Learning to Code

Everyone was a beginner once

Teaching people to write software often makes me reflect on the journey that many of us have taken. The technical aspect of teaching people to code is somewhat straight forward, but understanding how the emotional aspects affect the learning process is far more complicated.

There is a painful moment that I often see students go through. It is the moment when they try to compare themselves to someone who is more experienced than themselves, causing them to feel frustrated and depressed. I know this feeling well. I have felt it many times in many different parts of my life.

Whenever you feel it, you have to stop and remember: at some point the person you were speaking to was not an expert. They were a beginner and a student just like you, struggling to learn a new concept. The reason they are an expert now is that they did not quit; they found a way to push through the frustration and keep learning.

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king of Ephyra punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever.

When learning something new, trying to compare yourself to others is a Sisyphean task. It will constantly frustrate you that others are so far ahead of you. This only distracts you from learning. When you find yourself doing this, focus on only one thing: learning how they got to where they are. What books did they read? What classes did they take? What web sites do they visit? What tutorials did they go through? What videos did they watch? And then simply do the same things that they did. Focus only on learning how you can become better and not on where they are in comparison to you.

If you keep this attitude towards learning and life, someday you will be the expert teaching and encouraging others how to become better at what they do.

Casey Lang, a former MakerSquare Instructor and all-around cool guy