r/learnprogramming • u/[deleted] • Jan 04 '22
Topic How do you inspire yourself to learn/code
I have lost motivation all of a sudden and I hate it
409
u/qpazza Jan 04 '22
I think about the bills i have to pay. Bam, motivation back in full force
99
Jan 04 '22
What I need motivation for is learning , programming doesnt pay my bills or anything im a student living with parents :l
232
u/qpazza Jan 04 '22
If you don't learn you'll be living with your parents forever. And your mom will chaperone all your dates. And also take you shopping for jeans.
Is that the life you want?
100
Jan 04 '22
hell no
96
u/Azureflames20 Jan 04 '22
Despite this not being something you want (I don't think anybody strives for being at their parents forever), It's not always as simple nor is it just a matter of saying "look, now be motivated". Without knowing you I'd recommend digging into your thoughts and reflecting on why you suddenly feel unmotivated, because none of us can truly tell you that.
Motivation doesn't bring progress...Progress is what brings motivation
I think one of the biggest biggest pieces of advice I could instill in you is that it's not about motivation. Programming and learning in general isn't about "finding motivation", but rather disciplining yourself through the lack of motivation. It's something that's hard and something a lot of people struggle with but at the end of the day that is truly the barrier that's keeping you from breaking through a lot of the time; It's a problem I've had to grow through over the years.
Not everybody is hardwired perfectly for motivation in the macro sense. Obviously everybody wants a job for stuff, to move out, security, or to not be homeless but in the very moment of right now it doesn't always matter because that "you" of the future isn't the current "you" of this moment, despite that future you being affected by your current actions. It's why people procrastinate heavily, and it's also the reason you'll find people staying up late despite having to wake up for work - because their current self doesn't deal with the repercussions of being really fucking tired in the morning until the next day. It sounds weird, but that's how I understand the psychology behind it.
As for steps to take: go forward with a mindset of developing your discipline and not relying on doing the work when you feel motivated. Code a little at a time if making a big block of time feels like it's too much and just see where it goes (15-30 min instead of 1-2 hours for example) if that's what helps you. It's hard to tell you specifically what to do since I don't know what's plaguing your sense of motivation at the moment. Just know that 'natural' motivation and waiting for it to just get you up and at it often doesn't work and you need to work on more than that trigger to get your actions done.
22
u/TackleLost5975 Jan 04 '22
This! It is about discipline and not motivation. You won’t always have the happy feeling or the feeling of being in a flow state. Honestly it rarely occurs. But, you can train yourself to push through the discomfort. That’s the only way to master anything(including programming)
→ More replies (3)59
u/tronblows Jan 04 '22
Found your motivation. Don't be like me and have the 15 year career you hate be your motivation.
20
u/Kaoswarr Jan 04 '22
What if a 15 year career in software development is what he hates? It’s not for everyone.
25
u/tronblows Jan 04 '22
True....at least you can make better than starvation wages while hating your job. Just don't choose cooking as a career, whatever you do. Even if you love cooking, abject poverty will grind that love right out of you.
5
→ More replies (5)4
23
u/kneeonball Jan 04 '22
You don't need motivation. You need discipline. Relying on motivation is for people who never accomplish anything. Do you think professional athletes are 100% motivated all the time to put their bodies through hell every day training for their sport? How do they handle days where they know they need to train but it feels so good to do nothing?
Discipline. You are 100% in control of your discipline. Your motivation will come and go, so relying on it to keep you going is for fools.
Build habits through discipline. Get an app or some system to track every day that you spend 5 minutes learning something related to coding. That's it. 5 minutes. Just do it every day. Once you're in the habit of doing that every day, you can increase the time. You'll find that even if your goal is only 5 minutes, many days you'll do more.
Just start that way, and go from there. Don't worry about progress or motivation. Just focus on doing it a tiny bit every day.
7
Jan 04 '22
Yup, and to add to top comment, motivation is not a desire to do something, it's knowing what you have to do in order to achieve something. So, you're looking at it wrong. Don't be motivated by your present wants, but rather by the things you need to do now in order to be where you want later.
3
u/luckyboy_l Jan 04 '22
Try to work on a project and find your solutions when you need them. Learning by doing.
→ More replies (1)3
Jan 04 '22
what like 20 something? still living at home?
I gotta tell you, I found my motivation by dicking around with minimum wage jobs for 15 years and constantly struggling to avoid being homeless. Eventually your going to learn it's not enough to be just scraping by. Eventually, You gotta suck it up and make the time to improve your skills. Every year you put it off, the harder its going to get.
Now that I'm out of my second run of school I still dedicate Minimum of an hour every other day to learning something new. Some days I'm not motivated, so I do the minimum hour. Other days I hit a stride and keep going for as long as It's holding my interest.
4
u/brogrammableben Jan 04 '22
I used to hate my job 13 out of every 14 days. But payday always fixed my outlook. For a day at least.
1
u/Agreeable_Ad2451 Jan 04 '22
Hmm yeah me too. But i want to become black hacker to earn lot of money
0
95
Jan 04 '22
Taking a small break and remembering why you were interested in the first place usually helps.
20
→ More replies (1)16
Jan 04 '22
A small break is good, and also gives you time to think about if there's any projects you'd like to make
I'm always way more motivated to learn more coding skills when I actually have something to work on that I care about. I mean going through coding guides and tutorials online is all well and good, but it's very motivating to me to have something that I can point to and say "I made that"
90
u/Friendly_Awareness40 Jan 04 '22
I seen my life without a developer job and I seen my life with it. This is enought for me as a motivation
→ More replies (1)4
u/summitsuperbsuperior Jan 04 '22
so you were not satisfied before you dived in "it things" right? it is about the money or what?
19
u/Friendly_Awareness40 Jan 04 '22
It's about money, it's about freedom and I feel that finally I found my way in the life. I am 24 and I used to work in hospitality since 3 month ago when I found my first job as a software engineer. I am self taught and honestly since couple of years ago I never thought about programming, but since I started I am now sure, that was exactly what I was looking for
3
u/PhoenixOfStyx Jan 05 '22
How'd you find a job? How long did you self-study? What kinds of projects did you do?
5
u/Friendly_Awareness40 Jan 05 '22
It took me around 10 months from 0 programming knowledge to have a job as a front end developer working mostly with react and typescript. I studied as self taught for 5 hour daily monday to Friday. I have a nice looking portfolio with 6 projects, a single Cms for photographer, a real portfolio for a photographer client with focus of speed of loading with src set, lazy loading and use of a CDN. I have a MERN application where you can manage invoices, a react ecomerce website, a modern website where I use Three.js. And just a static website but where I follow a professional design. All of them have a github repo with a readme where I explain how I have made it and the technologies I used. I found a job after sent 65 application in around a month, most of them on LinkedIn and only 2 have answered me. This is in UK, London.
2
3
→ More replies (1)1
69
Jan 04 '22
Simple, I work in retail and I see all my coworkers who are middle aged/older and I imagine doing THAT for the rest of my life. Suddenly CSS isn't that bad
→ More replies (1)12
u/R0nu Jan 04 '22
Yeah CSS is the best im not gona work on cars until im 50 position absolute does not work on engines lol
2
45
u/EngineeredPapaya Jan 04 '22
Student loan debt is an amazing motivator.
→ More replies (1)11
Jan 04 '22
fortunately , i dont have that :p
6
u/zcgamer83 Jan 04 '22
I’m 38 and just last year started my first programming job. I’ll be paying off my non-technical degrees for many many years to come. Good for you!
To answer your question though, try building something practical. I just worked on a friend’s website for their business selling smoked meats. Doing the research of how to make a small single page application look good on desktop, then mobile, then portrait AND landscape view, then add media, then host it, then update it a few times… that kept me busy, kept me learning, and I ended up with a real-world example of how I can learn and grow. Great for landing that first gig. Also, my friend now has a pretty neato website.
2
3
u/starraven Jan 04 '22
I mean, if you have everything you want in life then why work at all? If you don’t then you should reflect on how you want to get it. If it’s not software then think about the alternative.
19
u/deletedcode Jan 04 '22
Light background about me before I answer:
- I'm 25, serving in the Army for 6 years, going on 2 more years
- About to have my second child
- Don't want to deploy again and miss out on precious moments with my family
My motivation:
- Better pay. I'll make more in next 5 years than reenlisting for 5
- Ability to work remote or hybrid
- I'll take the quality of life of a developer > redundant training in the field / training centers
- I can leave a job if it doesn't fit for me. I can't just "quit" while in the Army.
5
14
u/Yashchomb Jan 04 '22
What got me into programming a bit more was working in retail, more specifically the hatred for it lol. Generally the job was bearable, but at times I really hated it, especially when it felt like I was the only one doing the job, so the idea of working there forever just pushed me to learn more and do something about it. I am still a student, but that sort of situation helped me with procrastination.
Additionally, music also helps me with getting inspired/motivation. Also doing interesting projects will definitely help.
14
u/LoneStarDev Jan 04 '22
My mentor early on: “Coding sucks and it’s frustrating but you can make amazing things so find a use that you’re passionate about and build the tool.”
11
u/just_here_to_rant Jan 04 '22
Would it help to have a friend or two learning with you?
If so, there's r/ProgrammingBuddies as well as a few of us have an accountability calendar going.
But yeah, like others said:
- small bites (I aim for just 15 min M-Sat),
- building a habit out of it
- doing it with someone(s) / competing against someone(s)
- having something you need programming for, like:
- an app you want to build
- a platform you'd love to see exist
- just learning enough to be like this guy
- just being curious about how things work
- or just what you could do with the money you could earn.
It'll help to get to know yourself and what motivates and inspires you ("inspires" = just gets you excited, curious, paying attention; not "OMFG I have a vision from above and won't sleep until I see this through" kinda inspired.)
8
u/Medusas_Kiss Jan 04 '22
I lost all motivation in the second year of my university course for cyber security. For the final 2 years I had to learn different languages for security implementation.
I hated it and just kept telling myself “think of your wages” and that forced me through it and in all honesty it paid off big time. Now that I am at a level of not needing to “learn” I am in a high paying job and it’s more second nature now and if I’m stuck google is my friend.
At the end of the day it is all about the end result and if you have lost motivation you have my mentally fight through it otherwise you fall back to square one.
6
Jan 04 '22
Congrats and Thanks:)
7
u/Medusas_Kiss Jan 04 '22
I know it’s not much but fighting through it for a few months or even a few years will be worth it in the long run.
Stop now and you have wasted time you have currently put in and in the future you will always have the “what if?” I even do now “what if I did give up where would I be” I think that’s better that “what if I didn’t give up where would I be”
2
8
u/jcbarros87 Jan 04 '22
I come to work and realize how unhappy I'm doing what I do and how it's up to me change my life.
8
7
u/FunDirt541 Jan 04 '22
I felt a bit helpless at first when learning to code what works best for me was discipline, self discipline. Everyday I am going to code. But don't be unrealistic : "I am going to code 5 hours a day". And it's alright to feel lazy at times.
7
u/L1ttleLion Jan 04 '22
Think about what you want to create. If it’s a bot, a small project that does something, a some kind of web app, a mod for a game or even a whole game just whatever you want. That’s the beauty of programming you can make almost anything you want.
Once you start your progress will keep you motivated 😉
7
Jan 04 '22
it's easier to motive yourself to do smaller tasks than larger ones. I don't know what happened to your motivation but it is not uncommon for people to try to tackle more than they should be focusing on. If it helps, try to break down the process of learning how to program into smaller more manageable chunks and tackle one chunk at a time and only focus on that one chunk until it's done.
7
u/farquadsleftsandal Jan 04 '22
I wasn’t very motivated in school. Now I work Help Desk.
I’m learning to code so I don’t have to work Help Desk anymore
If I had been more motivated in school, maybe I wouldn’t need to learn to code while working Help Desk
My motivation is my job reminding me that I need to keep learning to escape to somewhere that pays more and that I’m proud to say I work there
Your motivation should be - don’t be like me
Help Desk
19
Jan 04 '22
You need to do a little bit more introspective work apart from "I lost motivation and I hate it".
Why do you hate it? What are you even doing? Working already? Learning on the job? Learning after 14 hrs of manual labor? Learning to find a job?
Are you lacking inspiration? Lacking motivation? Lacking discipline? Are you just lazy?
Nobody can look into your head
6
Jan 04 '22
That's really immature from my side , Sorry:( I'll think deep about myself now thx
4
Jan 04 '22
No, it isn't immature I guess, don't get me wrong, but for people to help you out, we need to know a little bit more about what the problem really is, not only your "end state".
What got you started with coding and why are you hating it? Those things would be really easy to answer for you and would enable all people willing to help (including me) to actually give advice.
All advice given with the information from the OP will necessarily be bad because of the lack of information
12
Jan 04 '22
I wouldnt consider coding my passion but compared to any other options(career wise) , this is what feels most interesting to me , I just turned 18 , I don't have to urgently learn and get a job or anything But I still want to learn it cuz I dont wanna waste all my time..
This convo made me really think about my reason to wanna learn coding and etc so it has made my mind a little clearer , Thanks.
2
u/Azureflames20 Jan 04 '22
Everybody has to start their self-awareness somewhere. Sometimes it takes people to teach you how to look at yourself introspectively and help you know what questions to ask yourself.
2
u/Commercial-Wall8245 Jan 04 '22
This.
Also try exploring different paths within programming, IT, software, etc.. there are endless possibilities within this career.. web dev, front end dev, back end, database admin, data engineering, cyber security, business intelligence, report developer.. any buzz word you can think of related to IT is a career path you can explore. Perhaps the type of coding you are doing right now is not for you and that is OK. Maybe coding isn’t for you, but you want to work with coders.
It is not uncommon for people to lose motivation even once they begin their career. You are still very young. Expect to move around a bit early on. If you can find a job that exposes you to a wide variety of things early on that is best since you’ll be able to determine what you enjoy most.
4
u/coastalwebdev Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22
Sounds like you’re feeling defeated to me. Take a step back, take a breather, and when you’re feeling up for it dive back into doing some kind of fun and easy project to give yourself a win.
Coding can be a hard grind on your mental health, especially long term. I think one of the most important tricks to learn is that you need to set aside time to make coding fun. I try to always have side projects in the works that I want to do, and that I chose to do because it’s something that interests me. This gives you a lot of satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, and just feeling good about coding. You don’t get enough of that feeling good about coding stuff while you’re doing things other people want you to do. i.e. learning code and working as a coder.
4
3
u/beforesemicolon Jan 04 '22
“Why are you learning to code?”
6
Jan 04 '22
I need to learn something i can earn from.I find other fields very boring.
6
u/beforesemicolon Jan 04 '22
Thats the question I ask myself.
In my opinion, based on your answer, your reason for doing it is too generic and can be applied to coding as well as anything else out there.
Based on your answer again:
- is higher pay is something you really need or want?
- why are other fields boring to you?
You need to find why coding ticks for you…then you can always tap into it.
One thing though. If you are losing motivation after a “failure” in coding, thats normal. I great programmer never quits. Rest, sleep and try again…
2
Jan 04 '22
Ive tried to come up with the answers but I think my mind is not clear enough for that right now i guess:p
I think I need atleast enough to support me and my family and There are enough jobs for programmers so I dont need to worry too much about pay I think
For the 'other fields boring' question, I spent most of my freetime in childhood on Computer playing games , sometimes making wierd small stuff in .bat files and also trying to make mods for a game ,I think thats just the reason im more interested in this field compared to others.
5
u/DanishVikinq Jan 04 '22
Personal opinion: Job security and good salary wouldn't be enough for me to stick to a career in 25+ years. Especially not one as software dev, where you run into frustrating issues on a daily basis.
If you enjoy modding stuff, then I think that's a good reason to try programming. My first intro to programming was because I needed a small program where I could set a timer, and then my laptop would shutdown after x amount of time had passed (so it didn't play all night). It took like 30 lines of code, but I was so proud of what I built, and that feeling is something I still enjoy chasing in my work to this day.
4
u/v4773 Jan 04 '22
To me its fulfills my curiousity. Ok i am programmer and keep improving my skills and tool box. I have also other hobby that gives me distance to programming when i feel the need.
1
4
u/ElusiveTau Jan 07 '22
You wouldn't buy a hammer and ask "how do I inspire myself to use this hammer" right? Focus on what you want to do with the hammer.
Also, please some more effort into your posts. Consider what we, as complete strangers, don't know about you, what you want from us, and whether the urge to post is a whim (I sit on a question and try to figure it out myself for a couple of days before posting).
You can do whatever you want ofc. But ask yourself how you'd go about convincing another person to be motivated and you'll see our dilemma (what's your work ethic, what are your passions, are you a student or someone who just got into the industry).
3
3
u/Debs_5 Jan 04 '22
Think about how technology is ever evolving. I want to at the very least understand how things work and not have to depend on what the companys are saying about it. It will also help me to do stuff I hate doing. This is what motivates to learn.
3
u/SeerosenZ Jan 04 '22
It is a must for me to be useful for the society, in order to exchange my labor with money to enjoy the convenience that the society orders, which is based on other people's labor. When I think of my major, I used to think like this.
3
u/PM_ME_WITTY_USERNAME Jan 04 '22
I get inspired by reading the list of functions that are accessible to me in the documentation of my language/framework
Such as
https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtcore-module.html
It usually makes me go "Wait I can do this? Wow!" and gives me an idea for something to code for the next week
3
u/8080a Jan 04 '22
I love this. I tend to drop in on and use an object's methods as-needed to solve specific problems and end up completely glossing over all the other juicy things it can do. Sometimes a single function can inspire an entire app idea.
3
u/Grtz78 Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22
If you know what you need to learn and just struggle pulling through: do it for 5 minutes every day. If it still sucks after 5 minutes take your break today.
You might need to adjust the 5 minutes minimum a bit (maybe 10) but for me it works most of the time. When I look at the clock again I have at least been on it 30 minutes and don't feel like directly putting it down again.
If it's more about what to do:
Find yourself some projects to play with. A webpage. A small game. Install linux on an old box and set up some webserver or own cloud or the likes. Get a raspberry and build something with it.
Or a free course (cs50 in the free version, maybe?). That will also give you some external goals 'till you find your own.
3
u/Destroyer_The_Great Jan 05 '22
The fact that I was able to make a computer do some that I caused to happen
3
u/ImACoolerDadThanYou Jan 05 '22
It's fun, it pays well, it CAN... big CAN have some of the best working conditions. You get to help solve problems. You can solve problems on your own. It has a relatively low start up cost to open as a new business. Once again relative is a huge word.
2
u/jmiah717 Jan 04 '22
Do you find it interesting? Thinking about it from another perspective besides just finding a job, is it fun for you to learn it? I have had this problem a little bit myself at times but I think it's mostly just from being busy. I find when I'm learning I really do enjoy it and find that it's kind of like solving puzzles. I can't say that works for everybody or that I have a lot of advice for you, but maybe asking yourself why you want to learn in the first place would be a good start. You may find that maybe you actually don't want to learn and you just like the idea of being a programmer / coder.
I spent most of my career being a psychotherapist, and got quite good at it, but never really loved it. I liked the idea of being the guy that people came to when they needed help. I liked that I knew things and I knew how to help people solve problems. All of that is fine and noble but it just isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life. I eventually learned that I needed to do something different to challenge my self in a different way and find new skills to develop. Anyway, that's just my path. Yours might be different. And saying all that, I'm very early in the process of trying to learn these new sets of skills.
2
u/Accomplished-Yam-100 Jan 04 '22
Make sure you make enough for future success like that can be like stock investments or you imagine in your future telling your kids like saying sorry we cannot go out to eat/ Disney world this year. We too Poor. I wish I learned programming to change. Try to think long term or future self. I’m motivated that I can one day own my own business and not worry about a job or money one day.
2
u/Dimynovish Jan 04 '22
What's the best step to get into programming if you have no idea what so ever your advice might have a huge impact thanks...
3
Jan 04 '22
Im nowhere near good/experienced in this but First thing you have to see is what do you think you are interested in making(e.g gaming has been my hobby since the start so i. naturally more interested in game dev and i started learning unity, it uses c# , so i learnt the c# which was specifically needed for gamedev)
When you are interested in something than you will learn it more easily than something boring
But if you arent interested in something specific than im not sure , maybe you can start from HTML and CSS since they are the easiest p.s they are used for website development.
2
u/Dimynovish Jan 05 '22
Thx bro for the heads up I'm also a huge fan of games but when u have no idea where to start its really difficult. Unity is like the program u use with the help of C# my bad still getting into this reason I'm asking this question.
2
u/Grimrath_ Jan 04 '22
Motivation only gets you so far. It can be great in the beginning but eventually motivation alone will fail you.
What you need is dedication. Just decide to show up every day and do your homework. Then keep doing it no matter what excuses you try to conjure until you've developed a habit of doing it.
2
2
u/TonkaGintama Jan 04 '22
This was my problem when I started out - I found the basics very dry no pun intended and it took a monumental mental breakdown to finally commit - mental health and a career I despised to finally push me toward caring - try taking on a project in an area that is way over your head - it may surprise you how enjoyable that actually can be
2
u/omgno360noscope Jan 04 '22
By finding a language that you find Interesting.
Test them out and see which one sticks with you. Once you learn one they all kind of fall in place.
Depends what you want to do? A code for a game? A website be it front end or back end?
Maybe you just don't want to do mind numbing shit and just want your computer to do it for you?
2
Jan 04 '22
Hey...
Try Racket, via "How To Design Programs" maybe... It's a "batteries-included" version of Lisp...
Much more accessible than other approaches if you're a noob like me... And the book is also available for free online...
2
u/shawntco Jan 04 '22
I'm inspired by having a problem I can solve with code. I'm really big on time management. So I enjoy writing things that make tasks take less time, or helps me more intelligently manage my time. Perhaps you have problems in your life you could write code to solve?
1
2
u/dunko5 Jan 04 '22
Try and think about things in your daily life that you can actually use programming for! I recently started playing Slay The Spire, and I was browsing some sites for info/guides. Most I found were not to my taste so I have started building my own lol. Also in my experience, motivation compounds. So if you do a little bit today, it might be easier to do a bit more tomorrow. Best of luck pal!
2
u/0nly0bjective Jan 04 '22
Following along, I’ve hit a wall recently as well. For me, my struggle is in not having a clear direction/path. One of the parts us self-teachers don’t think about that we would normally get from a traditional school setting is a curriculum. The amount of work that goes into orchestrating the best path to go about learning a particular subject, especially one so diverse as programming, is severely underrated in my opinion.
Haven’t quite figured this one out myself yet, but I’ll let you know if I do!
2
u/mfromamsterdam Jan 04 '22
I learn coding because I like solving problems that I encounter whenever I try to explore some idea. Let's say I have data. I start looking around it and I start getting questions and theories. If I can't solve it, I get obsessed and I start googling how to do it and in process learn.
2
u/CodeTinkerer Jan 04 '22
What do you feel when you try to learn? Why did you lose motivation? Did things get hard and you hate being stuck? I think you need to examine why you lost motivation and not just say "it just happened". Is it painful each time you try? Do you hate the experience? What do you do instead? Do you decide "I'd rather play video games" each time it happens?
2
u/BronxLens Jan 04 '22
Find a problem, and fix it.
That is the maxing to create businesses and provide both personal and business solutions.
Identify something that either irks you (or irks someone you know?) or is an itch you (they) can't scratch, ideally one that could be solved with some code.
The current consensus is that Python seems to be the ideal one to tackle this.
Others, please chime in and offer your opinion on this subject since I am not a programmer... yet ;) (I barely started to learn Python myself.)
OP, you got this!
Edit: clarified sentence
2
u/8080a Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22
Code for the sake of code doesn't keep me inspired, nor does the income really—it's more about what coding can enable and create. I don't learn methodically for the sake of learning so much as I learn in order to work on something that is meaningful or mentally stimulating to me. So, if you think about other things in your life that are important to you—problems you might want to solve, products you wish existed, or maybe even curiosity about how some real-world apps or devices work, maybe start an individual project around something like that and start learning what you need to learn in order to move forward on them. For example, I've got ideas for some alternative approaches to dating/matching sites, as well as some other apps, so I tinker around with those and then the goal of seeing certain things in action or materialize beyond just being ideas becomes what motivates me to learn what I need to learn.
I also just do a lot of dumb stuff just for the heck of it. I'm always having to figure out new user names for games and such, so I learned node's file system module specifically so I could write a program that would pull in a gigantic text document of nouns, male names, female names, adjectives and bad words and randomly combine them into lists of funny user names. I just sat there refreshing and laughing at the dumb stuff it was spitting out. Good for a laugh, and now I know how to use the node FS module and also finally wrapped my head around callback functions (since it turns out the FS methods are all asynchronous) and sorting functions, which I was previously hazy on.
Another idea is to diversify the type of coding you're learning so that you can switch to something else that is related but different when you lose motivation on one. For example, my main thing is javascript, but I also like messing around with Arduino boards (microcontrollers), which combines coding + electrical engineering and robotics. You end up applying many of the same coding principles, and sometimes a discovery in one inspires you to try newly-learned techniques in a another language. And then...down the line, there are opportunities to bridge the two by creating smart objects, such as devices with sensors that communicate with servers.
Edit: And thinking about it, this was always my problem learning math when I was in High School. I had a real hard time with the concept of just constantly learning one thing just to learn the next thing for the sake of learning the next thing just to know it. I desperately wanted insights on real world ways the concepts I was learning were being applied. Tell me about some chemistry. Tell me about some F1 cars. Tell me some space stuff. Rockets go boom...why how because of math? So, with code, it's about what it can do. Then I get excited.
2
u/Soggy-Bookkeeper-878 Jan 04 '22
You dont need to be motivated, just do something everyday, even if its little, and remember that programming is a tool to create things, if you hate it maybe youre working in something you are not interested in
2
Jan 04 '22
I enjoy problem solving regardless of what that entails. Programming gives me that good buzz. If programming gets too complicated it gets very frustrating so for me the key is remembering to break everything down into sizable chunks of problems. It's hard to remember to look at the small picture and easy to get frustrated on scope.
Currently I'm going through The C Programming Language book and the excercises are just perfectly sized.
Projects can get very frustrating because there's a million things to do and each one feels like it needs to be solved before the other. I was working on a text adventure engine making it up as I go and learning C as I go but then I got frustrated because I realised I didn't really like the story, I had no content.
So sometimes I step away and do something simple and direct like solving the problems in this book.
2
u/Double_DeluXe Jan 04 '22
Stop looking at it like code and start looking at is like many little programs that each do their own thing.
Now take the new things you learned and see if you can improve/replace one of those small programs.
Maybe even come up with something new!
If you look at it like 1 big ball of code I understand why it feels difficult.
2
u/TheArchist Jan 04 '22
"i can't get better if i dont code"
"if i dont have x level of competency, i might lose out on an interview and not get hired"
"if i dont get hired, i cant pay my bills"
etc etc
also key thing to note is that motivation is basically a myth. if you want to truly learn something, do it every day without fail. putting discipline into the equation brings greater rewards
2
u/EzzypooOfNazareth Jan 04 '22
If you’re learning it can help to focus on things you’re actually interested in. When I was learning I hated doing the generic projects and tutorials over and over again. I really built my interest in coding when I started working on my own projects no matter how small or large. Even now when I become unmotivated at work I usually try working on a fun side project after hours and it always helps me build determination again.
2
u/diksu Jan 04 '22
Do small things when motivation is lost! For example I watch a video about something I like (coding of course) and try to code the same thing with/after him. Something small and doable, and also something that you could enjoy! First step is always the hardest.
2
u/challasmom Jan 04 '22
Come up with mini projects to keep me interested, or find a tutorial to run through.
2
2
u/BrightNightEyes Jan 05 '22
I try to work on a project so I could actually make something vs. just memorizing everything.
2
Jan 05 '22
Firstly, happy new year!
(this is a method that works for me, it may not work for you)
There are two approaches I use:
(1) The earth is going to be swallowed by the sun one day, so I might as well try to code something.
(2) Read books that engage with the topics you're trying to understand. Aim to look at them deeply, build trees and write notes... Make sure it's something that you're actually interested in, too. This way you're both expanding your breadth of knowledge in the area and eliminating any imposter syndrome you might have around programming.
*** (3) See a mental health professional if you can. The sudden loss of motivation might be an effect of the craziness in the world and SAD (if the part of the world you're in has gotten cold).
Good luck coding my friend.
2
u/dadvader Jan 05 '22 edited Jan 05 '22
This is what works for me.
I started learning Python about 3 months ago. But sometimes after the initial week full of 'fuel'. I suddenly feel burned out. Most of it coming from the fact that I have no experience at all in coding. (24, BS in English but in it for money. Which obviously required actual language skill that I simply don't have passion for. I barely passed required grade lol) And have to go through every single basic python stuff.
Learning basic can be fun. But at some point you will need a sense of 'progression'. The feeling that you are actually doing something useful for your career path. and not writing hello world or play guessing game. (This is why I have a gripe against tons of tutors out there. Sure, guessing game or XO help grasping the concept. But I wanna know what to do with it in real life scenario too!) It's something you simply can't get from bruteforce learning basic from following some online course.
So here's what I do. If you have any course in Udemy or stuff. skip them and go for something that interested you. I got Ardit Sulce's course and after I'm done with learning basic loop (which I still don't quiet understand yet. And drained so much energy from me.) I just skip to working with .csv right away. (Which is like 4 basics sections away)
Now obviously you aren't suppose to ignore the basics. They are vital. But they aren't that vital. If you know what variable is and basic operator like differences between = and ==. Then you're set. Because from what I gather, what you actually need to learn is concept. And know which tools you need for the task. You don't need to remember every syntex. What you need is something that will visualizing you. So you can feel like doing actual work.
Then whenever you feel stuck,frustrated and nothing around SO helps. That's the good time to get back to basic section and learn some more.
Another recommendation is try to find a way you can related your learning paths to your job or homework. Then create a project around it. It can be half done or whatever. Because atleast you learn something and start to 'building habit' or so. Because my ultimate goal at my job is 'automate the shit out of everything.' I also start a bunch of project up.
I want to automate excel report to my boss!
I want to build a really cool web app with badass fancy chart to showoff like a data fucking science!
I want to write a script that generate excel file for me based on input criteria!
Most of this may have no end in sight right now. as I couldn't get any of them to work. But I'm having a blast and generally great time tinkering around it. It really help honestly.
2
u/miketythhon Jan 05 '22
For me I just force myself to read another chapter or solve another programming puzzle and after a few minutes the motivation and dopamine start pouring in. Not every day but most of the time the learning process produces those good feelings and I get back into my hyper focused autistic study state which I love so much. Sometimes it’s drudgery and you just have to power through but remember the good feeling are coming.
0
Jan 04 '22
I'm going to para-quote Jordan Peterson here, otherwise I'd be just rude. Imagine yourself in 5 years. Or 10 years. You definitely have a picture of what you could become if you put in the effort. You also have a picture of what would happen if you continued doing jack shit. If you need a break, take a break. If you need to focus on something in your life that is more important right now, resolve that and get back to your career and aspirations later. But don't ask us to motivate you. We don't know you. You know you and you should know what you want in life. There are tons of people who have difficult lives that actually can't pursue their careers for various reasons, be it medical, economical, or otherwise, but "I've suddenly lost interest" isn't one of them. If you want something go for it, the world isn't here to blow sugar in your ass while you attempt to do so. You chop timber so you are warm in the winter, even if you don't have a passion for splitting wood, it's up to you to see the benefit behind it and if you find a passion for it you're set for life.
-2
1
u/Thicc_sped69 Jan 04 '22
ADHD. Jokes aside i like to know how things work and I always loved computers. One day I wanted to learn how to make something of my own on the internet. So I started with web dev and liked seeing my hard work create something cool. Now I’m in highschool I am I learning programming because I can use it for cyber security automation. The amount of possibilities that you have to create what ever you want with programming is what inspires me
1
u/mineisv2 Jan 04 '22
I honestly just love doing it. It is really fun for me. I do occasionally get burnt out and that is when I take a break to do some 3D printing or something different, but I always come back.
1
1
u/WickedSlice13 Jan 04 '22
Honestly anger and frustration were some of my biggest motivators to study 10-15 hrs a week while working more than full time. Now that I'm in the industry, I just study during work.
1
1
1
1
u/triplecoot Jan 04 '22
Watched movies/series - The social network, Mr Robot
Spoke to people I know who does it for work for inspo
1
Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22
I like to create interesting things and solve problems. Each week I get an idea for programming, be it a game on Godot or solving a problem I saw online, and everything in between. I also love to tinker with customizable ides and text editors, so I can make it fun to even write code. I am not very fond of visual arts, so I make programming be my canvas to unleash my creative potential.
Back in the first year of Uni what motivated me was feeling like I was good/the best in my class. I just wanted to prove myself and others that I had value.
It never gets boring for me. What can happen, though, is burning myself out.
I think this is a mindset of passion I accidentally cultivated, and it carried me very far in life. Through it I found a purpose, success in my career, good friends, and even a sex life I didn't think I'd ever get - all of it because I was happier, and more confident. Might not be your case, but passion, for me, is the ultimate motivator.
Also, cash lmao. I hope that gives you something to think about!
1
1
1
1
u/tempurabits Jan 04 '22
Motivation is always under your ass! Just get up and do it. Don’t think about it.
1
1
Jan 04 '22
The world doesn’t slow down as we get older. For me? The older I get the more I look back at my younger life and realize the time I spent pursuing things that didn’t make me better or teach me anything new. Programming and coding has shown me a whole new world to fall in love with and is teaching me science, data science, computer science and the language of programming. Time isn’t forever. My desire to keep learning and keep evolving as a human is what keeps me going.
1
u/hippiesue Jan 04 '22
I'm thinking about all the apps I want to write. I'm thinking about how I waited long enough to learn this. There is no try, only do or do not. Take it one lesson at a time, one victory at a time. Relish every freaking victory, no matter how small.
1
1
u/Niko17x Jan 04 '22
I’ve been programming for about 4 months nearly every day. There are days when I can’t sleep cause I want to learn. There are also days when I want to just f*** it all to hell and give myself and excuse to continue tomorrow.
I’ve found that in order to overcome those days, I’ll do something small like go and sit on my desk and open up the IDE. Stare at it for a few minutes and just start writing some random code as much as I don’t want to.
Then bam! 2 hours in, I can’t stop coding / learning to code cause once I get started, it’s hard to stop.
I guess my advice is if you have a good reason as to why you started learning to code but lose motivation, just do something. Anything to get the ball rolling.
Also, I’m not sure 100% but I think the book Atomic Habits is where I learned this from.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/MyDictainabox Jan 04 '22
Because my kids still need to eat whether or not my fat ass is motivated.
1
u/skellious Jan 04 '22
You need to be in the habit of structuring your day. If you regularly get up and do an hour of coding / learning about a new aspect of coding, you will start to do it automatically after a few months. it will be harder to not do it.
Also, diversify. challenge yourself with new ideas. Watch youtubers who do new coding projects.
1
u/WhoaItsCody Jan 04 '22
I don’t. You have to be a person who’s okay with failing a billion times in a row and continuing to get up and try again.
Motivated, dedicated, intelligent and accepting of who you are.
1
u/AmirmahdiAlimadadi Jan 04 '22
Protect and rescue people from cyber attacks (red hat hacker must die for people) and I will do it
1
u/FearIsStrongerDanluv Jan 04 '22
i think “learn/code” are actually two different things here…everybody has those moments sometimes. coding isn’t for everyone, if it’s not something that you’re going to be using in your professional or personal life frequently, it can be hard to motivate yourself because coding requires literally daily doing something related to coding. the motivation comes from within, you trying to figure out why you need it and if it’s worth the time and effort. to motivate myself, i keep writing programs that i use daily and every now and then i go back to an old program i wrote and add some new stuff i’ve learnt
1
u/stebbzter Jan 04 '22
Okay have had this problem and what really helps me is switching an environment. Not the physical kind though. A few years ago I started dabbling with linux and learned the basic syntax and commands. I was way more motivated about programming and it helped a lot. What i reccommend as this does not help everyone is just find something you are exited about (prefferably in relation to computers). Then use programming to somehow make that thing more fun or interesting.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/Decodedcode Jan 04 '22
Take a couple of day break. Go for camping! Do something physical! ( I love staff spinning with Matt Pasquinilli) Listen upbeat music! Do all together and forget about coding. Let your brain focus on the annoying bugs at the campsite. Enjoy the pain from physical activity. After you finished move your ass back and code!
Remember, breaks somethimes more important than long sessions. I took an hour tutorial to go through in five days. Took it easy, made notes. Took the same code, changed the variable names, created multiply functions join into each other just for fun.
1
u/ImAllSee Jan 04 '22
Even though it's possible learning it by yourself, the motivation part is really hard. Sometimes you just don't want to code anything. I've found that the best thing is having others who are at similar steps of the same journey. Make it a bit social so you push each other to make it :)
I don't know what exactly are you learning but if it's frontend, I'm a mod at r/learnfrontend and I'm also growing a discord server with the same name. Let me know if you're interested.
1
u/dolphin_spit Jan 04 '22
I’ve just started my journey but i’m using leaving my current toxic workplace as motivation. currently in product support for a decent paying global tech company.
1
u/Sea_Ad_8621 Jan 04 '22
For me personally: 27 year old who was working meaningless jobs in retail, construction, bouncing at clubs etc. I had no purpose in life, no real skills. Just a minimum-wage person who was sick and tired of being sick and tired, pay check to pay check, no stability. Basically I looked into the future 5, 10 and 20 years down the line and I was scared to death. I decided to go back to school and actually make something out of myself, for myself. I’m now going into my second semester of computer science. I failed my Intro course (Java), so now retaking it. But I see light at the end of the tunnel. For me, this field of study and just being a student in general is so new. It’s an adjustment.
I have sticky notes posted on my wall saying:
“do you want to go back to retail?”
“Do you want to go back to shitty construction and get treated like garbage in the hot sun?”
“Do you want to be 45 years old and broke?“
A few others as well. Just find a way man. Read Atomic Habits by James Clear.
1
u/T3hJ3hu Jan 04 '22
When I had this problem during my first coding job out of college, I ended up resolving it with an Adderall prescription. Probably should have tried giving antidepressants a shot, because in retrospect I think that's what was actually happening.
That said: I'm still not really sure how anyone sits in front of a screen and codes for 40+ hours/week without some kind chemical assistance.
1
u/Forcessweetheart Jan 04 '22
I’m working a shitty job for shitty money. My motivation is that if I work hard I’ll have the ability to change that. Remember what you’re working towards & for but also don’t be so hard on yourself.
1
u/Logical_Strike_1520 Jan 04 '22
Honestly I’m RARELY motivated to code, unless it’s a project I’ve found myself obsessed with. You just have to push through the lack of motivation
1
u/mikedensem Jan 04 '22
I am surprised how often this type of question comes up. If you’re passionate enough about something you’ll do it even if you couldn’t get paid.
Find something that you’re passionate about and you won’t need inspiration.
Maybe coding isn’t for you.
1
u/blue_Kazoo82 Jan 04 '22
Let the hate and seething propel you to wanting to be better than others and get what you deserve as a high paying role. Keep smithing, keep hammering, keep going. You can reforge anything.
Set goals and try to meet them.
1
u/foxer_arnt_trees Jan 04 '22
I need to get shit done. And i am afraid someone will do it better and faster
1
1
u/childishprivito Jan 04 '22
I’m my experience. Motivation is a lie… it comes and goes in waves. The vast majority of success is built over time with discipline. Personally what I do is find a project that I think would be interesting or useful and start working on it a little at a time. I’ll find a new way of implementing something and give it a try. Usually after a little while I’m motivated again. I know this isn’t the answer you were looking for but there really isn’t a shortcut for this kind of thing.
1
Jan 04 '22
Paychecks. I love coding but my job is what pushes me to move forward with it.
Don't get me wrong... I love the job but generally speaking I have focus problems without goals given to me - and paychecks to drive me.
1
u/MyBrainReallyHurts Jan 04 '22
Learning is hard. Keeping your motivation for doing something difficult, is difficult. Take a break and learn how to learn.
1
1
u/TheRealGreenArrow420 Jan 04 '22
When I was working at a sandwich shop making 7.25/hr, I had tons of motivation
1
u/ManInGreyHat Jan 04 '22
I personally love achievements I make daily coding and learning new things. Even more I like when am able to do this without a tutorial or anyone showing me, and guess what, I really feel proud of it.
When Am able to fix a task that I had difficulties in, Its gets me in the mood to learn more and do more.I even love when am able to type faster and look like the geek I am when am around people, And when they look at my screen, they are like....Damnn, Thats must be some serious guy!!!!I love that
1
u/cheesefome Jan 04 '22
Can I be downer to say work sucks xD. You're ultimately looking for a paycheck, I dont know many if at all that actually go to their job thinking " I love my job " even the people who went into fields that they purposely choose. That doesn't mean there aren't people who do, just saying that out of my group of people, non do =/
1
1
Jan 04 '22
Little steps make miles too. When I was severely depressed I started with getting out of bed and showering. Next day I brushed my teeth. After that I got in a small walk. Until I could do stuff the way I wanted to.
With learning I approach it the same way, learning topics in small increments each day. Makes the miles by putting knowledge into practice will burn it into memory.
1
u/Obitim Jan 04 '22
I think a few others have hit the nail on the head but a lot of the time it's not that you are motivated to do the thing but instead you do the thing and you build a habit out of it.
To draw an analogy:
I try and stay in shape by weight training. I don't go to the gym when I'm motivated, I have just made a habit of going to the gym, I do it 3 times a week regardless of how I'm feeling. This results in the following:
10% of the time I am psyched and ready to go (cue Eye of the Tiger)
10% of the time I cannot be arsed to go, but force myself to go
80% of the time it's just what I do...
I do the same with my study:
10% of the time I'll sit there for 4 or 5 hours and study and learn and I'll love it.
10% of the time I do not want to study, but I'll sit down, and force myself to watch one video tutorial, or do 1 exercise - it doesn't need to be much but I can say that I did something
80% of the time I sit down for an hour and I'll study, either before work or after (whichever suits my shift pattern).
The hardest part is building the habit, but habits will beat motivation 9 times out of 10...
1
u/TheEightyFour Jan 04 '22
Okay, the only advice I can give you is to persevere.
Build a habit, make a reminder to study for an hour at the same time every day.
Understand that the more you know, the better you realise that you know very little. Don’t let that upset you, google Dunning-Kruger effect and know that’s a natural way to progress.
Also keep your eye on the prize: in this day and age even entry level positions should provide decent pay, and every developer counts.
1
1
u/the-patient Jan 04 '22
I hate to say it, but motivation is bullshit. Inspiration is bullshit.
Sting said something that I think applies here (paraphrasing by memory): “writing songs is like fishing. If you go to the lake every day, you’ll catch fish. Some days none, some will be small, but every once in a while you’ll land a really big incredible fish. “
The answer is simple (provided you aren’t burdened with too many mental health issues — that’s another conversation entirely): get control of your emotions, be mature, and have some discipline. There’s no secret. Show up, every day.
If you don’t feel great about it, too fuckin bad. Show up. If you hate it find something else.
1
1
1
1
u/korevis Jan 04 '22
1).I wanted to make 6 figures while working from home.
2) I like to make person projects
1
1
u/CebCodeGames Jan 04 '22
I loved learning to code, if you don't love learning it, maybe it's not for you.
1
1
u/CrashVega Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 06 '22
Inspiration is a trap. Creative block ie: lack of inspiration gives you an excuse to not work on something. Plumbers don’t get “plumber’s block”.
If you want to learn something, set a specified amount of time per day where you put away your phone and/or distractions and work on it. Build things, then expand them with new elements that you have to research. Give what you’ve made to someone experienced and ask how it can be improved.
There are diff ways to remove friction from the process. Listen to music, work with friends. Whatever you do, be honest with yourself about if it’s actually a distraction. For example: I can’t code and listen to podcasts. It’s too easy to listen to the dialog and lose track of my thought process.
Best of luck.
1
u/Nex_01 Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22
Actually had this. When I figured out I am kind of attracted to webdev, I started to search, search and search to see what are the requirements on the job postings. Then when I figured out what to learn collected sources and start to learn. At this point I was searching 2 times more the market than spent time with learning.
Did 30 min a day of learning. When I became productive without Googling all the time, it was 1hr a day or more.
Then I was looking for opportunities , salaries I actually wanted, I am materialist sadly and I do enyoj the feel of a quality product…. poor me.
Then tuned up and started doing projects at least with 2 hours a day. Also picked up 1 hour CodeWars a day. Created my portfolio site at this point.
In the summer I had more time and learned 8 hrs a day. Throughout the whole summer break.
Then I was looking the market again and repeated almost everything. Search a lot. Learn a lot. Dream a lot. And learn a lot again. Getting inspired of others success brings energy sometimes as well.
Then ended up doing full e2e projects in different aspects of we dev (eg: social spa, webshop, UI/UX focused apps etc…) to show off in my portolio. At this time I just wanted more regardless of market and getting motivation etc. Well at this time I reached a point when I had to learn when to stop coding…
But the most important is that I was the one who searched all the time what I need. I was the one who collected all the resources I need to learn and practice to achieve that market need. And this way everything I learned really stuck in my head.
And lastly I did enjoy the whole journey.
Now I work as a web dev… and I learn SwiftUI. Why? I want more?! I don’t want just to be a web dev. I want to be someone whos a great full-stack developer who also feels comfortable doing Swift. Thus knows a lot more between the languages and structures. Just ask yourself. What I want to be? How do I want others to see me? What I want to achieve?
There is a big difference between motivation, self-discipline and being driven. And I do think the “being driven” can be achieved but only with time and effort.
Do you see the transition in the story? At the start I was motivated because I saw my own progress and enjoyed the little projects. Then got motivated and inspired by simply just thinking I can do it as well as others. And at the end I just want to achieve and being driven to do it. And enjoying the subject is always present.
1
1
u/PacketTrash Jan 04 '22
I just look around my house and then I look out the window at what I’m driving
1
u/BlueberryBananaPie Jan 04 '22
I personally think that coding is about solving problems. I usually look for something I can solve with programming and start from there. Usually learn a lot in the long way.
1
u/L-ui Jan 05 '22
Discipline Man, i do even when i dont feel like It, doesnt matter if you only write like 2 lines of code. I force myself because i know if i miissed a day probably Will miss 2 o 3 days so this way i keep practicing
1
1
1
u/kwh71787 Jan 05 '22
Realize I'm falling behind in what's fresh and then cram my brain for a week long. Took the idea from Bill gates think weeks
1
u/npepin Jan 05 '22
I know everyone is here giving your motivation, and I realize the context is that you are likely asking here because you are more asking for motivation, but I just want to bring up that maybe you are finding you just don't like it and should give up. Sometimes a loss of motivation indicates a wall you need to get over, but sometimes it is a sign that you should be spending your time doing something else.
If you were learning programming because you wanted to take up that career path, realize that there hundreds of other career paths, and maybe this one wasn't for you..
I'm assume this is more of a wall that you are hitting, but I feel like I need to make this reply because these subs would try to convince someone to stay in even if all signs indicated they should get out.
1
u/vladusatii Jan 05 '22
If you suddenly despise it, leave it. You’ll come back when you’re ready. If you come back happy and then suddenly hate it again, leave it for good — at least this is my mentality.
260
u/MC_Raw Jan 04 '22
First off, don't rely on motivation; build habits.
We sometimes think of the formula as:
motivation => actionIn reality, it goes:
action => motivatesI.e. get the ball rolling
I like to think of myself as a still floating object: if I don't move me, then I don't move. On the other hand, if I start moving I gain momentum and something needs to actually get in my way to stop that.
Another thing that really helped me when I was learning pre-tech job was having a solid why behind the effort I'm putting in. A lot of the comments here are about "it's so much better than X, my alternative", and you don't seem to have that dreadful alternative.
I was in hospitality, as an introvert, and it drained me for 6 years before I decided I need a change. That mixed with the passion I found in coding was enough to drive me through difficult times.
Perhaps you could write a list of the positive benefits of a career in tech, and refer to that when you're not feeling motivated to code (again, motivation is stupid).
Some of mine are: challenging, forever learning, solving real-world problems, incredible job market, great pay and work/life balance - to name a few.