How do you handle the frustration?
Here’s the thing. I’m completely lost in this Android course. I’m copying and pasting code, and sometimes it compiles and works and sometimes it doesn’t. I get some of the concepts, but most are over my head at this point. I know if I slow down too much, I will get bogged down and feel like I’m going nowhere. With enough repetition, this will get better in later iterations. As long as I don’t stop. So how do I deal with this frustration? Feeling lost is normal when trying to learn something really complex. But I have gained confidence in recent years that I can learn almost anything if I do not give up. Here is what I found helps me keep going.
Keep the goal in mind
My goal is to get to the end and get this certification. It will be a big help at my current job, and opens up new possibilities. It is worth the trouble. Having that certification, and the knowledge from this course, can be a real help for my future. I imagine mentioning in on my list of skills in LinkedIn, on my resume, and my portfolio website. I can see it as a real boost to my career. Keeping that in mind is a real help.
Remember other times I’ve been here
This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been here several other times. Learning Java was really hard. I beat my head against the concept of object oriented programming especially. I had to read a number of articles and tutorials, and watch videos to get these concepts. But eventually, things started making sense. Learning Java was hard, but I did it. And I can do it again.For you this may be from the more distant past. I’ve mentioned how we all learned how to read, but at the start it was likely very confusing. We learned how to do fractions, but it was probably frustrating at first. Maybe it was even learning how to drive, or to play the guitar. The key is that we got through it that because we didn’t give up. If we could do it then, we can do it now.
Pace yourself
You have to know yourself. There comes a time when you have to step back. When the frustration increases exponentially as you try to push through, take a break or come back to it tomorrow. No problem, as long as you do come back to it tomorrow. I’ve found if I put it off for longer than a weekend, a feeling of hopelessness starts to settle in. I have to keep going, but at a pace I can sustain. Making regular progress gives me hope. It’s a kind of dance between moving forward, and not pushing when the frustration gets too high.
Remember the river rock
An author I read (Patrick Rothfuss) once mentioned how he revises his novels. He said the reason his novels seem so well crafted is because they are like river rocks. He revises a book over and over and over, a thousand times, until every rough edge is worn smooth. Learning something difficult is like that. Every time I go over this tutorial, something more will makes sense. I will add one more tool to my toolbox. And it won’t take me a thousand times to get there. Maybe just five. Eventually, the mysteries that are Android development will be mine!
Learning the hard stuff
The thing about getting into technical writing, is that most employers care more about your technical mastery than they do your writing ability. For that reason, one of the best ways to show your value is to prove your technical skills. The list of what you can learn is just about infinite, and choosing what will impress employers can be difficult. (See my spreadsheet if you are looking for how to narrow this down.)
Recently, I heard about Google’s Certificates (see my post on this), and decided that completing this course might really boost my current job value, as well as open up future possibilities. Since my employer, Amazon, is really supportive of this, I am currently working through the Associate Android Developer Certification course, also called Android Basics in Kotlin for some reason.
My goal here is to give you some thoughts on my learning journey, and how I approach learning difficult technical subjects in general. First of all, learning is hard. I don’t mean it can’t be fun, but learning something like a programming language can be difficult. My rule of thumb is to do everything three times.
The rule of three
When I first tried to learn Java, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I read tutorials, some easier to follow than others, but mostly I was lost. I decided that maybe confusion was just a part of the process. We all learned to read. And it was hard. Someone showed us a letter and we were supposed to know what sound went with that letter. But wait, some letters have more than one possible sound. And some letter combinations can have more than one possible pronunciation. It was hard, but we did it because we had to. Eventually, those sounds made sense, but not because it got easier. It was because we didn’t stop with the confusion. We did it again and again. We pushed through.
If you are reading this, you can learn to program. I know this because you learned to read. But it’s the kind of thing that takes pushing through when you have no idea what you are doing. The rule of three for me means that I have to go through a complete course three times before I feel like I’m getting a handle on it.
My favorite tool for learning programming is Sololearn. You can use it as an app on your phone, or use the website version, or both (premium is best if you are willing to pay a little bit). When I tried to learn Java with the app, I had no idea what I was doing. I muddled through the quizzes, and tried their code a little. I was not writing code on my own. I was completely confused.
The second time, I took their existing code examples, and started making small changes to see what would happen. It was cool because I felt like I understood small pieces of things. Some puzzle pieces were fitting together for me. Still, much of it was a mystery, especially ideas like object oriented programming concepts.
The third time through the complete course, I pushed myself to try writing small programs on my own. Sometimes I would start with their examples, but then I would add other ideas from other sections of the course. I read people’s comments, or short articles on confusing topics. This time I felt like I was getting it. Even after this third time through, I never felt like I had it completely, but I felt like I was able to do this thing called programming. I felt capable, and less lost.
This pattern has repeated itself again and again. Later, I learned Python. It took three times before I felt I was getting it. And now, it’s the Android Development Course. Right now, I am going through it for the first time. I am copying and pasting the code they put in the examples. Eventually I get the code to compile and run on Android Studio, but sometimes I have to copy the completed code at the end because I missed something in the steps, or put something in the wrong place.
In truth, out of one thing I understand, there are at least four I do not. I am copying code that is a complete mystery to me. Some explanations make sense, and some go completely over me head. My hope, according to my experience, is when I do this the second time through, I will understand a lot more. I’ll let you know how that goes.
The important thing is to be okay with being confused. The ability to be confused and not give up is perhaps one of the superpowers of a good technical writer. None of us were born knowing this stuff. We have to look up things every day. The point is not to give up. Sometimes you have to walk away because the frustration is too great. I get that. Take a break. Go for a walk. Spend time with friends and family. Then tomorrow, do it again. Which leads me to my next point.
Do some every day
I have found the best way to do this, and not give up, is to do some every day. For me, working on this for up to 1 ½ hours is good. Sometimes I only get in 45 minutes. More than 2 hours and my brain is fried and I get frustrated, which makes it harder tomorrow. Less than 30 minutes and I feel like I’m not moving forward. If you have a day job, 30 minutes is great though, or maybe even 20 minutes. Not 5. But do it every work day, 5 days a week. Take weekends off. Then hit it again on Monday. If you do this, you will make it. Don’t rush it. It’s not a sprint. And it’s not exactly a marathon either. It will take a few months, but not years. You will see progress by the week, not by the day. At the end of a month you will be surprised at how far you’ve come. At the end of three, you might even start seeing yourself as a programmer. The important thing to understand is that it is doable. You’ve got this!
