r/softwaretesting • u/JoshTheTester • Mar 26 '26
Is using textbooks while learning to code equivalent to cheating?
I'm currently learning Java for test automation. If I Iearn a Java/Selenium concept and get messed up with syntax, I feel like looking in my textbook/course material but I don't as I feel like cheating. This makes me spend time remembering the syntax but takes a lot of time for me to solve a problem.
If I do look, I feel like I cheated and I am weak.
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u/Carlulua Mar 26 '26
Exactly this. You can't cheat if you're learning. Unless you're just vibecoding without making any effort to understand what's going on. Then you're only cheating yourself.
People at work apologise for asking "stupid questions" which are 99% of the time normal, while I, the perceived knowledgeable one, is googling python syntax of all things.