Hi! My name is Tito. A little about me, I am 36 years old married with two kids, ages 2 and 9 months, and live in the Massachusetts area. My wife has decided be a stay at home mom temporarily. I currently work for a school districts IT department. I really enjoy my job and love my coworkers. My wife and I have discussed potentially moving to the west coast to have more support from my side of the family.
I have looked into becoming a front end developer to have the ability to work from home potentially. I have concerns of my age in getting into this field. I also struggle with anxiety and ADHD. Having those two things gives me a lot of doubt and fear if I can even do this. I try to code everyday for at least an hour or more a day on free code camps legacy responsive web design. I am on the CSS Flexbox section. I do go through the exercises and while I feel I solve problems on my own without any hints or help, I feel like the info is not sinking in and I am not going to remember any of it when it comes to do any projects.
Is it normal to have these feelings?
I welcome any advice and or constructive criticism.
Don’t worry about that now. Worry about it once you’re actually there. For now, I want you to keep going, consistency plays a big role when you’re starting out.
There’s a very common misconception on the industry, that is, memorizing codes.
But no, it all comes down to muscle memory. In other words, you need to write a lot of code.
Don’t be afraid to Google stuff out like when you mentioned you’re not gonna remember these stuff, that’s normal.
Dude, even the senior developers go to google to search the most basic stuff. When I say basic stuff, I mean it!Things like how to declare a variable in some language, how to use the margin-top property, so on, so on. Just keep working, eventually you will see some results.
Hi Tito!
Don’t let your age or mental health struggles hold you back! I have heard great success stories from people much older and from people with ADHD, among other mental illnesses. Your passion and dedication to coding are more important factors in my opinion. Imposter Syndrome is also very common in the tech world apparently, I know I already have it after just starting to code. We’re all here to support you!
Maybe take notes on the lessons? So when you do your own projects you have a “cheat sheet” of things to include. The more you use them in your own projects, the more they’ll sink in. The lessons cram in a lot of info, so it can be hard to remember it all, especially if you study an hour a day! I’m sure you know more than you think you do. I had the same problem and surprised myself once I started on the projects.
Hey Tito
i struggle with similar things and from my expericence at least i think you can do this! Dont let what people say hold you back or any problems with mental health hold you back you got this man(or woman idk) go give it your best shot you can do this if you get stuck i would be happy to help you and i imagine so would the rest of the community go have some fun with this site Happy Coding
Best regards Vinnie
I had the same thoughts(“Will I remember everything!?”)when I was starting out, but eventually I realized that as long as you understand the concepts well, it’s all good. And you’re only going to remember stuff that you use the most and forget (all the details or intracacies, which is normal to everyone) the ones that you don’t stay in touch with or use that often, but understanding the concepts well, can help you know what it was about once you revisit them again when required.
We are all the same at the beginning. I also started recently and I had the same thoughts. Now it is much better. 1 hour a day is great, better than zero hours a day.
Keep going, it will eventually sink in
Hi Tito! Just want to let you know that what you’re feeling is totally normal and part of the process. Things will start to click for you soon. The best thing that you can do and should be doing is working on a project all by yourself. It can be anything you want it to be. It can be a simple portfolio website all for yourself. That way you’re able to learn what you read and put it to action. It’s one thing to know a theory it’s another to test it. Study and work on your own project daily for an hour or more a day and you’ll start to learn and it will sink in.
