Hello everyone!
I joined freecodecamp about 2 1/2 weeks ago with no prior programming experience. I watched all of Dr. Charles Severance’s “Python for Everybody” and Mike Dane’s Python Introduction Course on Youtube. I completed all the tasks on the Python for Everybody site, but I didn’t read the pages yet, which I will probably do this weekend. After finishing the courses, I noticed the projects where you could get a Python certificate. I tried it out but failed miserably. Now I got pretty far into both first exercises (Arithmetic Arranger and Time Calculator), but I was never quite satisfied and it took me a REALLY LONG time to figure stuff out. Just out of curiousity:
Were you able to do those projects immediately, right after you finished the “Python for Everybody” course or did it take you longer to grasp all the required skills to be able to complete that task? Of course it is just really basic beginner stuff, but I would like to know how long it took you before you were able to complete those tasks? How much time have you spent programming before? Just trying to figure out if I am really bad at this or if there are others who felt quite like me when first starting to complete those projects. I don’t want to give up by no means, sooner or later I will figure some stuff out, just genuinely curious how others approached it and how long it took them.
Also I would like to ask if I should go to the other Python courses now first before trying out the certificate projects? What would be the best approach in your opinion? Hope you can tell me a little bit, thanks in advance!
Kind regards
moving from multiple choice questions to a project is a huge step, plus if it’s your first programmig language, and you have never had to deal with algorithms before, there is also that.
Before thinking of programming, try to break down what the program should do, what should be all the steps, what should be the way from the input to the output in the smallest steps possible
this is language agnostic, but this problem breakdown is one of the most fondamental skills you could have, as once you have that breakdown, you can translate it to any programming language - it may need some googling and consulting documentation depending on your familiarity with the language, but that part is the easy part.
I can assure you there are others who felt like that. Are there others who found it easier? Sure, but there are also others who found it harder. It doesn’t really mean anything, as everybody have different starting point, for which stuff that can be called as programming experience is just one criterion.
I would suggest to try to resist the urge to compare yourself. However if tricks of the mind would be too good, then compare yourself to the person you know a bit - yourself from the past. Ask yourself would you, these 2 1/2 weeks ago, be able to do what you did today? Did you know everything you know right now? Such questions are much more relevant.
Thanks for your fast answer! That is actually the biggest problem so far for me, breaking all the required “work” to do into smaller problems that are better to handle. I tried it, but for example in one exercise everything was going according to plan, but then I suddenly realized that I couldn’t solve the last part of the problem by using the way I used. I am pretty sure that there is a way, but I couldn’t figure it out yet. I hope to get a better understanding of all that, do you maybe know any good resources that could teach you “how to think” about tackling problems in coding? Next time I’m trying the projects, I will probably first paint a picture or something with all the parts I want to have in my program and then go from there. Maybe you have some suggestions? 
Those are quite encouraging words ^^ I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others, and you are right about the fact that I know much more than I did 2 1/2 weeks ago and I’m not going to stop I would love some material about the topic of how to tackle problems in programming, like how to break it down into tiny pieces that will actually fit together in the end and so on. If you have any suggestions, I would love to know them !
Actually you may take a look at JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification. It uses JavaScript, but it introduces various concepts that can be used with other languages as well. This should expose you to more ways of dealing with tiny pieces, what on the other hand can help with seeing these tiny pieces hidden in bigger problems.
Thank you very much ! I will look into that course then, my plan is to finish hopefully all courses on the curriculum at some point, I will take a look at that one next!