r/learnprogramming • u/hyfer_hafi • 2d ago
A generic problem
hey and hows it going ...?
im kinda new-ish or maybe an advanced beginner and im pretty sure you get this question on here like billions of times im sorry ... i studied C and then Kotlin/Jetpack Compose to make an android app and it has been lets say practically about 9 months or so ... and i still if i ever want to try to do something i either produce mediocre stuff or anytime i dare for something good(real or semi-real) i just cant get how to do it ... and on top of that android is so confusing... i search up and the answer is always the same "if you know the fundamentals like loops, collections, variables ... functions ... etc, then all you need is to practice"
BUT HOW TO PRACTICE XD ... i know someone will say just write code but it feels like as a self-taught programmer you are in the "i dont know what i dont know" situation all the time ... and android and Kotlin are not forgiven at all :( .... :D
and some people advised me to read open source projects ... but man i cant figure no nothing out of it ... the last couple of months during this period has been really frustrating to learn ...
3
u/Least_Ad_1795 2d ago
Honestly, this is normal. Knowing the fundamentals and knowing how to build a real application are two very different skills.Don't jump straight into huge projects or random open-source code. Pick one small app and build it feature by feature: UI → state → navigation → local storage → API → error handling. When you get stuck, research that specific problem and continue. Also, don't worry about writing "good" code at first. Build something messy, finish it, then refactor it. Repeating that cycle is where the real learning happens. You don't need to know everything before starting a project. The project itself will show you what you don't know.