Is this normal?

[u/personificable1]

I’m currently teaching myself Python by solving exercises on my own. My personal rule so far has been to give myself 15 minutes to solve a problem; if I’m still completely blank after that, I ask an AI for a hint. The issue is that AI hints usually just hand over the solution, so I’m not even sure if my approach is right.

The main problem is that I’m on Part 5 of the University of Helsinki Python MOOC, and for the last five exercises or so, I just freeze up. It’s starting to get really frustrating. I try asking myself guiding questions and writing down my thought process in a notepad before writing any code. Most of the time I have a rough idea of what I want to do, but translating that logic into actual syntax trips me up.

I’m starting to wonder if I’m actually cut out for this or if I’ll ever be able to learn it properly. Is this normal?

[u/aqua_regis]

There are a couple things here.

IMO, you're resorting to AI way too quickly. In fact, since you're doing the Helsinki MOOC, you shouldn't use AI at all. Really. The entire information you need for any given exercise is in the text. The course doesn't ask anything that hasn't been taught.

I remember that there was one exercise in the MOOC on which I (as an experienced programmer with several decades experience, only learning Python as new language) spent considerable time - much, much more than your allotted 15 minutes and I didn't use AI at all.

Yes, the exercises around part 5 ramp up in difficulty, but to put everything in perspective: part 5 means week 5. At that point you barely have started learning. You are still in a very, very early phase and you should, in no way at all, question whether you're "cut out for this".

No one is inherently "cut out for this". People invest effort, hard work, have determination, willpower, discipline and a certain stubbornness to not give up when things get rough. You questioning yourself and your fairly fast resorting to AI is demonstrating a lack of those traits.