One Does Not Simply Learn to Code: The Truth About Becoming a Programmer

If you‘ve spent any time on the internet lately, you‘ve probably seen countless ads, articles, and social media posts claiming that anyone can learn to code quickly and easily. That in just a few short weeks or months, with no prior experience necessary, you can gain the skills to land a high-paying job in tech. It sounds like a dream come true, right?

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I‘m here to tell you that these claims are simply not true. As a seasoned software developer with over a decade of experience, I can confidently say that learning to code is hard. Really, really hard. It‘s a long, difficult, often frustrating journey that will push you to your mental limits.

Now, don‘t get me wrong – I‘m not saying it‘s impossible. Countless people, including myself, have taught themselves to code and gone on to have successful and rewarding careers in software development. But the ones who make it have realistic expectations going in. They understand that coding is an enormous mountain to climb, and they‘re prepared for the long, grueling ascent. Let‘s take a closer look at why learning to code is so challenging.

It Takes Thousands of Hours of Practice

First, let‘s dispel the myth that you can learn to code in a short amount of time. Research has consistently shown that it takes thousands of hours of deliberate practice to become proficient in complex skills like programming. A study by Psychonomic Bulletin & Review found that "across domains, a remarkably consistent pattern emerges: The acquisition of expert-level performance requires engagement in deliberate practice that amounts to a minimum of about 3,000 hours."

So how long does 3,000 hours translate to in real-world terms? If you treated learning to code like a full-time job and dedicated 40 hours per week, it would take you about a year and a half to reach that 3,000 hour mark. But realistically, most people learning to code are squeezing it in on the side while juggling work, school, family, and other obligations. For the average learner putting in 10-15 hours per week, reaching proficiency can easily stretch to 3-5+ years.

These numbers put the lie to the idea that you can learn to code in 12, 24, or even 48 weeks like many bootcamps and programs claim. Could you learn some basics in that time? Sure. But you won‘t be job ready. The truth is, learning to code is a long game.

The High Price of Coding Education

Let‘s talk money. Learning to code can be expensive, especially if you go the bootcamp route. Tuition for coding bootcamps routinely reaches $15,000-$20,000+ for just a few months of intensive (and often grueling) training. And that‘s not counting lost wages if you have to quit your job or cut back hours to attend.

Even if you go the self-taught route, you‘ll likely be shelling out a decent chunk of change for courses, books, and other learning resources over a period of months or years. And again, that doesn‘t factor in the opportunity cost of all the time you‘ll invest that could have been spent working, growing your career, or enjoying hobbies and loved ones.

I‘m not trying to discourage anyone from learning to code who is truly passionate about it. I believe the long-term benefits can absolutely be worth the upfront investment. But I do think it‘s crucial to go in with eyes wide open about the very real financial costs involved. The last thing you want is to go into debt chasing the coding dream, only to find out too late that it‘s much harder than you were led to believe.

Expectations vs. Reality

One of the biggest frustrations aspiring coders face is the huge gulf between beginner-friendly learning resources and the realities of actual programming. So many coding tutorials and courses start with a little "hello world" exercise and some basic syntax, then immediately jump to "now build a photo-sharing app from scratch!"

There‘s very little bridging between the elementary concepts you‘re first introduced to and the complex process of architecting and engineering a real-world application. You go from meticulously following a step-by-step guide to staring at a blank code editor with no idea where to even begin.

I distinctly remember this feeling from when I was first learning web development. I had breezed through some HTML and CSS tutorials and felt like I was making real progress. But as soon as I sat down to actually build a website on my own, I was totally lost. What seemed simple and straightforward in the context of a guided exercise was now hopelessly complicated. I didn‘t know how to break down the problems or where to start Googling for solutions.

This experience of tutorial hell is extremely common, and leads many newbies to conclude that they‘re just not cut out for programming. In reality, it‘s a failure of the learning resources to provide an authentic picture of what coding is actually like.

Real-world programming is messy. It‘s full of poorly documented libraries, cryptic error messages, conflicting advice on forums and Stack Overflow. There‘s no friendly voice telling you exactly what to do at each step.
Beginners regularly spend hours and days beating their head against a wall to solve what an experienced programmer could figure out in minutes. These constant and demoralizing roadblocks are a major reason why so many aspiring coders end up calling it quits.

The Statistics on Coding Bootcamp Outcomes

At this point you may be thinking, ok, well if self-study is too hard, I‘ll just join a bootcamp. They have great outcomes, right? Their websites showcase amazing student success stories and jaw-dropping placement rates into six-figure jobs. Again, I‘m sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

The numbers bootcamps advertise are often misleading at best and borderline fraudulent at worst. They regularly inflate their graduation rates and job placement stats through selective reporting and sketchy methodologies. For example, many bootcamps only include "job seeking" graduates in their placement rates, conveniently excluding all the students who decide to pursue other paths after graduating (likely because they weren‘t able to find a job).

The Council on Integrity in Results Reporting is an industry group trying to standardize outcomes reporting for bootcamps, but participation is entirely voluntary and many of the biggest players like Lambda School have dropped out. And even CIRR‘s ostensibly more rigorous standards still paint a rosier picture than reality, as they allow schools to count apprenticeships, part-time, short-term, and freelance work as "placements".

Anecdotally, spend some time on r/cscareerquestions or any forum for aspiring programmers and you‘ll find countless stories of bootcamp grads struggling to find work months or even years after finishing their program. A typical experience: "I graduated from a coding bootcamp six months ago and have applied to hundreds of jobs, but haven‘t gotten a single callback. I‘m drowning in debt and starting to think this was all a huge mistake."

Now to be clear, I‘m not saying coding bootcamps are a complete scam or that no one finds success from them. There are absolutely bootcamp grads out there killing it in their software engineering careers. But they tend to be the exception rather than the rule. And they typically have some advantages that aren‘t realistic for the average person, like:

• Already having a technical degree or background
• Extensive self-study and practice before and after the bootcamp
• Killer networking skills and/or a pre-existing network in tech
• Significant financial runway to job search for months without income

For the average career changer starting from zero, a coding bootcamp is a huge and risky gamble. The average bootcamp grad owes $7,500 in tuition loans, on top of living expenses for the program duration. Going that far into debt for such uncertain outcomes is a decision that should not be made lightly.

Why Coding is Uniquely Challenging

At this point, you might be wondering why learning to code is uniquely difficult compared to other technical skills. After all, plenty of people teach themselves challenging things like foreign languages, musical instruments, or complex trades. What makes coding so different?

In my experience, there are a few key factors:

1. The Abstraction Cliff – Programming concepts build on each other in a way that quickly gets very abstract and theoretical. It‘s easy to learn the basic building blocks like variables, loops, and functions. But sooner than later you run into things like recursion, asynchronous programming, higher order functions, object-oriented design patterns – concepts that are very difficult to wrap your head around at first. There‘s a point where it suddenly feels like you‘re no longer learning a practical skill, but studying abstruse computer science theory. This is the cliff that many learners simply cannot scale.

2. The Scope of What There is to Learn – The field of programming is incredibly broad and deep, and it‘s expanding all the time. There are hundreds of languages, frameworks, and tools to choose from, each with their own quirks and idiosyncrasies to learn. The JavaScript world alone is a massive ecosystem that takes years to fully grok. It‘s simply not possible to learn it all, especially not in the timeline that most beginners expect. Inevitably you have to specialize, but as a newbie you have no idea what to focus on. The paradox of choice can be paralyzing.

3. The Constant Frustration of Debugging – So much of programming is trying to figure out why your code isn‘t working the way you expect. You‘ll spend hours staring at the same few lines, tweaking things over and over again until you finally stumble across the solution. This process of debugging is incredibly tedious and frustrating, especially at first when you have no idea what might be wrong or how to troubleshoot. It requires a level of patience, persistence, and pain tolerance that not everyone has.

4. The Lack of Structured Mentorship – When you‘re teaching yourself to code, it‘s often a solo struggle. You don‘t have an experienced programmer looking over your shoulder, catching your mistakes, and nudging you in the right direction. Online resources can fill in some of these gaps, but it‘s not the same as a real-life mentor invested in your success. This lack of guidance and feedback makes the already difficult process of learning to code that much harder. It‘s very easy to develop bad habits and blind spots that will come back to bite you later.

All of this is not meant to discourage you from learning to code, but to give you a realistic picture of the challenges involved. It‘s a difficult journey, but one that can be tremendously rewarding if you‘re willing to put in the time and effort.

Strategies for Making Learning to Code Easier

So what can you do to make the process of learning to code a little less daunting? Here are a few tips:

1. Start with the fundamentals – Don‘t try to jump straight into building complex applications. Take the time to really learn and practice the core concepts of programming – variables, data types, control flow, functions, etc. These building blocks will serve you well no matter what language or framework you end up specializing in.

2. Build lots of small projects – The best way to solidify your knowledge is to put it into practice. As you‘re learning, build small, achievable projects that gradually increase in complexity. This could be as simple as a command line quiz game or a basic CRUD app. The key is to get reps in and prove to yourself that you can build working software.

3. Find a community – Learning to code can be a lonely journey, but it doesn‘t have to be. Seek out online and in-person communities of other learners and more experienced programmers. Places like dev.to, freecodecamp forums, and local meetups are great resources. Having people to turn to for guidance, commiseration, and accountability can make a world of difference.

4. Embrace the struggle – Know that feeling stupid and frustrated is par for the course. Every programmer, even the most experienced, still has moments where they feel like a complete impostor. The key is to push through and treat each challenge as a learning opportunity. With time and practice, concepts that once made your head spin will eventually click into place.

5. Play the long game – Remember that learning to code is a marathon, not a sprint. It will likely take you longer than you expect to reach your goals, and that‘s okay. Don‘t put arbitrary deadlines on your learning or beat yourself up for not progressing as quickly as you‘d like. Focus on consistently putting in the work, and trust that you‘ll get there eventually.

The Payoff

If you made it this far, you might be feeling pretty discouraged. Is it even worth learning to code if it‘s this hard?

I‘m here to tell you unequivocally yes, it is absolutely worth it… if you‘re doing it for the right reasons. Learning to code is an incredibly rewarding journey that will push you in ways you never imagined. It will change the way you think and problem solve. It will open up career opportunities and creative outlets you never dreamed were possible.

But you have to want it for yourself, not because you think it‘s an easy path to a high salary. You have to be intrinsically motivated by the work itself, not just the potential rewards. Because I can promise you, if you don‘t truly enjoy the process of programming, if you don‘t get a thrill from finally cracking a tough bug after hours of struggle, you‘ll be miserable trying to force yourself through it.

So be honest with yourself about your motivations, and be realistic about the journey ahead. It won‘t be easy, but if you‘re willing to put in the time and effort, it will change your life in ways you can‘t yet imagine. And you‘ll come out the other side with an invaluable skill set that will serve you for the rest of your career.

One does not simply learn to code. But with hard work, patience, and the right expectations, anyone can become a programmer. The question is, are you up for the challenge?