I need a lift-me-up please. How do you retain information?

You Can Do This!
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Hey everyone, hope you are doing well.

Well, it’s been approximately a month of me doing coding as well as getting through life in general, a lot has been going both professionally, and personally.

Despite that I always tried to commit to learn coding, even if it is just one step at a time.

And with some progress I was able to at least finish that Cat Photo App, and the lessons despite hardly understanding anything, the hands-on approach with the App and the Debug Lab/Project thing was incredible.

But the next part about creating a Lab Recipe just overwhelmed me, and seeing all those steps made me realize that I didn’t really learn anything.

So that’s what I would like to ask everyone here, how do you retain the information you learn, I genuinely cannot understand why I cannot learn things anymore, even though I read everyday, try to exercise, and play sudoku, all things meant to improve your memory and focus, and I’m my late 20s if that helps to know, especially when I had been always a higher achiever in university.

Just, I don’t know, I felt that I could grasp these things, but it’s just overwhelming for me, feeling like I made mistakes in life for studying the wrong degree, and that my time/opportunity has passed, and doomed to live a mediocre life.

I guess my “why” for coding is just that everything in the world seems to revolve around it at the moment and I want to keep up and not be left behind, trying to career change/job hop as well.

Any response would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

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This is basically no time at all. Just keep going and things will start to stick in your head (even if it doesn’t feel like it).

There is a lot to know and you are not expected to retain everything you do. Every time you aren’t sure how to do something just search for it:

  • how to create an HTML link
  • HTML how to create a dropdown box
  • HTML how to … etc…

That’s totally normal. You might have to search for something 50 times before it becomes retained and second nature, don’t worry about it.

Just keep going and evaluate after 1 year and see if you are still interested and how much you’ve learned. Keep in mind the whole journey will take years.

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Hi @hammad98 !

Congrats and welcome to the club :+1:

That’s normal and will continue to happen as you learn how to code.
Remember this is all new to you. So you aren’t expected to remember or get everything the first time through.

What is happening here is what happens to thousands of people trying to learn how to code.

When you are introduced to something new, it will take tons of practice for it to stick and make sense.

That is like if I tried to teach you how to cook a recipe for the first time and expected you to replicate from memory perfectly and not mess up. You only learned it once. You will need to make the dish multiple times for it to start feeling comfortable.

Same goes for any skill like learning a musical instrument, learning a foreign language or learning programming.

For the labs, take it slow and take it one user story at a time. If you forget something review the lectures, google it or ask questions for help.

Then once you complete the lab, you will move to the next one and there will be more struggles. That is where you repeat the process with learning and getting better.

That is programming. It will takes tons of practice and time before you get comfortable with most of this.

Hope that helps

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Like they previously mentioned, programming will eventually stick to his head. But if you insist on trying to take notes to help you remember, a handheld journal or a Google Doc will help out, along with frequently taking tests to remember what you previously learned.

Note: If you come across a question on a test that you’ve never seen before, don’t feel discouraged. You can randomly guess or search it up.

And don’t compare your progress to other people. Everyone has their own pace and it is most effecient if they keep it that way. Just because someone is better than you doesn’t mean you’re not good.

On top of all that, this is something you need to enjoy. Stressing out won’t make it any easier, and there is no reason to get frustrated. We all make mistakes, because that’s who we are: humans.

I hope this helped. Good luck, and as always, Happy Coding! :heart_exclamation:

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Just a little story about me and why you shouldn’t feel like this.

I was dropped from school, and back, and I didn’t have any computer degree.
Back then I don’t own my computer nor book to read. they are all too expensive.
I rent a computer at price of my lunch. I sneak into a library. I walk 5 km to read a page or two from a book store on the town. I was kicked out of the bookstore and thought to be a thief.

How do I learn computer then? how can I become a programmer?

I don’t know. But what I know is that I love what I do.
I enjoy my 5 km. I love anything I read. I love to try it.
I don’t have money to buy the book, so I just read it there. back 5km home, try it, and when I fail. I just take another 5km to find answer … next week (I can only go on weekend). There is no internet back then, at least in my home town.

You are 20. That’s young. I am 30 when I become programmer and what I do was slicing HTML. Now I am a java developer working on cloud stuff.

You’ve stuck with coding for a month - that’s huge.
You completed the Cat Photo App - that’s great.
Lab Recipe just overwhelmed you - That’s OK. Computer sciene is a very huge subject.
This forum is full of good people, ask everything here. You don’t have to walk 5 km and wait for next week to find answers .

Everyone is left behind, not just you, Computer is just very huge subject. Think of it like a vast ocean, You just need to learn to swim in the part that matters to you.

You cannot learn them all, doesn’t mean you have to leave it all.

If you love it, you won’t feel overhelmed.

Coding is fun, that’s already everything. Life will find the way. You will get there someday. The journey is long, enjoy the view. Let the interest drive you, not the fear.

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