A Rant of a Novice Developer Willing to Learn and Eat Sh%t
So I need to rant about this because I see it so much and it’s quite laughable at this point. I’ll start out giving some background information. About 2 weeks ago I got (back) into coding and development. Specifically using Javascript and Node.js via the Discord.js library. The Discord.js library allows you to interact with the Discord API to primarily create applications such as bots, but developers also use the API to create Rich Presence assets that you may see look like the examples below (excuse the typo in the second screenshot please).


Learning the basics of a new language and new API when it comes to coding isn’t all that difficult. The existence of so many resources resides on the internet. I myself learn so much on a daily basis from YouTube, Google and occasionally Code Academy when it comes to creating Discord bots using the Discord.js library.
Now I’m the type of person willing to deploy patience and eat shit to get to where I want. I don’t ask for everything I want right away. If I see something I want or want to get to a specific stage, I reverse engineer the process to make the situation less daunting and overall wrap my head around it so I hold somewhat of an idea on what to do. But not everyone does this and I believe people on the opposite side of this make huge mistakes and leaving opportunities on the table. I’ll explain more below.
I’m in a Discord server built upon this YouTuber who uploads content based on coding Discord bots and Spigot plugins (Spigot is an API that allows developers to create “plugins” to use on a server with the Spigot build on Minecraft). This YouTuber… I’ll call him Dan… helped me a fair bit when starting out. However, I don’t really watch his tutorials that much anymore. But I do recommend his channel to beginners.
Now this Discord holds a large number of people who are entry level players into the world of coding. A lot of them haven’t coded a day in their life and a number of them who haven’t used the Discord API and the libraries that surround it nor the Spigot/Bukkit API. Now being a beginner can be fun, but daunting. It can be overwhelming, but exciting. You’re learning something new and you are going to want a lot of things to happen now. But the problem remains with the now of things.
A lot of the entry level people I see come into this Discord server or even been around for awhile expects a lot from others who are more experienced than them. Nothing is wrong with learning from someone more experienced. I do it quite a lot. However, when being a coder, there are some things you have to know that.
- Don’t expect others to hold your hand every step of the way
- Don’t expect to be “spoon-fed” code to your satisfaction
- Don’t be surprised if you’re told to actually go learn more than just copy/paste code expecting it to work
- Don’t copy/paste code and then go to someone more experience saying it simply doesn’t work
The points above I see the opposite of daily in this Discord. And it makes me laugh and a bit angry because I spend hours daily learning and troubleshooting my code working toward a solution and ultimately for my code to work as intended. I eat shit knowing that what I’m doing know will work out positively in the future. Unfortunately, not a lot of newcomers share this mindset (other than the more experienced individuals in this Discord fortunately who keeps me level-headed helping out and chatting with the more novice individuals).
Now don’t get me wrong I’m not an expert in coding. I share my fair number of mistakes as a developer. And there’s still so much more for me to learn as you can consider me “new” to specifically Discord coding (I coded quite a bit in the past). But I believe in patience. I stay grounded by keeping that on pedestal progressing daily.
I actually sympathize a bit now with those who post their errors seconds after they see it into the help channel expecting a more experience individual to hold their hand and tell them the exact issue and how to fix it. These newcomers don’t want to eat shit, make mistakes and actually learn what it means to be a developer. A problem solver at heart. That’s why we code, right? To solve problems. Along with that it’s a passion for many.
What I want to add on is the fact that you will not be successful if you don’t deploy patience and take the time to learn. Actually review your code if there’s an error. Research more about the issue instead of posting your code and screenshot into a Discord channel expecting someone to take their own time, spoon feed you instead of teach you. People don’t seem to want to get to the destination instead of enjoy the journey. Don’t you understand? It’s about the journey.
Look at Odysseus in the Odyssey for example (I never read this before, but I’m mentioning it with my little knowledge). The epic bases around his journey back home after the fall of Troy. The king of Ithaca takes in this 10 year journey he’s on traveling home and actually experiencing all sorts of situations. This man spent 10 years traveling home. And us newcomers get fussed over a simple syntax error that they won’t even stop to look at in the first place? I think perspective is a major key here.
What I want readers (if there’s actually any) to take away from this is that you need to be willing to eat shit, deploy patience and actually enjoy the journey to get to where you want. It’s not the destination, but the journey. It’s not expecting someone to hand you the lines of code you need to fix your problem, but the willing to read documentation, watch YouTube videos and go through Code Academy modules to get to where you want.
In the time of the now where everyone wants everything now, we must take a moment to remember that. I know I’m willing to do what it takes and take the time to get to where I want. By me doing this, I think I’ll surpass a lot of people down the road, but I will remain to help others out. Helping others out provides a balance in what I do. For selfless reasons because that’s who I am and for selfish reasons because I can get new ideas and learn new things. And that’s okay. But I stay humble.
This article and the contents of it latched itself to my conscious for a long time. And I felt personally obligated to share my piece on today’s time in learning new things and getting from where you are now to where you want to be in the future. Thank you for reading if you did. Take care.
