Is cloning from youtube improving my skills?
Posted by Odd_Establishment790@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 42 comments
Hello, I'm the college student who will graduate very soon, but I do not have any valid portfolio to apply jobs... I felt like very depressed while I was studying in college for computer programming.
For now, I'm planning to clone some websites ( tutorial) to build portfolio.
Is it actually worth to mimicking somebody else's finished project ?
Moreover, im really... bad at coding... are there any alternative jobs which I can apply with my diploma?
I feel like loser this time.. my GPA is like 3.7 out of 4 but still do not know how to code...
DudeWhereAreWe1996@reddit
Can you be an intern? Once you get your first job it'd teach you what you need. If you really can't get a job as a dev right now then QA would be the way. It always seemed super boring to me but it's very much needed and I think it's a great way to get into a company you like. But lots of people graduate without experience and a worse GPA so I'd use your schools resume and other job assistance resources and start applying. Worst that can happen is they say no and you can ask them what you could've done better.
nbazero1@reddit
Coding is more of a creative process, A tutorial is only giving you one way of solving a particular problem
burntjamb@reddit
What worked for me was going through a good tutorial, and physically typing every character without any copying and pasting. Then, once the project was done, I made it into a boilerplate I could use for other projects, and built out my own project idea while adding new features. Just the act of typing everything yourself and learning every detail builds confidence. Coding takes a lot of practice, and being comfortable with failing over and over again until you experience the “ah-ha” moments of something finally working. Good luck!
Frontendmasters.com has the best tutorials I’ve found. It’s not free, but very worth it. YouTube and Udemy are very hit-or-miss.
burntjamb@reddit
Beat advice, set one goal and stick to it for a year. Could be learning front end, a specific back end language, or even embedded programming with one language. It’s much harder if you jump around to different languages while you’re learning.
burntjamb@reddit
Digging deeper, focus on aspects of programming you’re not good at as a start. Are arrays confusing? Learn everything you can about arrays and how to use them for different situations. Same applies to other data structures and your languages types and common patterns.
burntjamb@reddit
If you don’t like programming, you can explore product management, design, or any number of programming-adjacent career paths.
Odd_Establishment790@reddit (OP)
Yeah that was the biggest reason I couldn't focus one thing while in college... i have been learning a lot of different programming languages for each semester :(
royaltrux@reddit
I'd be afraid of actually landing a job that expects me to do things I wasn't able to learn why it was being taught.
DronesVII@reddit
Eh, most of the stuff you do on the job isn't taught in school.
Real-Lobster-973@reddit
Just copying the code/project will not help at all. You still need a factor of yourself thinking and writing.
Catatonick@reddit
Following along is only useful while you’re learning the syntax. Once you know it well enough you’re not going to really benefit from them. You have to apply the knowledge and understanding how and why to use it.
jjopm@reddit
Not really
supercoach@reddit
Recruiters just ignore shit like that. Might help to get a junior position I guess.
PocketCSNerd@reddit
Don’t clone websites for your portfolio. Cloning is fine as a means to learn but pay attention to and ask yourself WHY someone is being done a certain way.
Then take what you’ve learned and make your own projects for your portfolio. At which point it’s ok to take pieces of the cloned projects to build with. But make something new out of them.
Hillgrove@reddit
I'm not interested in frontend, but I guess cloning is fine if it's not cloning code, but cloning looks.. ie make reddit or facebook yourself (not using other peoples code).
PocketCSNerd@reddit
Oh! In that case, yeah. Cloning site features is fine.
Odd_Establishment790@reddit (OP)
Thank you for all of your advices!
I just want to be familiar to code.. that's why I was planning to follow the cloning tutorial to make it fun for me.
I will try my best !!
PsychologicalDraw909@reddit
yes but not effectively, build something of ur own to solidify skills
ledatherockband_@reddit
The value of following a "clone" tutorial is that you'll become familiar with the motions.
Programming is a lot of like driving a car to your friends house.
You may not know the turn by turn directions and wha the car is doing underneath the hood, but being able to press a pedal, turn the wheel, press the break, and get to your friends house at first is helpful in filling out the rest of the details.
tkevolution@reddit
I've received hundredth of MERN stack developer with to-do list project they were so proud of. Didn't hire any of them so far
healthypea2763@reddit
U hire ? Who r u? And on what basis?
tkevolution@reddit
I am a hiring manager
healthypea2763@reddit
Didnt answer the whole thing..where and ur criteria for hiring?
tkevolution@reddit
Why do I need to answer your question? You ask me who I am so I've answered one of your question.
healthypea2763@reddit
Ur wish just enquiring here none of my business if u dont wanna tell
tkevolution@reddit
It was your business to reply to my comment which wasn't meant for you
kool0ne@reddit
I’m imagining this being said in a London accent. Am I right? Haha :)
tkevolution@reddit
You must be the sharpest tool in the shed
AdministrativeFile78@reddit
Yes it is perfectly fine to clone other peoples websites as long as you don't just copy and paste them pretending you did it all.. Fork the website and make it your own by playing around with the functionality, aesthetics etc. Do this 10 times and you are learning what components are doing and how to architect your code and how functions are working and what api is doing etc etc. Nobody really gives a fck if you built the whole thing yourself if its just a website you will be fine
seriousgourmetshit@reddit
No. Coding is problem solving at its core and if you are just copying someone else's code then what problems are you solving?
kool0ne@reddit
To answer your main question, ‘yes it will’, but don’t stop there. After building clones come up with your own ideas and try to build those.
Building anything will strengthen your skills. Don’t forget to experiment and have fun, a clone doesn’t have to be exactly the same as its inspiration.
floopsyDoodle@reddit
Yes, like mimicking another artist while painting. The Key is to not stop there, create their website, now created it again but in a new structure. Then create something new completely but using hte same techniques.
The key is to nto just do tutorials, learn from them, and then build 2-3 small projects or 1 large project with the info.
Maybe management/lead type jobs if you're good with people and organized.
Learn. You must know some, build upon it. We were all shit coders at some point, the key is to learn, and then build build build, learn, build build build. Learning learns, building reinforces teh learning so you wont forget it and you get to see all the edge cases and how it all raelly works.
FragrantAd7892@reddit
Practice practice practice
Of coding is hard for you there are other software related jobs - business analyst, qa (with automation), devops which might be easier to master
Important-Product210@reddit
Look around. What do you see? Drop your expectations, world revolves around idiots and its statistically probably maybe possibly true.
Ok-master7370@reddit
Don't don't it, cook up some shit to light your joints or maybe a custom manhwa site that recommends new manhwa based on what you're reading
Point is everyone has that instagram clone and todo app, but they lack practicality your projects must show that you saw a problem and solved it programmatically
SomeNameIChoose@reddit
Yes, nobody wakes up and knows how to code.
Watch how others code, try to understand their code (ask AI to explain) and then start a project yourself and start implementing stuff you’ve learned. If you’ve forgotten how to, just look it up.
Nothing here is wrong or cheating, you just need to work on your own projects as soon as you know the basics and keep learning from others, more experienced people and the documentation.
knivesmissingno@reddit
When you say youre bad at coding, does that include algos? Thats what i'd be more focused on if getting ready for interviews.
Major_Fang@reddit
Fake it till you make it twin
Any_Mud6806@reddit
I wouldn't use "cloned" website in my portfolio. A portfolio is for *you* to show off *your skills and ideas*.
inbetween-genders@reddit
Tell the interviewer what you just told everyone here and let us know if they hire you.
wiriux@reddit
BUT
BUT
^(3.7 gpa…)
grantrules@reddit
I mean if you're just copying the code that they tell you to, then no, not really. Even if you understand the code, the tutorial is letting you skip the problem solving part. You need to deviate from the tutorial.