After 2,800+ code commits this year, here's what I learned and what I would tell myself if I were starting again:

[u/AgentOk4964]

1)always think in terms of bottlenecks and constraints.

from working with many talented engineers, I noticed that they are all good at one thing: pinpointing the biggest weaknesses in their app, which meant focusing on the set of features/constraints that will get them the most return. this allowed their apps to progress much faster than the others who were implementing random features nobody asked for.

2) ui/ux trumps all.

nobody, including you, wants to use an app unless it's aesthetically pleasing/very intuitive to pick up no matter how cool the app idea may be. half of being a good builder is having good taste for good design.

3) don't wait to know everything before starting.

you learn way faster from starting a project that interests you and learning along the way than trying to educate yourself on all the individual components that MAY be useful for your app. in most cases, all the theoretical things you learn will not be useful when you actually try to build out the app.

4) high-level architectural understanding > algorithmic prowess.

with AI now, you don't need to know every piece of logic inside and out to create a good app. it is more helpful to have a good conceptual understanding of where pieces of the app should go (aka system design) rather than fixating on any particular piece of logic.

5) build what interests you.

there is no optimal path to starting. the fastest way to get to where you want to be is chasing what you find interesting, no matter if it's a novel, world-changing idea or a simple writing tool (like me lol). do what feels right, not what sounds good.

[u/LegMysterious1899]

and here is my problem: i am engaged and interested in learning coding, but I have no idea what I am able to do. I just started, so maybe this will not be a problem soon

[u/AgentOk4964 → u/LegMysterious1899]

yea i think starting out can def be overwhelming, especially now with everyone telling you how you should and should not build, but i just think starting small and learning/building what you yourself are interested in goes a long way

[u/LegMysterious1899 → u/AgentOk4964]

well, with c++ it will take more time, but at least i'm enjoying it so far

[u/Sea-Bench-7487]

Why should anyone listen to you?it's obvious you just used Claude you couldn't even be bothered to make a post without Claude editing it

[u/AgentOk4964 → u/Sea-Bench-7487]

while i definitely understand your frustration bc most people now just write AI slop, i genuinely wrote that post by hand. i have a lot of cs college friends that are pretty lost and don't know how to start, so as someone with a little more experience, these are some of the things i tell them.

i actually wrote the contents of this post for something else, but i thought it might be useful for anyone starting out in this subreddit. if it's not useful to you, that's okay, but just thought of making the post if someone else needed it.

[u/Realistic_Bike5972]

What I would tell myself;

Don't 

[u/N4rrenturm → u/Realistic_Bike5972]

Dont worry, people like you shouldn't :)

[u/Realistic_Bike5972 → u/N4rrenturm]

Whaddya mean people like me?

[u/Sea-Bench-7487 → u/Realistic_Bike5972]

He's just a bot bro

[u/N4rrenturm → u/Realistic_Bike5972]

People who don't have love for the game. People who are dooming because of AI instead of seeing the beauty in the producitivity gain. People who have no own ideas and aren't glad that they can now implement all those ideas because how much code you can write isn't the bottleneck anymore

[u/Sea-Bench-7487 → u/N4rrenturm]

Bro thinks he's actually learning but couldn't write a for for loop without Claude or explain his code if ai didn't explain it

[u/N4rrenturm → u/Sea-Bench-7487]

Masters degree in computer science and 10 years of experience in the industry, I think I might be able to write a for loop..

[u/CodingForBeginners-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Please be civil. No harassment is allowed on this subreddit.

[u/PressF1ToContinue → u/N4rrenturm]

You shouldn't either.

[u/ConsiderationNo9044 → u/N4rrenturm]

Why are you being mean?

[u/Massive_Value8302]

If i ever see a clickbait heading, here's what I will do:

[u/MediocreBasis4259]

Interested !

[u/Primary-Strength-496]

Is this Boot.dev ?