Tutorial Hell, From an Aspiring Developer

From the perspective of an aspiring front end developer.

So, Tutorial hell. A term I only recently came across while watching a couple of YouTube videos. This when we get stuck in a loop of watching tutorials continuously in order to keep "learning". Over time we build a number of projects as instructed which makes us feel great and encourages us to keep going.

But, here in lies the issue. The moment arrives where we start to build our own projects, and fall flat on our faces as we realize that we don't really know a lot. So then we go back to watching more tutorials and building more projects as instructed. When we try again to build our projects we stumble, and the process repeats.

Here's the kicker though, we do know things, we have learned. What we haven't yet really done is to think for ourselves, to put things together and learn what works and what doesn't. We haven't learned to fail because we've always been told what to do during the projects.

For me, I started "learning" web development some years ago. As well as trying to learn too much too quickly, the biggest issue I bumped into was I gave up too quickly when I couldn't do something straight away. Somewhere in my mind I had been thinking that I should be an expert after following all those tutorials.

When I picked up web development again lately I fell into the same trap, watching tutorial after tutorial. But, I was more equipped this time to see this trap, and devised a plan.

Now, I watch the tutorials, but spend more time building my own personal projects (at the moment I build my own versions of my favourite websites). When I get stuck, I force myself to research the answer instead of quitting. More importantly though, this time around I always remind myself why I am learning to be a front end developer. This is super critical for me, to keep my motivation up through the tough times.

Tutorials are a great way to learn, but only as a supplement to the learning of skills. To truly develop we need to practice practice practice. It's alright to get stuck, and it's alright to ask for help.

From an aspiring developer -- keep going, you're doing great.