The 7 sins you commit when learning to code and how to avoid tutorial hell

Being so common, you'll probably make some of those mistakes (specially learning the first language). It's worth talking about them. If you are mindful about them, you can avoid them and speed up your learning.

Sin #1: Jumping from topic to topic too much

If you jump from topic too much, you'll never be able to solidify and understand your learnings. Don't go for advances topics when you are still learning the basics, like loops, conditionals, variables, ...

Sin #2: No, you don't need to memorize syntax

Memorizing syntax is not needed. Understanding how to solve problems is. While the syntax changes from language to language, problem-solving is universal.

Sin #3: There is more to debugging than print

Using print for debugging can take you far, but only so far. Take some time to learn how to read error messages (see those as clues and learning opportunities). Take some time to learn how to use a debugger (to identify any mistakes fast).

Sin #4: Too many languages, at once...

This is like the first point. Pick one language and learn that. Once you feel comfortable with it (probably not as soon as you'd like), then you can look into other languages.

There is an exception to this, when learning languages that go together. Here's an example. For web development, you need to learn:

• Language for making the server. Python and Django, my choice 150% of the time.
• Language for querying the database, like SQL.
• Markup language to make pages: HTML.
• Styling language to make the pages pretty. CSS is a good starting point.
• Language for making your frontend dynamic. Start with Javascript.

Even within those, there are many choices, but you get my point.

Sin #5: Learning to code is about writing code more than reading it

Spending too much time watching tutorials without practicing won't help much. Tutorial hell anyone? Learning to code takes some good old hands-on practice to reinforce learning. Copy-pasting is mindless, so there is nothing to learn by doing it.

Sin #6: Do not copy-paste

Do not copy-paste code. You won't learn anything. Copy-pasting does not count as writing code. Now go back and read the previous point.

Sin #7: Not Seeking Help or Resources

A long time ago, when I was an intern, there was a rule. If I got stuck, I could try for 1h. If after 1h, I was still stuck, I had to ask for help. In hindsight, it was a pretty good rule.

Once you get stuff for too long, look for help! Ask questions on forums, Stack Overflow. Ask on Twitter (X now). Maybe you can find some newbie friendly communities on discord. Just go and ask for help.