Patience my friend …
Hi @sonicakes, I know about frustration, so I thought I’d add something on how you can get help.
The most successful people I know are highly social about everything.You’ve been building your community the wrong way
The loudest job-finders that I noticed were the ones that got dragged over every hurdle by their mentor groups. Got job. Give thanks. Try to inspire.
Every programmer complains about frustrations. The job requires activity in the midst of sleep deprivation, so it’s a no-brainer that you’ll find many moments that are infinitely too hard. At those moments you need to look beyond the machine results, and describe the crux of your frustrations to competent mentors and other reviewers.
It’s not your fault that frustration comes up! You are allowed to get a job, ASAP, by purely being dragged up onto your feet. You started life like that, and this isn’t radically different 
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I’ve been a developer for 20 years and that frustration is very normal when starting out. Those struggles suck, but if you hang in there you will start experiencing small victories and your confidence will grow and then all of the sudden you feel like an expert. the beginning is the worst and it feels like you are never going to understand what you are doing, but seriously you will turn a corner and start thinking “whoa! this all makes sense”
I bet a lot of people give up right before they turn that corner… stick with it and enjoy the ride!
Take a break from FCC and start building something for fun… Work on your portfolio or build the front end to an imaginary site in a topic that you find interesting or find a website for a business in your community that you think is ugly and redesign it.
You’ll get there!!
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Thank you for your advice! I’ll take a step back, work on blog/portfolio, watch those harvard lectures and hopefully it all makes sense in the end. No way I’m giving up!
Cheers
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I’ll basically repeat @shawnwollenberg 's answer here. (His is still much better).
You’ll be fine.
Just slow down a bit. It won’t be neither as fast nor as easy as some courses/bootcamps are saying. At the end it will be better exactly because it was slow and sometimes not very pleasant experience.
Try to understand things, don’t try to be perfect, google a lot.
Try to fail 5 times before you do a single simple task.
Embrace the concept of failing when trying to code things.
Why ? Because failing is okay and if you don’t fail how you’ll know that you’ve learned this ?
People pay me to code for more than 10 years and I’m still using google / stackoverflow like crazy.
And neither me nor my colleagues are perfect. Far from it.
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I researched a little what’s in demand and coding/developing is what people do if everything else fails.
That’s harsh.
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Keep practicing the coding! You may finish a challenge and not understand what you did but keep doing it. Keep searching for the answer. It will all of a sudden ‘click’ and you will know what you are doing. We have all been frustrated with trying to figure it out. I hope knowing you are not alone helps. Hang in there.
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Hi sonicakes,
I don’t think anybody has mentioned this yet, so here’s my advice:
If you haven’t already, try attending a meet-up in your city (or, if there aren’t any, make one!). It can make a big difference talking to other coders and getting things explained and shown to you in person compared to just reading about it online. Both when it comes to understanding
Just checked your profile and you’re in Sydney right? I imagine there’s a lot of campers there and it shouldn’t be too hard to throw something together. I’m actually relocating from Perth to Sydney on Monday, so I might try to throw some meet-ups together myself if nothing comes up on the Facebook page.
But whatever you do; keep coding! Remember that it’s a marathon - not a sprint 
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I started programming when I was 11 or 12. I’m 48 now. I was an early adopter of FCC when there were only 100-200 members, ie over 2 years ago. I joined to learn Javascript. I had never programmed algorithms before.
I went through the basic JS lessons 2-3 times before I felt I understood it. I made my own side projects to reinforce it. The algorithms were not even part o the curriculum until I’d been doing javascript and learning jquery for a year or so on or off.
When the algorithms came out, some were easy, many took a few days and some took me up to 6 months for a variety of reasons.
Simon took me a year to complete.
That doesn’t mean it took me 12 months of 8 hour days to write simon, but that I would ge tfrustrated, and go learn something else for awhile and come back to it again.
The algorithms that took me a long time to do I carried around as “pet projects” for several weeks or months while I skipped ahead and did other things.
Don’t ever say that you’re not smart enough, intelligent enough or the wrong gender (or color or age or sexual orientation) to accomplish something. That’s downright insulting to not only your own self esteem, but also serves to reinforce any sexism that may still be exisiting in the field (or whatever field you’re in).
You can do it, just keep practicing.
PS (2 months is not long enough to make any judgements whatsoever…when you’ve been practicing for 2-5 years or more and still can’t finish the algorithms then maybe something is amiss)
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A wise man once said that a ninja is one who endures.
The same can be said for for any one in web development and coding/programming in general.
I’m a super slow learner, not the sharpest tool in the shed and never wanted to do “programming” all through highschool and college. That changed and now I do web dev for a living. I’m by no means an expert, still very junior. It takes time, dedication and sweat and tears and heartache and stress, but when you over come a hurdle, it’s great and you feel proud of yourself for not giving up.
I also trust in God to help me learn. Without His help, I wouldn’t have been able to make it.
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I would like to add my experience so far.
I am an experienced developer but have left my job to learn the new frameworks, Bootstrap, node and MongoDb, etc. None of this was being used where I used to work although they did have separate teams for desktop, android and iOS development.
I joined FCC just over a year ago and this is what I have learned (aside from the code).
The Wiki is found in the forum (it has moved from GitHub). This has all the answers to the challenges plus extra tips on how to complete them.
I discovered this fact not from my own searching but from another FCC user. I met him whilst “pair programming” on some of the Intermediate algorithms. (Did you see FCC recommends pair programming yet?)
Once you start to pair program you make friends with other students (like on a real University course). This takes time. These new friends can help you and motivate you.
I have met many of my FCC friends in the chat rooms. I go there to try helping other users. Whilst doing this I see how others have completed their challenges. Do you know you can easily see other peoples solutions and projects?
Anyone who has done good work which I aspire to, I will “save for later”. So, when it comes to doing a similar project, I have a reference. You don’t need to copy directly but you can see methods others have used to achieve the same result.
That’s all I can think for for now! 
PS. I haven’t got any certificates yet. What’s more important for me is to learn the code!
PPS. If you want to be a front end developer/designer, 
learn flex-box!
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I joined FCC about a year ago and started learning to code around 2 months before that. I went through coursera (when it was free), codecademy and other coding sites to end up here.
At first it was great, I could use what I had learnt from other sites in a more practical way, but as I went through I could feel some things were blurry, I was just solving stuff to reach the next lesson and so on, there was no theory on why use this or that.
Long story short I ended up confused by the amount of languages I felt I had to learn to be a “hirable” programmer, so I looked for something that could use my degree (studied mechanical engineer) and the bit I had learnt from coding, and found IoT! Started looking for jobs in my country (Mexico) that focused on it, and just a few weeks later found one in Sigfox.
Some months after this I’m back to coding but with a more focused view:
- Now I’m not learning in a “Hail Mary” way, I have stablished goals I want to achieve and particular proyects to develop.
- Now I know that wanting to learn so many languages back then was fruitless and, somewhat, a waste of time, for learning without purpose (!).
I’d like to mention a particular course after all I’ve been through, I’d say the cheapest you can get for such a high quality course (10 USD):
https://www.udemy.com/the-web-developer-bootcamp/learn/v4/overview.
It’s covered most of what other sites have missed to my viewpoint and makes coding fun and easier. Should prob say I’m not sponsored by them, just very happy with what I found on it, really really recommended!
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“Programming is an excellent job for boys”. This is a totally outdated stereotype. It sucks that it is so commonly known that it prevents women from getting into coding. It’s like a 1950’s stereotype that all woman need to wear dresses, don’t get a job, and stay in the kitchen.
“My IQ is too low to grasp the programming principles in a few days and then start building amazing apps and earn millions of dollars.” You seem to get down on yourself. What makes someone in this field successful, especially if you want to freelance, is to stop thinking you can’t and a determination to never give up. If you have a defeatist attitude and think that you can’t, you won’t.
NO APP ONLY TOOK A FEW DAYS TO TAKE OFF. There are tons and tons of work that goes into one. The more work that is put in the better the app will be. Facebook didn’t happen overnight. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to code.
I also found FreeCodeCamp to be extremely difficult to move through the lessons. I started on there, got completely frustrated, and stopped trying to learn that way. The one course that I took that taught me enough to be employable was “The Web Developer Bootcamp”. I cannot stress enough on how good of a course it is.
I am also a perfectionist (ADHD/Obsessive Compulsive), so I understand. No job is a guarantee. Just remember that programming/development has a very high-income potential.
I think that trying to tackle programming/computer science and development at the same time is unrealistic. I think you need to think about what you want to do. I never had even the slightest interest in making software. I wanted to learn how to do everything that can be done on the web. Thus, there is always something to study.
I think that you need to do some research on the differences between programming/computer science and development. Then you will know where to focus your energy.
The link to the course that I mentioned above is probably something that you might benefit from. Since you sound like you already know some stuff the course should be a little easier for you. In a nutshell, the course starts at the point that you know nothing about coding and ends with you being employable.
That is how I first got started. You will learn frontend, backend, and that will come together as full stack developer. I really think that this would help you. Picking up programming after that would be a lot easier.
Not to be brutal but from what you wrote your main problem seems to be with your outlook. There should be no “I can’t” in your vocabulary. Just tell yourself that you CAN and be determined not to give up on anything until you solve it.
Here is what I think you should do.
• Stop trying with FreeCodeCamp like I did.
• Buy the course that I mentioned.
• After completion, come back to FreeCodeCamp if it can still benefit you.
• Finish the course and then reevaluate what avenue you want to continue with; programming and development.
I honestly think that that will help you a lot. I was like you when I first started learning. FreeCodeCamp is the first place I tried to learn but got so frustrated and annoyed I sought out another way to learn (the course I mentioned).
Personally, after I took that course I checked out FreeCodeCamp’s updated curriculum, I found that there wasn’t much on there that I needed to learn, so I didn’t. I don’t like the curriculum but LOVE their community, thus I write on here.
REMEMBER, don’t look at anything and say, “I can’t”, I can. Don’t ever let an issue beat you. There are tons of communities out there where you can find help. You can also find most anything you need at MDN (Mozilla Developer Network).
Persevere and never give up. That is the key to being successful with coding.
I hope this helps you so that you don’t give up. We need more women in coding!
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Hi gurwen,
I’ve checked FCC Sydney Facebook page and so far they have trouble organising a monthly meet up, but I’m keeping my eye on it. I also installed a MeetUp App and searched what’s available for programming in Sydney. Not much for JS, but more specific meetups for Python, Functional Programming etc. Honestly I haven’t started those yet, but I could still potentially go just to meet with other coders. It’s on my ‘to-do’ list.
Yep all set for marathon
Cheers, and hope to see you in Sydney!
Hi AdventureBear,
I agree 2 months is not enough for any judgement. I don’t know what idea I had (if any) about coding when I started it. That I magically ‘pick it up’, maybe. Now I know that’s not the case.
I understand my post might sound like a reinforcement of sexism, but this is what was cemented in my head in my ‘formative’ years. I am now in a different environment and trying to be free from any bias, however those thoughts creep up on me when things are tough.
Cheers
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Hi JohnyBizzel,
I’ve looked at ‘guides’ for Fcc challenges - are they the same as Wiki you’re talking about? I’ve found myself just copy-pasting the ‘basic solution’ if i don’t get it myself, which is not so good.
I haven’t heard about pair programming but it sound like a great idea. How do I find a buddy? Do you only do it on intermediate algorithms or you can do it with basic ones as well? How do you actually co-program? (Sorry I’ve just never done it before so completely oblivious).
As for ‘saving for later’, do you think that’s fine (will the others mind?) I’m just a little cautious of taking someone’s code/design I always make sure I’ve changed it significantly. Maybe it’s my idea of ‘plagiarism’ and it’s not that correct?
Good that you mentioned flexbox. It’s a good thing. I’ve used this tutorial https://internetingishard.com/html-and-css/flexbox/ to understand it. Other HTML/CSS topics are also well-covered. However, since discovering Bootstrap, it’s the only thing I use…(lazy).
Cheers
Hi mainBukake,
I feel the same about struggling with ‘this’ and ‘that’ in FCC, Codeacademy or Lynda.com. I think I need a deeper understanding of the concepts.
I can relate to what you say about trying to be hirable and trying to learn everything at once. At this point, I haven’t decided on my exact plan like you did, but I’ll get there once I know more about different options available.
This Udemy course, is it self-paced (I mean are there deadlines?). How long did it take you to complete it, and how many hrs a week/ a day you spent on the videos/challenges?
It’s $19 (AUD) at the moment, and this is acceptable since you’re not the only person to recommend it. I am about to sign up for it ( as long as it self-paced, as i got my degree as well , volunteering etc.).
Cheers!
Hi geekysmurf,
Thank you for your reply. It has some good points.
I will start from the beginning. As I said in my original post, my gender stereotypes were indented in me by family/school up to the point I could form my own opinions (that didn’t happen until only recently). I am more than 100% sure gender doesn’t affect my ability to learn stuff. This is just how my thoughts go, they follow those outdated stereotypes. But luckily I’m in charge of those thoughts, and they are what they are - just thoughts.
Yep I understand it’s a lot of work (probably team work) to build apps and websites like Facebook. It’s just more of those stereotypical thoughts that can make you question your work.
It’s true that I haven’t decided what to focus my energy on, that’s why I’m trying to get basic concepts of a few things, I guess. I think I’ll be able to form an opinion once I’ve tried some languages or concepts, and then go from there. Maybe it’s not achievable to be both designer AND a developer, but at least I’ll know I’m familiar with both. Besides, even though my degree is about web design, I’m still interested in computer science. I’m watching CS50 Harvard lectures, as one of the posters recommended here, and I enjoy them! On Lynda.com I watch ‘Data Science’ and I google stuff about software engineering. I’m just curious even though I might end-up only in front-end or UX/UI,
Yes, outlook is my worst enemy. I’m trying to be more positive though. Sometimes I just end up down and then this post appears (desperate). In fact, I’m realistic but with a tendency to underestimate myself, which I also try to work on.
About the course you mentioned, I will ask the same questions I asked @Jamesfh .
- Is it self-paced? Can I commit to it in my own time (rather than my degree courses that require submission of assignments on a certain date)?
- How long did it take you to complete and how much hrs per day/week did you dedicate to the course?
The price is reasonable (19 AUD) so I will more than likely sign up for it.
Cheers!
A designer and a developer? That’s a golden unicorn. I wish I could do both. I only do code but I am totally familiar with design, programming, etc. I can’t do them all, but I know enough to be able to communicate properly with those people.
Even though I can do full-stack, I really love frontend. It’s always changing and there’s always new stuff to learn. I would not use Lynda.com. I have watched Lynda for a couple of years and watched their curriculum go downhill.
They stopped putting out courses a while ago that were up to date. Since they just got bought by LinkedIn, I imagine it’s going to take a while to get back up and running properly. The only site that I would put my money into is Udemy; not Plural sight or Lynda.
As far as your questions go:
It is completely self-paced, go at your own pace.
I put in about 6 hours per day and it took me about 3 months. You might be faster than I. My method was to learn a bunch and then give my brain enough time to understand it. The time it takes is completely your own thing depending on motivation, comprehension, and fascination.
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And when things are tough is when we are really tested! Hopefully you can keep chipping away and replace those thoughts with powerful, engaging ones that keep you growing.
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