Language) and History. The problem is that I don't really know the language and history is taught in that language. Thankfully my parents are supportive and just really ask if I really have the interest in it. If I do then they'll support me learning how to code.

I am on my road to failure, having a lot of difficulty staying on track.

EVERY one of these points can be applied to stock trading as well.

I've been trying to learn web development for about 20 years and I still have no professional experience and it seems like I'm just as far from the finish line as when I started because they keep adding new technologies on top of the old stuff. I'm now about 10 years away from retirement age and I feel like I was insane to ever try to learn this stuff.

I was a self-taught software developer and worked on state of the art projects. When it comes to state of the art, everybody is self-taught. ;-) Now retired, when I look back on my life, I consider myself to have been very lucky.

I agree with most things said in the video BUT I would like to mention that when saying that you NEED a roadmap for things like that it can become a barrier of entry to begin with. When you are excited about technology and becoming a developer it can be really easy to "get lost in the sauce" which basically means that there is a problem there. The problem is that you don't have enough experience and haven't "dabbled" enough in all these different technologies to actually know what you really wanna work on. Programming and Computer Science are VAST! You cannot choose a roadmap for something that you are not even sure that you like and enjoy from a practical perspective! I think a better solution to this, as a beginner, is to actually dabble and learn about all these different technologies that sound interesting to you and you think you might like, and try them out for a little bit before actually putting all of your time and energy into one! That way you will naturally gravitate towards the one that you like the most and once that happens you can actually start doubling down on it! Sure, it might take some time for you to start, but it is better to spend a month or two doing that and experimenting instead of rushing and spending the next X amount of YEARS of your life learning and working on something that you don't enjoy just because of a roadmap! I am a freelance game developer but I actually started off learning web development and spending so much time trying to learn everything about it only to realize that I don't actually enjoy it and I find it boring! I think sometimes it is important to stop and to re-think instead of bashing your head against a wall because a roadmap and your initial plan tells you to or because that is what everyone is talking about (at the time that was web dev for me). Don't get me wrong, coding is hard, learning is hard, learning how to code is super hard and takes years, but if it feels like bashing your head against a wall, something is wrong! when you learn something that you are genuinely interested about there is at least a dose of excitement associated with it! Learning something you like, CAN be fun!! In fact, if you really wanna make it work, it SHOULD be somewhat fun, because you will have to learn new stuff ALL THE TIME in this field! If I hadn't stopped web development roadmaps and tried game development and many other things before it I would have probably never been in the situation that I am now. I think it is important to try many different things until you get to the point of realizing what you ACTUALLY like before choosing a roadmap for it! Some people might like multiple things! I can tell you from experience that this can only be a good thing, you become more versatile and you learn stuff you enjoy! It is equally important to work and to learn with a project in mind. The two best ways to learn something is to either teach it or create a project for it, especially when used in conjunction with one another! At the end of the day, just start, I think the very title and intro of this video can stop people from actually starting to learn!

Hallo I am struggling between which materials to apply into my learning journey, I started out wit UKposts videos but got stuck and resorted to books where I'm facing challenges, some books are outdated, it is frustrating kindly help

That is just the sectors self weeding process. The point of coding is solving problems. Difficulty leads to expertise.

question tho.. where do you see the ad or info for the meet up? Im new to this

What if you have to decide between two different types of coding jobs? For me, game dev and cyber security are the areas that peak my interest. How do you pick? I'm pretty sure the roadmaps look pretty different.

I failed and instead went to college. Doing much better now.

I was always a fan, back in the Adult Films industry days even.

Very realistic!

This is true like me it's so hard. But it's possible!👍👍🙂🙂

Nothing is difficult when you put your mind to it. Actually it's not the hardest thing to learn especially if you are coming from engineering background

I wanna start today. God help me. I've been following your UKposts vid. I think it's time to start. #Selftaught.

Me trying to learn about nested if functions. Dorian : YOU SUCK? .. 🥺, Honestly, you just need to have the patience for problem solving. If you just give up and immediately go looking for someone to hold your hand in order to get to a solution. It's just not going to work for you. You need to struggle. This is the only way to get better at anything. Guidance helps, but not spoon-feeding.

When you say free time how much time in average a day and days a week did you code

How are you doing Dorian? So i looked at freecodecamp and here's the list of certifications/courses: "(New) Responsive Web Dev" "Legacy Responsive Web Dev" "Javascript Algos & Data Structs" "Front End Dev Libs" "Data Vis" "Back end Dev and APIs" "Quality Assurance" "Scientific Computing w/ Python" "Data Analysis w/ Python" "Info Sec" "Machine Learning w/ Python" "Relational Database (Beta)" How different is this list compared to when you were going through their courses? Which of these would you say are needed for a front end and mid end development job? I was thinking i could leave out: "Legacy Responsive Web Dev" "Data Vis" "Scientific Computing w/ Python" "Data Analysis w/ Python" "Machine Learning w/ Python" "Relational Database (Beta)" Your thoughts? I'll move onto The odin Project after freecodecamp f.y.i. Cheers

People are looking to get a job by "working for others" with their self taught coding skills, which are their biggest failures. I think people who are self taught have the skills but don't know what to do with it. For me, I just want to learn so that I can build my website from scratch and build my business. This way I'm in control. Having the skills and lacking of ideas will result in not moving forward. I agree that one must know what one wants to do. I know what I want.

I didn’t pace myself and so I burnt out

I am 17 year old and already working as a web developer and a programming tutor currently very confident in front end dev but now i am thinking about learning ai and machine learning anyone has advices to me?

Those are guitars or cuatros in the back of your sofa?

think of a simple program you want to code . Learn just enough code to write the program . Use Google and UKposts a lot to search for solutions or explanations. Coding is a lot harder than people lead you to believe. It will make you want to quit . Just take baby steps . IF you get your simple program to work think of a more complicated program etc.etc. Learn about all the other languages and frameworks but on a "yeah I know about them" level only so you'll know IF you need them. Stay away from Technical Textbooks in Computer Science unless you want to hurt your head or you want to become a Linux Kernel Maintainer ! (you don't)

I fail alot of times, the suckiest part is getting stuck on a problem

You sure know how to get me to click on your videos. Well done sir 👏