6 years. I’m done. | TheaterFire

[-]

VirtualPassage2437@reddit

yo OP I'm 2 days late but programming isn't everything there is hardware stuff, I'm a computer engineer and I'm looking for job in IT I'm bad at programming but I'm really ok with hardware stuff like maintenance and repair.

You should try to look at that ur degree is not useless there are many more application as other said in other comment never give up dude.

[-]

bishop_tech@reddit

So do you not like writing code or you just don't think you're good at it?

If you don't like it..you can stop reading here and just move on to do something you like.
Or..

I can tell you this, I thought I was bad at it too. I would sit in req meetings and be thinking..WTF am I doing here and how am I going to figure this out? "I'm a fake and I'm going to get found out".

But with each of those projects, I got better. And as I got better, I got more confident and started to take on anything regardless of if I knew the technology or not. Before I knew it I was good at a lot of things..coding, database, networking, cloud infra, apis, etc, etc...pretty much anything; except UI. I still suck at UI.

[-]

ImNotFromTheInternet@reddit

It’s going to be ok. You have a degree that gives you street cred from the most valuable business in the next few decades.

Program or don’t. If you actually hate it go the business route.

[-]

FeedYourEgo420@reddit

You have the ability to identify a hammer, great. That's a step to building a house. Understanding the things you can do with a hammer is a wisdom that comes experience and an ability to build apon your knowledge. Really focus on what's happening with these programing languages. If you just memorize syntax your gonna have a bad time

[-]

Armobob75@reddit

Even if writing code forever is not for you, the CS degree is still valuable. Sales, project management, quality assurance, and IT are all potential places to look.

[-]

roygbev@reddit

Chiming in here to agree! My bestie makes six figures as a technical project manager for a major tech company. The turnover seems high-ish and you’d be a shoo-in with a CS degree for a role like that.

[-]

Fly_on_Littlewing@reddit

Also, try GIS Engineer. The field is short people with programming background. Getting a GIS certificate is accessible and having both with make you an easy hire.

[-]

TXJackalope36@reddit

This is great advice. I used to be a sales engineer for a large telecommunications company and many of my peers had CS degrees, but got into sales and were out earning their fellow CS grads hand over fist being in sales, using their degree without having to be a programmer or developer.

[-]

handsomeearmuff@reddit

My best friend was a developer for years and got fed up with the constant demand of overtime, dealing with legacy technical debt, and wanted a change. Now he’s a Product Manager and he brings his development experience to the table and is much happier. Don’t worry about landing in the exact role you set out to obtain- your degree is still valuable and you are allowed to pivot.

[-]

A_friend_called_Five@reddit

Came here to +1 the OP considering software quality assurance. You get to break things, complain about stuff that you don't have to fix, and you don't have to take night support calls. And since test automation is so important these days, it's a huge plus that the OP has at least some programming skills.

[-]

sagejosh@reddit

Yeah my friend who works IT says that there is a lot of overqualified computer science and software engineers that took IT jobs because the work isn’t anywhere near as demanding and the money is still pretty good.

[-]

CaliMack@reddit

I did this, spent 6 months out of college not able to land a job. Then got a SWE offer at a mid level startup. Then left two and a half months later for a IT job that paid more at a national level company and was WAY better work to life balance… now I had to move because of some family circumstances, haven’t landed a job in 3 months, and I kinda miss my remote SWE job. 😭

[-]

NeatChip6935@reddit

If it was remote, you couldn’t just relocate to a new state while keeping the same job?

[-]

CaliMack@reddit

The first SWE job was fully remote, I could have kept that job. Actually the IT job was willing to work with me if I was moving to another state but sadly I had to move out of the country for a year.

[-]

alley_cat98@reddit

Hey all, I am a former sales engineer, former software engineer, former engineering manager at Google. I’m going to start up some boot camps. I’m going to tackle things like how Google asks interview questions, how to think outside the box, the skills needed to land the best jobs. If you’re interested, message me. I’m trying to make the offerings as reasonable as possible. I just up and moved to Thailand and I’m going to run the first Boot Camp the first two weeks of May in Bangkok. A big part of landing and keeping any job is to get over imposter syndrome. I’m 50 years old, I have been through the ringer. I hope to train the next generation of technology leaders.

[-]

Paddyr83@reddit

Also project management would be a good entry, even if you don’t know as much as you think you should, I’ve seen loads of managers assign resources who don’t have a clue how long a task might take for a developer. It’s a real pain when they get it wrong, if you have a good idea of how long something might take to build and you have any sort of people skills, that’s valuable insight for project management.

[-]

Endless-OOP-Loop@reddit

This.

Also, a lot of companies don't care what degree you have, they only care that you have a degree in something.

My wife has a Masters degree in career and developmental counseling, and because of that, she was hired for a high paying marketing job.

My former boss was beat out for a district manager position at a furniture rental chain by someone else because had a degree anthropology, and that was literally the deciding factor.

Businesses only care that you had the follow-through to finish what you started.

Finish the degree, get a job doing something completely unrelated. Just my two cents.

[-]

Illustrious-Ad-5795@reddit

OP listen to this advice! if you think programming isn't for you it won't be the end of the world. IT and CS degrees are valuable for other tech related jobs.

On top of that you shouldn't be so hard on yourself, when I got my first programming job the code looked like rocket science to me, but eventually it all worked out.

Consider companies that might have a less competitive interview process and just get experience!

[-]

revengemaker@reddit

Yea I also think it makes a difference when you work for a company and apply solutions to the products. Once you work in the industry that interests you it's all about communicating and finding solutions to problems. Tech will always evolve and markets as well

[-]

Nasuraki@reddit

Yeah, this is great think to think about for OP to pivot.

[-]

Scared_Rain_9127@reddit

Not everyone can be a programmer. It takes a certain mindset, and that mindset cannot be learned by effort alone. I wish you the best of luck finding what comes next.

[-]

WanderingGalwegian@reddit

Programming is a skill that needs to be practiced. If you’ve just been memorizing and doing step by step tutorials off YouTube .. then that is probably why you’re struggling.

Before giving up try to make your own projects, don’t hs AI for your code, and research the problems you hit utilizing documentation and other types of resources.

Really be diligent about understanding the problem you’re having and why the fixes you find are in fact fixes.

[-]

wolfy-088@reddit (OP)

man I’ve been enrolled in university and I don’t just troll through YouTube. Doesn’t matter what I do.

[-]

No-Discipline-5892@reddit

Everyone when just strolls out of university is inexperienced, you need to test your programming skills by doing projects. You have not even tried and already given up. You dont have a intelligence problem, you have a willpower and consistency problem.

[-]

VibespixelCo@reddit

Yo thanks for calling me out haha any tips for staying motivated and consistent once I’m started I’m good but the struggle to start is rough sometimes

[-]

Stock_Telephone_6100@reddit

Sounds like someone needs some ADHD to me and your doctor will get you the real deal medication then you will be a over achiever in your life

[-]

VibespixelCo@reddit

Bad thing is iv gone to the dr before and they just blew me off with a generalized anxiety and depression diagnosis and said you have to be diagnosed as a kid to get diagnosed with adhd so until I find a better dr im screwed lol

[-]

Llmartinez68@reddit

I was diagnosed at 56 which is recently. They are lying to you but do not know wtf they are talking about.

[-]

No-Discipline-5892@reddit

I have the same struggles brother, for me the game changer in my life was listening the audiobook the power of now, you can find it on YouTube, and meditating. Delete social media and delete all videogames on your computer.

[-]

Relative_Molasses_15@reddit

Honestly I’m in school for computer science and I feel like I don’t really learn any practical applications from school. It’s frustrating but where there’s a will there’s a way lol.

I feel like you should at least work elsewhere, keep practicing and applying. But that’s just my opinion and I don’t know shit lol

[-]

AdeptLilPotato@reddit

You must build projects. I help some friends here and there who are in college. The skills from college do not prepare them for real-world work, which is a lot of simpler work. 100% of the ones I’ve worked with were not coding with real-world base standards. Just throwing things together.

Just build projects and you’ll get better and better.

[-]

Legendary_Dad@reddit

I find even trying to setup an IDE to start a project is daunting. I have been trying to just learn python and I’m struggling

[-]

Individual_Cress_226@reddit

Yeah project setups suck and are exhausting but once you get a setup that works for you just stick with it. Forever I used Codekit (which is cool btw) for all my projects because setting up node and installing all the correct dependencies just took the wind out of my sails. It felt like a black box to me and when things went wrong I was just lost af, reading the documentation never helped, stack overflow was a mixed bag. Now with AI and some more knowledge it’s much easier to not get stuck.

[-]

Legendary_Dad@reddit

Yeah I’m using VSC for python and Powershell and I just install the plugins and just hope it works

[-]

n3vim@reddit

give pycharm a try for python, i use vscode for everything else but for python in my opinion pycharm is the best.

[-]

muffinman744@reddit

My university program sucked. I found better success in learning from my peers who were actually interested in being developers and learning useful skills.

Fast forward to my first job and I learned much more of what’s actually used in practice. TBH more universities should focus on practical things vs theoretical.

If you’re prepping for jobs, you should know what TDD is (I cannot stress how important it is to know how to write unit tests and why they are needed), basics of OOP, how DB’s work and some basic SQL, basic data structures, and basic problem solving utilizing those data structures.

It can seem daunting, but once you understand those concepts you’ll be able to apply it to real world scenarios and should make you seem more confident in interviews. Lots of people focus on spamming leetcode questions which isn’t exactly useful. I’ve personally interviewed a lot of people who were excellent at leetcode questions but then had no idea what a SQL Join is or even refused to write tests because “that’s a QA engineers job” (it isn’t).

If all else fails then product development or manager positions are always available

[-]

Legendary_Dad@reddit

I learned much much faster on the job working with real problems and refactoring other people’s scripts. Granted it was just BASH but I did pretty good for a guy with no degree and a background in construction

[-]

ledatherockband_@reddit

Can I see the projects you've built?

[-]

spezisaknobgoblin@reddit

Good thing you've chosen to give up!

[-]

RufusVS@reddit

Harsh but probably on point.

[-]

Delta_Gray@reddit

Leet code is where it’s at. It’s about repetition

[-]

AdeptLilPotato@reddit

Leetcode has been going downhill. Leetcode is for passing interviews, not for programming in day-to-day work.

[-]

Delta_Gray@reddit

OPs issue is literally passing interviews haha

[-]

AdeptLilPotato@reddit

Leetcode has still been going downhill, but I’m more concerned about OP’s ability to keep a job, which would be through building their skills in programming rather than their skills on Leetcode. Would it be fair to say that I don’t think it matters how many Leetcode interviews OP can pass if they can’t keep a job?

[-]

elementmg@reddit

Computer science degree does not mean you can code. Did you build any software? Like outside of your tiny school projects?

Plenty of people come out of university with a degree and can’t write code worth shit.

[-]

_fat_santa@reddit

I would say out of my programming knowledge now (7YOE), the stuff I learned in college accounts for maybe 1% of all that knowledge. It's normal to not know shit after graduating, the real learning IMO comes in your first and second jobs.

[-]

novagenesis@reddit

CS degrees tend to teach you "how to learn" instead of teaching you the trade of programming.

I'm not saying not to give up if you really want to - it's a hard field (that's why the good paychecks). But it does eventually click. And if you are graduating instead of failing out, you picked SOMETHING up.

[-]

No-Squirrel6645@reddit

Hey, one way to look at this is that you’re … done. Haha. Like, you don’t have to pursue the thing that you don’t like anymore. Pretty freeing if you ask me. There’s lots of skills and knowledge you just learned that’s super valuable, and applicable elsewhere, you just don’t feel that yet. People too. You’re gonna be ok, and you’ll feel ok later, but that might take some time. Those dreams are still there for the taking.

[-]

Tanjiro_007@reddit

Nobody's learning anything from a uni, it's just for a graduate degree, just keep practicing, you'll get it

[-]

Lauriic54@reddit

Since you don’t mention which university, I can only speak on my own experience, which completely aligns with the other persons comment - you just need to practice actual programming by doing some projects.

I also graduated university in comp sci, but this didn’t help me get my jobs, because junior positions have nothing to gain from the degree, at least in terms of knowledge. University knowledge, in my experience, is very theoretical - it explains the “why” behind it all, but all of it is useless if you don’t actually apply any of that knowledge. Many of my most hated university courses have come back to me because I started thinking of some new projects, which finally made them click, as I had to actually write software with it, instead of drawing diagrams on paper.

At the beginning, work on making some of your own projects using languages that you would like to get a job for. This will help you way more than university will at the beginning. If you stick to it and grow to higher level positions, where you have more autonomy and decision making on the software you have to create, that’s when your degree will become useful.

[-]

Professional_Still15@reddit

I found that my degree only really started coming in handy after a few years experience. With little moments like where you bring in some maths or theory to solve a small problem that shows you have studied theory. Mostly it just justifies you as an employee to the company, like "ok this guy isn't an idiot". That's my experience at least.

[-]

WanderingGalwegian@reddit

Fair enough.

[-]

arguapacha@reddit

As others have mentioned, in my experience, the university degree is used mostly for <10% of the time while working in the industry. It’s great for understanding the high level concepts and I can see why many decisions are made the way they are in the company. In other words, it gives me the contexts I need to understand the why of my work. On the other side, the 90% of the time, programming is more like an artistic process. You won’t get far unless you spend hours and hours working, thinking, experimenting, getting frustrated, typing, drawing ideas on paper, looking for a solution to a very specific problem. over time, you’ll learn to connect the dots between different solutions and it will get easier. It has taken me 15 or 20 years of programming, but I’m still learning and I get all giddy when some solution finally work. At those points, I can get why the university degrees + 15 years of experience work together so well.

[-]

WanderingGalwegian@reddit

I would disagree.

Your university degree.. or at least the contents, principals, and concepts learned in a degree plan(why it’s important to attend a good program) .. is the foundation for all your future work you build off of.

Programming is a problem solving exercise and requires creativity and critical thinking skills. Those skills are usually developed at 3rd level education.

You specifically mention it is an artistic process… it definitely can be.. and like an artist you need to understand fully the fundamental rules before you can ever think of branching out and breaking those rules.

To close my point.. you’re not only using 10% of what you learned.. you’re standing in the foundation you built throughout the coursework.

[-]

sobaer@reddit

In my experience in now around 30 years of working in this industry, ppl coming from university need years until they are able to understand how to apply their learned knowledge while also having to learn to get things done. In most of the cases solutions were overengineered and overcomplicated and in no way in a state to be useable.

[-]

WanderingGalwegian@reddit

I would agree. Using myself as an example it was probably mid way through year 2 that I would say I actually began producing something of value and becoming confident in my solutions.

That doesn’t make my CS degree useless or mean I use very little of it. The foundational and theoretical knowledge I obtained was vital to my further development in the professional space.

[-]

UnemployedAtype@reddit

For anyone else seeing this - I do have a degree in CS. It's an associates. But, I've been coding for a long time. I could probably get a decent SE position. Mostly self taught, from the early 90s to now.

You don't have to be going into software engineering or any dev job. It's a super useful skill to compliment what you do. It's also a way to think about the world and approaching things systematically.

I coded our tech startup's entire sensor system, modeling and prediction, and subsequent automation.

But I also have doing silly stuff with programming like show friends how they could code their own simple site and have it online while walking around the grocery store

[-]

sleepy_trex@reddit

You haven't even graduated yet and you are giving up now? I've been self taught for the last 5 years and I've managed to at least get contract work. For actual long term positions I've been passed over in favor of people with a degree but no experience at all. Imo in today's market, soft skills like networking and being charismatic is wayyyy more important than technical skill. Sounds more like you have self esteem issues which won't help you land a job anyway. Statistically speaking you are already way more likely to get hired than someone without a degree.

[-]

Notvalidunlesssigned@reddit

It’s important to be in a career where you’re confident in your skills. Find something you’re good at. Then in your spare time, do programming for fun, if you want to, or as a purely intellectual exercise, because those are good for the brain and overall mental health. I’m coming back to programming after a six year break. But this time there’s no pressure for me to make a career out of it, so I’m having more fun.

[-]

HeavyMaterial163@reddit

With that kind of attitude, yeah you're fucked. Sulking around like a pathetic little bitch isn't going to get you anywhere in life.

I wasn't shit after undergrad either. Had lost my license from a DUI Jr year, rejected for every med school I applied to, and broke. All the day drinking and sulking I did didn't help shit. Want to know what did? When I pushed the boundaries. Took me six months after undergrad to land a job and I was putting applications out daily, and I sure as hell wasn't a scientist anymore than you are a software engineer. My current title is Sr. Scientist living a life depressed younger ISnuff couldn't have ever imagined.

Fucking try! If you tell yourself you can't, then you can't. When you jump in and make an honest effort even though you truly don't believe deep down you can, that's how you learn and grow. With coding especially, you have so much opportunity for gig-work on the side that you can find something to build skill and a portfolio while still bringing you in a bit of cash.

Main point still being, get over yourself. How you feel is normal for that age, but at the rate you're going you're going to hold YOURSELF back.

[-]

DickHeryIII@reddit

You’re good with the degree. I’ve spent 6 years learning on my own and am pretty good but will probably never get a regular job doing it because employers want someone with a degree whether they are a dumbass or not.

[-]

yeeh_iknow@reddit

Start a business.. when I finish school.. my social status don’t allow me to get a. White collar job.. I went and start my own business.. then I went back and got a masters out of my business..

[-]

Historical_Emu_3032@reddit

6 years is a long time for an undergraduate degree.

But I always say if you don't enjoy coding don't code, there's no shame in that.

[-]

LotusVally@reddit

I couldn’t do coding so I switched to infrastructure go networks and computers. I knew enough about coding to end up a manager with network admins and info security reporting to me.

[-]

InternationalPlan325@reddit

I had the same doubts and felt defeated by programming. But after I learned Linux, literally every damn thing started to make more sense. Haha

I'd suggest learning something different but related, and maybe eventually, you will start seeing computer science from a different angle, which would possibly allow for making more connections later?

[-]

SR71F16F35B@reddit

Programming isn’t for me either I am learning to make money nothing more

[-]

HeroOfTheSun@reddit

If programming wasn’t your dream, why did you choose to pursue it? What made you pick IT over your own dreams?

[-]

Part-TimeFlamer@reddit

Love your edit. More people should do this. I feel you on the degree. Mine was geology and it wasn't until working in the industry for a bit that I got the hang of it. A lot of what I did was looking at what other people did and copying it until I had my own style for doing things in the drilling world. Geology is pretty easy at the lower levels though, I think CS is probably much more complicated. But like the top comment said, the degree is still worth something. I went into a field related to geology, because of a move that I had to do and it translates well enough. Basically reports and science stuff. You're probably not useless, but I really feel you. It took me a couple years to get a geo job. I worked in a call center wanting to blow my brains out until I got my geology job. Call centers suck so much ass.

[-]

JurassicJosh341@reddit

I fixing to be in the Same boat as you so I don’t blame you. Except I’m going to school for 6 years because my school is an asshole who wants people to do the BS to MS fast track program as we require 4 years of technical classes via “Concentrations” and 2 years of core. Which makes zero sense.

[-]

JurassicJosh341@reddit

Also employers will be very strict, and more than half the applicants will have 0 xp. So it doesn’t make sense that everyone wants an employee but nobody wants the few with the skill and 0xp. It makes if less sense if theres no sign on bonus, and if there is just make the legal agreement not too.

The mega corp employers ain’t shit these days I recommend trying to go for people who are practically begging for more employees (e.g. short staffers) or even employers who need more people educated in a specific field (e.g. IT for some of these ISDs that don’t know how to do anything except block websites). Maybe even small businesses that need these things too. Pay may not be great but a salary is a salary atp.

I haven’t tried these yet. And am barely at the internship phase. at some point in anyone’s life we have to find a job or we have the possibility of losing it all.

[-]

me_so_ugly@reddit

at least your not as dumb as me. my worthless little scripts have no classes or anything. right after main is a fucking mess of if else statments, its like someone just copied and pasted a bunch of shit iver and over and looks like shit but for some reason they all work. then people try to tell me how to write it better but i cant ever understand. i guess thats why i have a high school diploma for people with learning disabilities. i cant learn shit past any basic language.

[-]

Fox_gamer001@reddit

It happens to every programmer, including me, despite I've been studying for only 1 year, many times I thought this career wasn't for me, or I'm so stupid for this. In college, when I fail an exam or I can't solve a problem without help or using AI, I feel like I'm a dumbass and I won't get a job in programming, but it's part of the process, as long as you like what you're doing, it'll get better.

[-]

TurkeyKnees1@reddit

You sound like a developer to me. Nearly every developer I know suffers from self doubt and crippling imposter syndrome. You made it all the way through a CS degree because you have the ability, stop thinking that just because you are aren't the top 1% and working at Meta or Google and writing hundreds of lines of code at a blank prompt that you aren't good.

[-]

Salt_Bodybuilder8570@reddit

Anyway, some Kumar or Nitesh who’s willing to work in person and extra hours in some indian city shithole, was going to replace you eventually for your home office junior salary hahaha

[-]

DonnyJuando@reddit

coders dont give up. havent you learned anything? we keep f~ with it til it works. have you tried turning it off & turning it back on again?

[-]

J_K27@reddit

You could do what I'm going to do and apply for IT jobs instead. I'm a good coder, but my brain doesn't do well under pressure so I can't pass coding interviews. Can't transfer directly to the IT program since it would set me back a year, so I'm going to graduate with an SE degree.

[-]

b1u3_ch1p@reddit

When I was in University for computer information systems (part business, part IT), I was really bummed by all the programming. I just could not for the life of me understand the core concepts that went into it. I got a lot of the how programs were supposed to work, like how stuff gets stored, information gets passed between functions, etc, but none of it really took hold in meaningful fashion.

My assignments were always a janky mess that barely worked. I vowed after the last programming course was finished that I would never be a developer/engineer/programmer. Somewhat related but the other part of the program I avoided was the entrepreneurship classes.

Fast forward to today, I run my own business where on any given day I'm writing code for programs, video games, and scripts for automation.

The thing that change my whole outlook and skill in the subject was understanding what this work could do in the bigger picture. Most programming classes teach concepts in the atomic, meaning you get individual parts of information, and how it gets put together is left up to you. The problem is you wind up missing a big part of what this work is about, which is solving business requirements.

In short, don't give up on the dreams to study programming, instead take a step back and index what you've learned and see what questions you still have about all this. Without knowing much about your situation, that's the best advice I can give for now. Chances are what you've learned still doesn't make sense, because in many technology disciplines, the whole is always better than the sum of the parts.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like, but in the mean time be cool to yourself OP. Take some time away from what you think you HAVE to do with all this knowledge, and carve out some time for you to WANT to do with all of this.

[-]

jamesshelly@reddit

I've had bosses, early on, tell me I should choose a different career field. Happily I didn't listen and ended up being a developer for 30 years.

In that 30 years, coding was not even my greatest strength. It was establishing relationships with the clients.

I code how I cook, by reading the recipe. I'm not smart enough to invent something like Docker but I am good at using it. I consider myself a quick learner but bad at conceptualizing sometimes. I have to break problems down to the most simplest concepts most of the time.

To quote Henry Ford, whether we think we can or we think we can't, we are right.

Obviously you're not stupid. You managed to pass your classes which is no small feat! So give yourself some credit, my friend.

There's not a person in the world who hasn't had self doubts about their capabilities. You've proven you're capable.

Just take a long, deep breath, tell yourself "I got this!" And then do it.

[-]

spinwizard69@reddit

In the end it is the degree that is important, not the major. You will be surprised at how many people work in a job that isn’t even remotely related to their major.

Beyond that forums such as this are terrible places to get advice or even to vent. Instead look into career help at your college.

Finally you may be judging yourself too harshly. Nobody leaves college a seasoned pro!!!!!!!!!

[-]

deinisis_maulera@reddit

from my college experience (grain of salt, it was one of the scam ones), college doesn't teach you how to learn and retain. they regurgitate the textbook and hope you pass. some teachers go a bit further than this, yes, but it's really focused on you learning on your own and demonstrating after they show you the basics.

I'm in a similar place, learning to apply the knowledge is a BIG hurdle to get past, so I hope my advice helps: get a note taking app (I use Obsidian, it's free). Next, find the official documentation for your chosen language. finally, go through it and rewrite the documentation in your own words, force yourself to understand it by making your own examples.

coding is a shocking amount of repetition, so through repetition you'll learn!

Also, in an official capacity, no one is expecting you to be a wiz. if you can Google code and apply it to yours without breaking things or creating vulnerabilities, you'll do just fine.

[-]

New-Atmosphere-6403@reddit

Dude people try to sum up years of their journey in one Reddit post, we really don’t know the whole backstory. There is so many factors that aren’t listed here.

Post your GitHub link

[-]

artisapartofmylife@reddit

First thing: calm down and don't make yourself worse than you are.

Second: good advice I once read, you may think you are terrible but how long do you program (6 years more or less), how good were you with 6 years old in speaking, drawing, being a human. To master things it takes a long time.

So don't be too harsh with yourself. Keep going, set goals, with practice comes habits and then it will be natural.

[-]

QreatureZhong@reddit

Don't stop, freelance! Do fiverr, get in contact with New business owners, contact people who have ideas they wanna create but can't because they lack that knowledge, create a team start a business, you have power with what you learned, it'll take work to build from nothing but it'll be worth it! Network! it is your Net Worth!

[-]

CAPTAINFREEMVN@reddit

This was me and the burn out was real and I just had no clue what else to do with my life.

[-]

Plane-Journalist-818@reddit

If you're graduating, it means you're qualified

[-]

Fearless-Opinion-615@reddit

Imma let you in on a little secret. Perhaps 75% of the programmers I’ve worked with are not good programmers. Yet they’re still making the big bucks. Sad reality, but it is what it is.

It’s not always about what you know, it’s also about who. Go network, collaborate on projects, and don’t stop interviewing!

But if you just dislike programming, the degree is still versatile. You can land adjacent positions like project management, devops, support staff, etc. You’re not doomed buddy.

[-]

Cybasura@reddit

Damn bro, that attitude is kinda insane, calm down and get off your high horse

You think any of us havent got that kind of comments in our lives?

Chill the FUCK down and think about what you want before blaming others for your inability to be disciplined and focus on whats truly necessary before you jumped on the bandwagon for the "money"

Judging by your language, you got into comsci for the money, didnt you? 6 years ago it was lucrative, you came in too late and now you're pinning the blame on the community, absolutely sad

[-]

Issalk05@reddit

Reddit is honestly Reddit and you’re gonna get Reddit answers. It’s near unusable at times. It’s almost a circlejerk.

Im so sorry youve gone through this. I hope your knowledge still aids you somewhere in the future, yet, as it stands, please know life isnt over because things didnt pan out. Hold onto the things and people you love, and find the strength to push through.

Things will turn out for the best, trust.

[-]

xspicycheetah@reddit

Just FYI, this is almost the right mindset to succeed in CS. I say “I’m so fucking stupid” to myself at least 4 times a day. I don’t know you, but my .02: you a) sound burnt out & b) seem to think being bad at leetcode is a sign you’re not cut out for CS. Learning to program is traumatizing for the vast majority of people. I think you should give it another shot…but I don’t want to give you blind positivity or shill CS to you without knowing more about you first. Soooo here’s a little flow chart kind of deal (longer than I’d anticipated, sorry):

1) Do you LIKE programming? If yes, keep going. You’ll never get good, not that many people are. It’s a trade, like any other, and most programmers are NOT wizards. If no, that’s also fine! I don’t think I genuinely loved programming until I was exposed to something that I thought was beautiful (functional programming, which I thankfully will NEVER touch). That wasn’t until like senior year of college. Before that, I was in it purely because I was too lazy/dumb for engineering but wanted money and to not have to interact with people. I rarely completed personal projects, had only just started leetcoding & felt super overwhelmed, & had fallen into the trap (which I suspect you have also fallen into) of building up my confirmation bias AGAINST programming by trying to do too much at once, by watching absolute monsters solve crazy problems, etc. In retrospect, I think I was doing all of that to sort of provide a buffer for my impending failure. I was trying to protect myself by proving to myself that I wasn’t cut out for it. This field is so damn wide. You CANNOT learn everything, and that is completely fine. Whatever you end up doing will be insanely specialized; all that really matters is that you sort of maybe kind of enjoy solving problems, or that unsolved problems piss you off. Gonna end this bit by saying I learned my job on the job, so don’t feel overwhelmed by job postings either.

2) How often do you study for coding interviews? If <10h~/wk…I hate to say this, but that’s why you and everyone else who doesn’t leetcode consistently for a long time is bad at leetcode. Leetcode is hard. You have to ACTUALLY learn and become comfortable with data structures & algos to solve problems. Nobody is pulling algorithms out of their asses (there’s only one Djikstra). Just be consistent, work on one problem domain at a time (i.e., do DFS tree problems until you can do them in your sleep, not just until you kind of sort of understand what DFS is doing) If you’ve been leetcoding for like over a year really consistently and still struggle with easy/medium problems, then yeah you might be better off putting the fries in the bag. But i am 99% certain that you haven’t.

Keep going. Be realistic about how much you can learn within set timeframes. Set realistic goals, be consistent, and learn how to detect burnout early on so that it doesn’t result in catastrophic failure (I’m saying from experience). Lastly, don’t think of your work so far as sunk cost. My favorite thing about CS is that everything lends to everything else, and the more you know, the easier it is to learn more cool stuff :)))

Giving up isn’t an option. You’re just hangry /s. This can be the first of many little deaths of ego or a regret. Unless you genuinely hate coding with every fiber of your being, keep going; you can do this. You’re 6 years in, now is NOT the time to quit. Hmu if you wanna chat, CS is overwhelming and I’m free whenever to give you the sanity check I wish I’d had. Btw I’m free whenever bc i work remote and make 3 million billion dollars a year LOL. Just give it one more chance tho for real

[-]

MonsterMachine77@reddit

you know AI is gonna do most of this for you in the future as long as you can read the code, find there errors, and direct the AI in the right direction. Stick with it, start using AI now to help you learn what you dont know, and get better at using it with your current skills. you will be fine.

[-]

MonsterMachine77@reddit

i mean this with respect to help not in a mean way

[-]

cinajunior@reddit

I think motivation coukd still be the problem. Sure it's cool to learn languages and frameworks, but do you have an actual idea for a purposeful application? Rowing a boat is hard, if you can't see the shore is harder...

[-]

BearOsama@reddit

I mean get the degree, but if basic interview questions are a brick wall maybe pivot to technical but less coding. Like IT

[-]

YaBoiObunga@reddit

I graduated less than a year ago and have my own startup. I cannot find a job right now I've put in over 900 applications. My resume is good and I've applied to websites, indeed, and other methods. I cannot even get a interview right now. I have plenty of very complicated projects as well.

[-]

Wpsp@reddit

Bruh you’re about to graduate and you can’t pass an interview? I didn’t even get past a screening interview until 6 months after my graduation. I’m starting my first job in April which I interviewed for over the whole of march. This means I didn’t get through interview rounds or a job until 11 months after graduation. On top of this I failed my first round technical questions so hard. There’s more to it than just knowing how to programme I’d suggest looking for smaller companies with in house recruiting, familiarise yourself with their tech stack, listen to what they say about your skills between interviews and work on them while waiting for the next interview and talk about your protectiveness. I am also hopeless (still am) and felt the same as you but if you’re gonna give up on searching for a job and you haven’t even graduated yet then u need to man up.

[-]

Formal-Luck-4604@reddit

How about considering a career as an indie developer and starting your own business? You might find that you enjoy it, and if it works out, you could earn a good income while gaining valuable real-world experience. I started programming for this very reason.

[-]

mildlycoherentpanda@reddit

You will eventually return to it. Once you have done it for long enough, you'll get over this fatigue and try again. It's like a song that you only remember the tune of but none of the lyrics. And you HAVE TO find out the lyrics.

[-]

david_horton1@reddit

Maybe you are burnt out and need to do something different for a while, but not so long that you lose touch. Using the mind on different tasks can be refreshing and rewarding.

[-]

omgpassthebacon@reddit

You've gotten a ton of good advice on this thread. Let me just add some thoughts: * if you got a degree, you definitely have worth. Your ability to complete a very large task will not go unnoticed. * Looking for a job as a newbie is one of the most degrading experiences one must undergo. Don't worry; this will get better once you have real job experience you can talk about. I'm not bashing your Target work; it's just not something a hiring manager can work with. * In case you don't follow the news, the IT/TECH world is in a bit of a swirl at the moment. AI and plunging stock markets have put software engineers in a shrinking market, so you are competing with many folks who have years of experience. It sucks, but thats current events. * Prepare yourself for entry-level roles. As a recent graduate with no developer job experience, that's all you can apply for. With my CS degree in-hand, my first job was as a data-entry dispatcher (basically, a telephone operator). Not a single company would look at me for a bonafide CS job. * Building projects is a good way to learn stuff, but if I am interviewing you, I don't care how many tutorials or bootcamps you did.

Here is my sincere advice: you need to decide if this is the career you truly want. It's not going to be "given"; you will need to want it, bad. And it's not an easy career. But, once you decide it's the job for you, then you have to pursue it. Look, you obviously have the drive. Keep taking the shots. Eventually, you'll get a truly suck-ass CS job that you'll hate, but it will give you that first niche on your gun belt. Once you have that, you can tell that sh*tty job to get lost and move on to better jobs. As you can see from all the other advice, many of us have had to come up thru those conditions.

[-]

Epator@reddit

Whoops. Id wanna kill myself too if I worked at Target..

[-]

FriendWest8305@reddit

Computer sciences is not only programming. That's the major problem of how computer is depicted through media and movies.

[-]

sheriffSnoosel@reddit

You can totally be a programmer even if you are just a big dumdum. I’m guessing this is more about self perception than actually how stupid you are, but let’s say you somehow managed to scrape through your CS degree by tenacity, cheating, and scrapping your way. Well those are the exact skills you will need to work as a professional information plumber. You also might be burned out.

[-]

ohboyhotdogcomic@reddit

I don't have the aptitude for programing (although I did try and try!), but have done well as a project manager in IT and now utilize all sorts of low code solutions (Power Automate, Power Apps, Logic Apps) and have started to learn SQL. If you want to work in IT, your degree will give you a major advantage. Consider even working as a field tech, and moving towards engineer or project management. Database administration may be in your future. Maybe stop applying for dev jobs and you'll find other IT jobs that are a better fit!

[-]

LooseYesterday@reddit

Man I feel bad reading this been in a similar situation before where I dropped our of uni and had nothing. I am ok now working as a PM. Best decision I made was moving to a big city and then the next best is only applying for high growth companies, that made it easier to level up and get new roles

[-]

arkhamRejek@reddit

Might be the wrong companies honestly but if you’re interested in being on the product side might not be half bad

[-]

Financial_Zucchini69@reddit

Don't give up, look at a field related to computers. Look at cyber security. You will never not be needed. Companies will always need staff to protect networks. Stay positive

[-]

djhaskin987@reddit

I have mentored two people who were fresh out of college with no industry experience.

The first guy came into his first few days of work. He started crying because he had no idea what was going on. I showed him the ropes , how to read the docs and man pages, what to look for, why code from previous folks shouldn't just be ripped out (Chesterton's fence), etc. He really bloomed after just a few weeks.

I then trained another acolyte much later in my career. He started out feeling like he had no idea what was going on and he was in way over his head. Three months later he was kicking out code just fine. A year in and he was a valuable member of the team with a better intuition than me for making code useable by other people.

There is a fundamental difference between industry coding and academia coding that tends to trip up folks new to the business. Do not be discouraged by this impedance mismatch. Stick to it like you have for six years and it will very soon pay dividends.

[-]

Gigigigaoo0@reddit

Bro what are you talking about.

You have the degree, now go get a high-paying job and let Claude do the work like everyone else lol

[-]

Android8675@reddit

The top comment mentioned quality. I dropped out of college in 97, took a job at EA, because VIDDYA GAMES. Got into quality assurance/testing, dabbled as an associate producer and left that drama for a quality job inspecting machines parts. My limited coding experience has helped, but I took the long way out and did ok. About 2 years ago I landed a legit Quality Engineer position and have found out I’m pretty good at implementing Standards like ISO 9001, 14001, etc.

Be easy on yourself. I don’t know if video games are a path from the base of the mountain, but I know InNOut hires at $25/hr and has decent 401k/insurance.

Good luck dude.

[-]

Frosty_Yoghurt_7505@reddit

I think you should go back to your dreams and follow them!

[-]

omehans@reddit

People that are not intelligent enough for programming but have basic understanding of it are perfect to work in programmer management/product owner or scrum master roles.

[-]

Sizzin@reddit

I was probably the worst student (who managed to graduate) during my college years. I was even held back a year due to bad grades. By my final year, I can confidently say that I knew nothing beyond the very basics.

Thanks to being in the right place at the right time , I landed a job through a company's "hire new graduates" program by barely meeting their minimum requirements. The first three months were rough—I quickly realized how far behind I was compared to my fellow graduates. But in those three grueling months, I learned more than in my five years of college.

I'm much more of a practical person than a theoretical one, and if you're anything like me, there's nothing better than getting your hands dirty by actually building something.

Compatibility is also essential. I've always been interested in coding, but this is truly a job you either love or hate—there's no middle ground. It can be stressful as heck sometimes.

If you're a theoretical person, I can't help you to save my life, lol. But if you're more of a practical learner and are interested in Python, feel free to slide into my DMs—we could try some small Python projects together to help you get a feel for it.

Wishing you all the best. Good luck!

[-]

theclearshadow@reddit

What now? Are you a good paid programmer?

[-]

Sizzin@reddit

That's a bit hard to answer. I managed to reach a point where I was getting a very decent salary (at least for my country's standards) but in order to achieve a dream, I had to take a step back financially and now my salary is lower, but it's still pretty good, considering my living standards.

That's me 7 years later, mind you.

The main thing is: I learned what I like and what I want to do. I also learned the most optimal way of absorbing knowledge for me. That, with a bit of luck, is what allowed me to rise quickly. Or at least quicker than I ever expected.

[-]

WEF_YungLeader@reddit

That’s one of the hardest parts right there, “finding what you like and want to do”. Some people go through numerous jobs or programs in school thinking they may like something and end up just not feeling that “This is what I want to do with my life” feeling.

Thats great you found out and have achieved one of your dreams dude.

[-]

WEF_YungLeader@reddit

The calculus prerequisite and other math intimidated me since I very truly forgot everything from school and had to relearn a lot from the ground up.

[-]

mediumrare_chicken@reddit

If it makes you feel better. I’m dumb too.

[-]

Tiny_Connection_7182@reddit

Have you ever heard about business analyst job?

[-]

imadogg242@reddit

Keep trying failure is a huge bulk of success

[-]

_denysko@reddit

So.. what are you going to do next?

[-]

bysiuxvx@reddit

Alright, too bad it didn’t work out for you. Best of luck

[-]

Gamerstic@reddit

Given the tone of the person who is asking the question, i think bro is really messed up 😭

[-]

Hexter_@reddit

Dude explore your passion no worries if coding is not your thing, only by experimenting with your life you will come to know what you like and what you dont. Some people figure everything out when they’re young and some when they’re in their twenties and some in thirties and so on everyone is cruising in life at their own pace

[-]

r_gui@reddit

Bro, go for a walk. Relax. Not everything is for everyone. Now, realize 6 years ain't no joke, so assuming you've put in the work, there's a place for you out there. So yeah, relax and give it another go. Try different industries. Again, 6 years is enough time to learn a crap ton. So I understand the frustration, but that's all it is. Your frustration is in your way. Good luck, bro!

[-]

skul_and_fingerguns@reddit

neuroplasticity suggests being born stupid is only a temporary disability; https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/comments/1j7wnho/comment/mh4l4um/

[-]

electrical_charge03@reddit

the edit part is hilarious as shit xD

[-]

paperic@reddit

Any particular things you need help with?

If you've made it through, without cheating, or at least not too much cheating, you very likely do have what it takes, cognitively speaking.

Firstly, forget interview questions, they're designed by morons who don't know anything about computers.

Secondly, the real part about programming is that there is never a point when you finally "get it". It's not a matter of understanding anymore, you've already proven your understanding just by sticking with the school.

Now, it's a matter continuing to stick to things.

That's the real lesson you sould take from the school.

Every time you work on something, you'll be solving something new, something you've never done before. It will always feel new, and it will always feel futile.

Programmers take a hard problem and churn it in their heads for long enough, until somewhere, in that drunken random walk of the algorithm in their heads, they eventually stumble upon a solution.

Sticking to things in adversity, keeping going when no solution seems in sight, that's what really matters.

Some people say that this is the hallmark of stupidity, but that's just an average Tuesday as a programmer.

Most people can't do it, not because of cognitive abilities or knowledge, but because they just don't stick to it long enough and repeatedly enough that they get confident in this process of weaponized stubbornness.

There's an old joke that says: The problem with programmers is that when given an opportunity they will start programming.

That's the greatest strength, and also the greatest weakness of programmers.

And if it all else fails and you decide you don't like doing this, you can always be a manager.

Technically adept managers are a godsend. All the most successful companies i have worked for had managers who were either ex-programmers or at least hobby programmers.

[-]

kotsumu@reddit

Don't listen to these people, if it's not for you it's not for you lol. I'm lucky my brain is wired in a way to make sense of CS and programming due to being engrossed in it at a young age, but after over a decade of experience, I have learned that not everyone is wired the same way and the effort to rewire your brain into it is just not worth it. Why go through all the insane hard ship to make developer wages (keyword is wages). You are still stuck to your seat working a slave job while waiting for your stocks to vest so that you can eventually retire and hop onto a cruise ship.

Fuck all that, you can make money in many other ways than slaving away in front of your keyboard

[-]

mgs-94@reddit

Programmers are born not made. Same with hight lvl athletes, doctors etc. you cannot exceed your genetic predisposition. There will be a lot less pain if we teach that early on.

[-]

mdkavanagh1@reddit

I had a similar experience. Earned a degree then couldn’t get programming job with no experience, but got a got in it support and really enjoyed it. Look for entry level and go enjoy other things as you grow in your career.

[-]

RaymondofYorkshire@reddit

You're being harder on yourself than you deserve. While you may not be a full time software engineer, sought after by Google and Apple, your skills will help you in every industry you eventually choose to pursue. Everywhere uses computers, and somewhere out there is a business that isn't using them very well that you'll have the skills to get on track. On a more personal note, while we as a society place a lot of emphasis on mastery and productivity, the really important thing is that you enjoy it. If computer science makes you happy, stick with it.

[-]

Desolution@reddit

The tech interview (especially the first one!) is an absolutely brutal, somewhat fickle, somewhat random beast, that doesn't have that much to do with actual programming. As a first class graduate with the top grades in my year, I failed my first TEN interviews. I'm now Staff Engineer at one of the fastest growing firms in the world.

Practice the interview. Learn how to demonstrate a growth mindset, practice a few phrases that make you sound like you really understand the field, learn how to make trade-offs, practice building impressive looking solutions in 30/60 minutes and figure out what you can drop. Learn how to apply TDD quickly in HackerRank style problems.

Remember, they're interviewing you and your ability to work smart. Knowledge isn't that important as you can learn on the job.

Most importantly, don't give up. You're nearly there - it just takes one good interview to get your start, and it gets much easier from there.

[-]

PopovidisNik@reddit

For me it was 10 hours a day for 6 days a week driving and delivering for Amazon in Germany for min wage that made me self teach myself in 3 months, no degree.

[-]

Zlatan-Agrees@reddit

Don't become a dev there are so many other well paying jobs

[-]

Catkonez@reddit

Wow…people can really be heartless in this world we live it. I completely understand..especially with everything going to AI, I would maybe lean towards AI programming if at all possible. I have been thinking that’s the new wave, idgaf if it destroys us anymore.

I wanna live life and have health insurance…and I don’t currently because I too work a mediocre job to not stress but I stress about not having health insurance so.. yeah. Fuck all that negativity. Try a different route! This kind of inspired me.

[-]

OkMemeTranslator@reddit

Look, I'll be blunt with you. Six years is nothing. Not in CS, not in most other careers either. Do you think an electrical engineer with six years of education could design a power plant? Do you think an architect with six years of education would be hired to design any major project? Do you think a civil engineer with six years of education could successfully build a dam, an earthquake resistant tower, or even an elevator?

Any career you choose (aside from simple labor options) will have you suffering from the impostor symdrome, where you feel like you don't understand enough and you're not qualified for the job. Because truth be told, you're probably not. Not yet after mere six years of studying, you've barely scratched the surface.

I have six years of studying and 15 years of work experience under my belt by now. Only in the very recent years do I actually feel like I know what I'm really doing.

And this:

I’m not smart enough for this.

Has absolutely nothing to do with it. The question is whether you enjoy it and want to learn more for the next 20 years to come. Because if you do, then you will become good some day. But no, not in six years.

[-]

DustinKli@reddit

Many professional athletes have only spent 6 years training. Many professional athletes aren't even 20 years old yet.

Nobody can build a power plant by themselves.

The average architect has about 6 years of professional experience.

No civil engineer could ever build a dam by themselves.

Not unless they're a beaver.🦫

[-]

DryDealer3816@reddit

No civil engineer could ever build a dam by themselves.

Not unless they're a beaver.🦫

I'm curious if you mean "They can't build it by themselves because they can't operate all the equipment and physically create the structure themselves"

or

"They can't design the bridge"

I'm pretty sure the poster you're replying to means "design" when he says "build".

[-]

bjuurn@reddit

I think it applies to both
https://mymodernmet.com/beavers-build-dam-czech-republic/

[-]

Vollgrav@reddit

I don't think this is true. As a kid from the '80s I first experimented with some programming on my own, then went to university but it was not IT, we had some solid IT classes but that was a total of one semester, and then, still during the university, I got a job, with a total of half a year of formal IT education. Of course I sucked at first and it took years to learn to suck less and less, but at this point I know I did some good work, at least from time to time.

So six years of education is not enough for some senior role or whatever like this, but if the guy is not able to solve interview questions after this much, I doubt he's ever going to get there. This is true, even though programming is so logical, not everyone can do this, apparently.

[-]

No-Nectarine-6599@reddit

I disagree on some points. I've been software engineer for 7 years and just made it to senior. I had peers hitting senior at 3 years of experience.

When I say "peers" I mean people who took a software engineering boot camp like I did.

Likely these folks had some mathematics backgrounds and other job experiences.

Also, finding the first job is not always the roughest. I've been searching for my 2nd company for 4 years, definitely far more difficult for me to find that 2nd job compared to the first.

[-]

ericjmorey@reddit

I can't believe this answer is upvoted.

[-]

melody_melon23@reddit

I'm gonna save this in memory. Thanks.

[-]

OptimalFox1800@reddit

Ditto

[-]

lol_donkaments@reddit

Six years is most definitely not nothing.

[-]

Imperial_Squid@reddit

On the scale of "I spent time doing a thing", sure, 6 years is a lot.

On the scale of "I spent enough time to become comfortable with the thing", 6 years is unfortunately very little.

Which is the point here, OP has spent 6 years and still suffers from imposter syndrome and feeling uncertainty, but that would've happened in literally any field they went into.

I've been doing programming/statistics/data science stuff in education or work for about a decade and still look up incredibly basic stuff and get confused.

OP needs to learn that the grass isn't always greener, and that bouncing to do something else because you don't feel good enough after 6 years means they're going to end up in a "jack of all trades" scenario.

If OP enjoys coding (which spending 6 years going at it would indicate), they should stick it out, if they're not having fun then absolutely they should move.

Their post sounds more like a crisis of confidence than actually being unfit for the field.

[-]

lol_donkaments@reddit

People with high aptitude for cognitive tasks very often underestimate the challenges that people with lower aptitude face.

Six years of dedicated effort is a long enough window, if anything it’s too long, to see if you have the skills to work in a profession.

[-]

Xypheric@reddit

Wish I could upvote more than once. I’ve been a professional web dev for 5 years and needed to hear this!

[-]

unknow_feature@reddit

This is nonsense. Chewing this for 6 years and not getting. I got it over 2 months. After 2 months a person can start writing applications. There is nothing exceptional about it. Just need to have a brain that lives problem solving. Regarding smart non smart. Everyone has an inclination for something. What’s the point of pushing yourself from your natural talents to what you told to believe you should do? Waste it time and disappointment.

[-]

Kaenguruu-Dev@reddit

First of all: The amount of time someone needs to learn something can not be generalized and is completely individual. You can sometimes approximate a rough range which is how schools work. But in almost every class you'll have 3 people way ahead of the rest and 3 that barely if even manage to get 10% of the classes contents. The important part, as the first commenter already stated, is that you have to enjoy it to realistically achieve these goals. "Just need to have a brain that loves problem solving" is a gross oversimplification and a spit in the face of thousands of researchers and people working in education

[-]

unknow_feature@reddit

You comment is so confident and so wrong. Not generalized but approximated. Otherwise we couldn't possibly imagine how much it would take to get a bachelor's degree. Of how long does it take to teach kids quadratic equation. The same way we are able to approximate how much time it would take to implement a task. Which is used constantly in programming to estimate the time that is needed. Whih includes learing. Which is a continious process. Try to be more objective with what you say. The world is not built on your assumptions.

"is a gross oversimplification" - it's not. Problem solving is the corner stone of programming I've seen enough people who tortured themselves just to throw away their true dream into a dumpster and become a shitty programmers who can only follow directions. And I'm tbh tired to do their job instead them. So no. Don't have inclination, don't waste your and everyone else's time. I understand that many people don't react well to what I said. Simply because the majority of people are not problem solvers. But there are good news! Everyone is talented in something. Develop your own talents. I don't understand why do you want to suppress your talents and get into something you are bad at? Weird.

[-]

Stock-Chemistry-351@reddit

This is BS.

[-]

orangehead911@reddit

👆this right here OP!

[-]

Partay7@reddit

This right here OP. I’m 3 years into my junior web dev position and I still sometimes feel like I’m not smart enough for programming. The imposter syndrome never completely goes away but you just have to be open to learning and stick with it, that will lead to success.

[-]

mailed@reddit

keep going. I didn't get any of this until like year 12 of 20. my technical skills are woeful but I've been promoted to tech lead in two different verticals (software and data engineering) and just got an offer at a senior level in a third (security). I truly know fuck all.

interviewing itself is a skill that has to be practiced. just gotta take notes on what you got smashed on.

you can do it.

[-]

farfromprfct@reddit

From what I understand, the degree is just the barrier to entry in most cases.. not a certificate of mastery.

If you’ve gotten through calculus, all the other math classes & programming classes, you now have the foundation to be properly trained on a specific stack by whatever company hires you. From all I’ve read, it seems there’s a lot of hand holding for Junior developers for the first 6-24 months at their first job.. and sometimes even for subsequent jobs while you learn the new codebase and any required new languages or frameworks.

Don’t give up yet dude 🙌 This learning curve exists in any field of complexity & the only way out is through.

[-]

EarPersonal3025@reddit

dont force yourself, you are right about thinking this!

[-]

Master-Guidance-2409@reddit

this is good. you should give up. this is for life. and this life ain't for you. if you have to be tricked or persuaded then its not for you. it just takes years and years of constant learning to become proficient. you learn faster by building things rather than reading theory. the way most programming is taught is shit anyways.

[-]

ReporterPitiful2783@reddit

Loved the EDIT .😂

[-]

xiahouscream@reddit

I’m taking the same degree right now. With the math requirements being what they are have you considered transitioning into a math major?

[-]

Chicagoan2016@reddit

If you genuinely think you aren't smart enough for it then you most probably are smart. I have never met a dumb person admitting they were dumb. All of them claimed they were geniuses.

[-]

mehum@reddit

If OP thinks themselves dumb,they should get a job on a help desk. Guaranteed they’ll feel a lot smarter about themselves after a week of that!

[-]

Antice@reddit

It's the only good thing you get out of working at a help desk. Everything else sucks ass. Especially the pay.

[-]

jaibhavaya@reddit

Working in a job where you’re coding is where you basically gain all of your comfort and proficiency with a language. When we hire people right out of school, we do it with the strong assumption that we’re hiring someone we’ll bring from 0-100.

Do you enjoy programming? Do you enjoy building things? Then stick with it. Build some stuff on your own, find something fun.

[-]

shanem1996@reddit

I work in a multinational tech company as a software engineer and I am fucking shit at coding.

[-]

buttfacenosehead@reddit

When I first started in my defense contractor position I thought every job was code. There are a lot of product testing jobs that require communication skills over tech skills. I think that's the best place to start too, because you essentially become a user of the product & gain tremendous insight.

We have hundreds of positions that require no technical skills, & the highest paying jobs require no technical skills at all.

Get a foot in the door of a larger company anyway you can. You got about 3 mos to learn/like that job or you transfer to another (internal) position. May have to move a few times until you find something that clicks for you. This is 100% normal and very common. I've also seen people ascend the ladder faster by moving around like that.

[-]

General-Window173@reddit

Not sure if this helps, but I had a similar experience with my degree (EE but I've been an embedded software engineer for over 15 years). I was kind of a late bloomer, so to speak; it took me a while working in industry before I felt like I actually "got it". It just took me longer to get there, but once I did I was able to find my niche as well as a love for it. Not saying that will happen to you, but my two takeaways are:

Be patient with yourself.
The degree is valuable to have no matter what you end up doing.

[-]

Dustin_James_Kid@reddit

What if you just move to the hardware side and do IT so you degree is still in the same field

[-]

sankxt@reddit

skill issue.

[-]

Consistent-Iron598@reddit

pal, programming is not a Sigma male grind, it's Art, even it looks like not a art, I see it always as a Art of writing, don't grind your every bit of soul , just enjoy whenever possible, if no fun, take a break

[-]

YxngSsoul@reddit

Wow. Reading your initial post just shows me how much work you’ve really put in OP. Working part time while in school, working on side projects, etc. You worked hard OP. Much more than many people I know. Be proud.

However, something u said bugged me. “I gave up on my dreams to study programming”. I think that’s where your true calling is. The work ethic you’ve shown grinding in programming will take you far wherever you go. Follow your heart. Do what you want to do and do it damn well; that’s the trick to getting paid.

[-]

Wild_Cazoo@reddit

I was in your position.

I worked nights at home depot about 30-40 hours per week during school. I graduated Cal State San Marcos in a degree with computer information systems.

I also didn't get along with 90% of my class. 90% of my class were rich kids that thought programming was easy but the difference was I was working almost a full time job ad they were either not working or working 12 hours.

This made me despise a lot of the students. However, I had some lovely teachers that really inspired me. They knew I was broke and I was from a low income family trying to make it.

Nobody is a genius at everything, trust me. I know guys in the computer science field that have made complex neural networks but can't turn a wrench.

I know guys in the computer science field that were writing attempting to write their own compilers but didn't know how to fucking take a shower.

If you asked me if the guy who can write his own compiler is a genius. I'd say he really excels at programming for operating systems. I won't say he sucks at taking care of himself as a whole.

Once you die none of this matters brother, you can't take your programming or lack of programming to the afterlife with you.

Better to be a balanced person, trust me. Be a good person, with good friends, the struggle is real and things will come.

[-]

0ygn@reddit

I dunno man, I was always interested in computers, I got scared when I was applying for universities, because I wasn't good with math. Today I'm a UX Designer that's self taught and working in web programming. It's still hard and it still sometimes feels like I'm never going to be as good as some of my coder colleagues with a CS diploma. The only thing thats saving me is, that coding is still very much interesting to me. I love to learn more every day and I guess I will never stop learning new things.

[-]

dkoski@reddit

A CS degree is teaching Computer Science, which is a little bit different than learning programming or how to build software. Think of it as the math behind how computers work. Sure, they teach programming along the way, but that isn't the main point.

That said, maybe you just aren't that into computer science (or programming). What are you into? Math? Biology? Physics? Linguistics? Art? The cool thing about a CS degree is you can apply those skills just about anywhere -- computers are used in every field. Think about other fields you might be interested in and see if they have any developer positions. Get an associated degree, minor, or whatever if you need to pick up the basics. I think these combination fields are really interesting.

If you really do want to be a programmer, you need to start at the bottom and work your way up. Learn from others who are doing the job you want to do. Some people come out of college and they just breath programming while others are maybe more the slow and steady type. Nothing flashy but if they stick with it they get the job done. There are roles for all types.

There are also adjunct roles where CS knowledge is useful (as I think others have pointed out). IT, project management, QA, etc. I would be a little bit careful getting into these if you would really prefer programming -- sometimes it is hard to get out of them, especially if you are good at what you do.

Just some thoughts.

[-]

Apart_Performance491@reddit

Finish your degree. Get a job with low responsibility and health insurance. Go and find yourself. Do things you enjoy. And if you feel the inclination, learn the difficult aspects of programming at your own pace, and program only if you want to. For fun. Maybe someday you’ll want to get back into it, or not. Either outcome is okay.

[-]

Illbsure@reddit

Start with a low level sales job, learn to sell. If you can sell and have a CS degree, you will have a lot of doors open in your career.

[-]

ryrychan@reddit

I feel your rage, it’s not for you then it’s not for you bro. Not too late to find something else, at least you tried.

[-]

Then-Boat8912@reddit

It’s just the first foot in the door problem grads have. Unfortunately these days it’s equally luck as much skill. So you’re not alone for sure.

[-]

Kitten-Smuggler@reddit

Look into becoming a sales engineer or solutions engineer. You dabble in code depending on the company/product but it's usually not a requirement, and you still get to stay close to the tech. Great happy medium IMO, and if you land at the right places (like AWS) you can eventually make $350K+

[-]

_Hill_Walker_@reddit

Programmer of 25 years now a PM here. First of all make sure the questions you get on the interviews are not stupid. I work HPC projects, and went towards management. I am not dumb I am no genius either. 90% of interview questions I look at are plain stupid. Some are unsolvable. We ask those anyway to see how the candidate will approach that. We look for the ability to approach problems (scratch the surface and show how you think) and perseverance. We do not look for geniuses - these are unicorns and hard to handle. Based on what you have said I would hire you straight away for three things: first of all for trying hard and perseverance (get that degree!), second for the ability to self assess (don’t be too critical about yourself however others aren’t that good), third for asking for help! This is what I would do next I would pair you with an experienced programmer and put you in a team who would assess your strongest points. I would expect you to be frank with the team when you would feel „I do not get these tasks” someone would help you through: You are not alone in this! However if you decide that programming is not for you get a degree - you can migrate towards project management the teams will absolutely adore having pm who knows what the struggles are. And finally we live in times when you will switch careers at some point in time if you have passion for learning you will find your place. It also seems like you are working hard and also working hard after classes (hell I want such people in my teams) make sure you take good care of yourself make sure you are not burnt out rest a little… Good luck!

[-]

Greedy-Grade232@reddit

There is a huge disconnect between interviews and the job, I have this argument a lot with the tallent team, interview for the job, don't make it some arbatory ego gatekeeping exercise .

[-]

DatFlushi@reddit

It's so stupid because you don't need to know the answer to some crazy math related coding question to add an UI component or add a new query to an endpoint

[-]

Greedy-Grade232@reddit

I think my first 18 interviews were all - please create the Fibonacci sequence - wanna guess how many times I've used the sequence in really life ? lol

I get it its a good way to get people to explain about how they create code....

but, one of the best interviews I had was that took a random bug form their bug project and we discussed how to fix it, gave me a good indication of what issues they were having and them about how I go about fixing it

[-]

Some_University_9462@reddit

It depends on the job tbh. I'm leading a tech startup rn and if I had someone interested in working on the backend with me, I'd be giving some algorithm based problems since I deal with that heavily.

However, there's absolutely no real reason to do that with frontend or for someone working with devops.

It truly depends on the role.

[-]

Greedy-Grade232@reddit

Agreed and that’d kinda my point

[-]

Some_University_9462@reddit

Like, what does setting up Docker have to do with finding the number of inversions in an array?

[-]

koby248@reddit

This is what some people don’t realize

[-]

leme-thnkboutit@reddit

It doesn't always work the way you plan, but if you stick to it, it will work.

[-]

majeric@reddit

I don’t know what your standard of success is.

[-]

More_Entertainment_5@reddit

Become a Wordpress developer. Seriously, I taught myself how to code back when the demand was high and got an entry level job after a couple years, and I am NOT smart. What I do is nowhere near as difficult as a software developer, but it’s still programming. Because it’s easier, you often are expected to level up a bit more in UI design, SEO, front end, etc, but that’s not that hard either.

[-]

Individual_Cress_226@reddit

Is there any aspect of it you have found you like or can do? Like front end development? I found my way to programming through a graphic design / art degree. I’m not into any “heavy” programming but leveraging my art skills I’ve made a career for myself by being good at making things look nice and animation.

There’s days I feel completely useless and there’s days I surprise myself. Hell the first 2-3 years of working I was constantly sweating and searching stack overflow for any code chunk I could try to alter to make my projects work. It was stressful af.

I’m sure you know much more than you think you do. You’ll never know it all, that’s part of what makes this a very humbling and at times exhausting career path. It’s ever changing and almost* anything is possible if you are smart enough.

Also as others have said there are plenty of non coding ways to use the CS degree. One foot in front of the other and you’ll figure out your path. Good luck

[-]

Accident-General@reddit

Don't be so hard on yourself.

[-]

Disposable_Gonk@reddit

If interview questions are a brick wall, it means theyre hiring a senior position and you dont have the specialist experience yet.

"Programming" in and of itself isnt a field. Game dev is one field for programming, another is cybersecurity, and another is enterprise software. All 3 are programming but they are not the same.

If they want senior software engineers, that isnt you yet, and you need to know what industry and have experience in that industry. Doing indie game dev wont land you a job at a cybersecurity company as one point of comparison. And when people say you dont have job experience, working at target isnt programming job experience unless you're doing all their I.T. work.

You're fresh out of university, and trying to skip to the end. Thats not how it works. You finished comp sci classes, now get an entry level comp sci job. If they ask you to do something unreasonable you say no and offer something reasonable. If they ask questions you dont understand, politely ask if this is supposed to be an entry level position for the field.

[-]

Dediop@reddit

I don’t know if you’ll see this but I want to pitch some positive vibes your way. I’m in my degree now and I realized that I don’t want to write walls of code as a career full time. I’m more interested in management and product creation without doing the bulk of coding myself. I’m finishing my CS degree because I know it can be applied to the field still, but I am not going to submit myself to the painful screening process nor the grind of making a bunch of large projects to try and learn the code.

Stick to what you know you can do, you’ll get out of target some day. You’ll have to keep working hard, but avoid the stuff that destroys your spirit and you’ll make it!

[-]

iirubixii@reddit

Then do something in IT. I have 2 good friends I made in college who were in your boat, they graduated with CS degrees and knew they couldn’t cut it as a developer (their words not mine)… so they got IT roles (sys admin kinda roles) and are doing pretty good today.

[-]

UbiquitousStarlord@reddit

This might be the best rage-quit post I’ve seen.

[-]

ffdg35@reddit

Listen. I guarantee you that you can find use for your degree and skills. I work in healthcare IT. They are hurting for people who can do bare minimum IT. Your job is out there. You just gotta find it. You got this. Promise. If I can anyone can.

[-]

OpeningOk9017@reddit

Just find what you love and pursue it, bro. Career is something that occupies 8 hours of a day, roughly one-third of your life. If you don't love it, then it might not be the right choice for you.

I was so good at chemistry in high school. I won statewide contests and nearly joined the national IChO team. My parents didn't have degrees, they knew nothing about higher education. So I have to make the decision on my own. However, I knew nothing either. I chose to major in chemistry. I spent two years to find out that scientific research is totally different from contests. More importantly, I found myself neither interested in research, nor talented.

I felt tired of chemistry. Fortunately I did't give up math and English (I'm not a native English speaker). And now I'm a programmer for over 15 years.

[-]

Corvoxcx@reddit

In some ways CS is like a law degree. Not everyone with a law degree is a lawyer and not everyone who has a cs degree will be a programmer.

With that aside nothing wrong with identifying it’s time for a pivot.

[-]

Kavereon@reddit

You are capable. Just simply frustrated. That's ok.

Here's the deal. The interview questions are going to be whatever they will be. What you should focus on is creating a process for yourself to ask the right questions about the problem.

Programming is amazing in the sense that the solution, like in math, is entirely logical and can be arrived at simply by the correct line of questioning,.

Every problem always involves some data with some structure, that needs to be transformed or processed in some way.

Assume you're smart enough to solve it. Get past yourself. That's the biggest obstacle.

The next step is quite logical. You just take what you're given and create a mental model of it, to the point where a question naturally arises in your consciousness.

Answer that question by examining the pieces of the problem, and maybe breaking the question into smaller questions.

You never arrive at the solution in a straight line. You jump from question to question, and sometimes even backtrack, and eventually "click" the solution into place.

I hope you will continue.

[-]

Repulsive-Sea6477@reddit

Your behaviours shows everything so no doubt why you screwed up your career 😂

[-]

frumply@reddit

lol that edit pretty clearly showing he’s never grown as a person since HS if that

[-]

eigenworth@reddit

I just also want to add that the game is so different these days. Some of the interview questions are literally asking you to regurgitate some algorithm that was a breakthrough discovery. Don't feel stupid for not being able to do that in 30 minutes.

There's something about CS that just makes people feel really stupid, and that has exploded with the gold rush of the industry. I'm sure it's in other disciplines too, but it seems fairly pronounced in CS. I think it's just the objective NOPE you get from the computer every time your code is even a little bit off. And it's a tortured way of thinking too, in a way, because it requires you to follow reasoning that is necessarily convoluted by the practical realities of making silicon think. Anyway, don't feel bad. It's a valuable degree. It's a shit time to graduate, but you will make it somewhere as a professional whether it's coding or doing something else.

And it could be coding. Because working as a SWE is nothing like solving those interview problems. Even if you work in some magic bit twiddling optimization factory, you will be collaborating, researching, iterating, you know, doing development, not being judged as you try to invert a binary tree or whatever.

[-]

Youronlinepal@reddit

It takes 10 years to even get remotely good at something. Think of it like you just crushed 6 out of 10 of those years. Everyone knows you know basically nothing fresh out of school so if they have any integrity they’ll mentor you or pair you up with someone who can help you until you can fly on your own. They need your competence, and willingness to learn and will feed it as long as you’re putting in the effort on your end to meet them in the middle for the information transfer handshake. Most people don’t have the opportunity to go to school and study in the way that you have and are scraping by in tutorial hell. You have a serious leg up, you’re just past the first big dunning Kruger hill and you’re in the valley of despair because you know enough to know what you don’t know which is actually a sign of progress. Keep up the good work!

[-]

pornthrowaway42069l@reddit

"I’m a dumbass who made it farther than I ever should have."

You will be an excellent programmer, this is how most of people who code well think (at least the ones I know, there is always, "But htis other guy at work, I'm a total newb compared to them!"

[-]

DryDealer3816@reddit

there is always, "But htis other guy at work, I'm a total newb compared to them!"

I make sure to torture myself good and well by comparing myself to Linus Torvalds 😂He made linux at 21 so I must be literal actual garbage.

[-]

pornthrowaway42069l@reddit

Bro I just write some shit into AI and return back things, and somehow everyone is happy. I know how un-adequate I am but like... I kept crawling and it kept working... :D

[-]

DryDealer3816@reddit

Can't, I'll know the truth and it'll kill me

[-]

WeUsedToBeNumber10@reddit

Is there anything else about software/tech that interests you? Good on you that you put in the time and effort to try and learn. I’m guessing you still picked up super valuable skills.

[-]

CepalMM@reddit

It is ok to feel like this. Take a break, a mental break, and do something else temporarily....

[-]

etm1109@reddit

There are other jobs in IT besides coding. You have QA and a QA job working on a large code base can be a leverage point into a coding position. Seen that a few times over my career people jumped from QA to programming or sometimes did both jobs fixing small bugs, etc.

Other types of programming. Everyone wants to be a sexy web developer.

There are data jobs.

There are embedded systems jobs. Not always new technology but it's a niche that can get you into a manufacturing position or water treatment plant kind of stuff. It's not the kind of job that people think are fun but they are interesting jobs. You haven't had fun until you've programmed embedded assembler.

[-]

thisismygameraccount@reddit

Do leet code. Start with easy ones. Read about the answer if you can’t do it. Keep learning that way. You learn the patterns to solve the problems. Keep working your way up the difficultly when each step becomes easy for you. It will take some time

[-]

Candid_Budget_7699@reddit

What makes you think you're not good at it and that you need to give up? I have technically been a programmer since my teen years but it took me many more years after college to go build something that I could be proud of and consider myself "good" at what I do and find my niche which is front end web dev. It could be you just haven't found what you're looking for yet. If you feel like coding itself is not something you enjoy doing, then I get that. Your degree is still worth something. Plenty of career paths make use of coding. I.e creative jobs like game dev, digital art, data visualization, or even something more people oriented like management.

[-]

Iazer374@reddit

Damn

[-]

tempvs983@reddit

CS is a broad broad field.... Maybe dev isn't your thing right now, or maybe not ever...but there's a TON of different areas and disciplines that your education has touched on that you may find more to your liking. Just about every industry has a need for IT, development, project management, security, AI/ML, data science, sales, networking, systems, support, maintenance, procurement, asset management, management... that's just a portion off the top of my head.... even mastering a particular software can be an entire career depending on the situation. If you're already near the end, why not finish it out so you have your degree, and then maybe start looking into job boards for ideas of things that might interest you, or looking into all the different disciplines that fall into the csis and it umbrella.... Anyway, I'd hate to see you having done so much and miss out on something you might love because programming wasn't your thing. Wish you the best, OP.

[-]

jdbrew@reddit

I first learned programming from a mentor of mine.

He dropped out of high school because wasn’t going to be able to graduate because of his poor grades. After a decade plus of slumming around, couch surfing, a stint where he was unhoused, moving back in with his parents… he bought himself a book on Ruby on Rails, which had just been released that year. He got a Jr. Dev Job making pennies. And then became an expert. He now manages multiple development teams, and makes close to half a million a year. I’ve known him since the couch surfing guitarist phase, so I’ve witnessed this rise first hand.

He had a phrase that he loved repeating, and your story is what made me think of it. “If you had to be smart to be a programmer, I’d still be homeless.” It isn’t about intelligence, it’s about problem solving and following logic. I’d combine it with something I’ve told Jr devs who’ve worked under me “Everything you might ever need to know can be found online.” Specifically talking about development here.

You’re doing fine. You’re not too dumb. You’re just inexperienced. 6 years of learning isn’t even worth 6 months of doing. You have to do it. Build shit. Constantly. I have to build shit all the time just to stay fresh. I just inherited a code base that was written by a dev who could run circles around me with his eyes closed, and so in order to figure this thing out, I’m building a personal project from the ground up using the same tools, so that I understand how and why they do the things they do.

Always be building. There is no substitute.

[-]

Embarrassed-Mix6420@reddit

One point - math! You had wrong teachers

[-]

No_Square_4736@reddit

I know this is a programmer’s sub, but just as a human, take care of yourself man. Take a break, experience life without all of this. If you feel it calling you back, come back, if not, so be it. Don’t be so hard on yourself though. Feel better Brodie.

[-]

lynxcii@reddit

learn devops through homelabbing - get a junior role for SRE by getting certified in AWS Cloud Practitioner

[-]

Diligent-Plum2226@reddit

The job market is just brutal nowadays. Likely won't make you feel better, but know that the large majority only get decent at programming 2-3 years into actually working.

Don't beat yourself over it. Even for folks thwt i know who are successful now, took them quite a while. Also, remember that there are other things that is not software development in IT - project management, support roles, infrastructure are all things that are much needed, pay well and you could very well be good at one of them.

[-]

emptysnowbrigade@reddit

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, go help somebody

[-]

probablyfixingstuff@reddit

Having a background in programming puts you in a great place for sales and marketing. Most the people in sales and marketing for any industry don’t know the job even half as well as the people they sell too.

I’m a plumber, and I often feel like I’m talking to a toddler when trying to order parts from my supplier. Every so often I get someone behind the counter who spent time as a plumber and it’s an absolute joy. Although, they usually don’t last long behind the counter because they get promoted quickly.

[-]

KDLGates@reddit

You should try working 30 hours a week at someplace like Target so you can learn the willpower to build production applications in between classes like everyone else.

[-]

sean-grep@reddit

This is a very tough market.

And the interview process for software engineers is notoriously stressful, and mentally taxing.

You’re doing all the right things, don’t give up when you’re so close to the end.

I’m a self taught engineer with no formal education.

Someone took a chance on me and I’m sure someone will take a chance on you.

One of the things I did to get a competitive edge over my competition and CS graduates was to have a GitHub profile of 20+ working projects, using the same tech stack as the first job I got.

It was a small shop(6 employees total), but was the most important job I ever had.

You’re right there man, don’t take your foot off the gas.

[-]

DevilMan_OG@reddit

You've been deep into this for 6 years already. Do you want to quit or switch over right now? You wanna play depressed that's fine cry your heart out. But don't quit.

It doesn't make sense why you would replace your 6 years of experience with something of 0 years. You are already too deep into this to quit now.

The moment you're going through right now is part of the career you're eventually gonna build so please do not quit. I wish you the best. I know you can do it.

[-]

LimboJimbodingo@reddit

I am in a similar situation. I know its a meme, but if you get the chance, get forklift certified it will open up some extra doors that are less shitty while you figure yourself out. Best of luck!

[-]

Lean_Monkey69@reddit

Aye man I get it, you mention you gave up your dreams for programming, I have to ask, worst case scenario your degree is useless(which its not), what the heck is stopping you from following your dreams right now. If you truly believe your at rockbottom ready to be “done” why do you believe you’ve given up on your dreams, it sounds like you could use a growth mindset, I know because I struggle with it aswell ( I coulda done this, I shoulda done that), but thinking that way you fail to appreciate the experience you currently have, that’s the true price of knowledge, it’s to realize it’s not for you, so I believe you gotta accept and maybe even appreciate the knowledge you have as now and make a decision, give up, or apply yourself like you have nothing to loose, and take every rejection as an opportunity to get better, even if you fuck up an interview, that knowledge is gold and the only person putting you down for that is yourself. I believe in you, You just have to believe in yourself.

[-]

CloudguyJS@reddit

Are you looking for advise or just venting? Your edit sounds really defensive. While I'm sure some people may be a bit blunt, however you seem to also be closed off to advice. It's also possible that you're just not cut out for programming...why continue to force it if you don't have a passion for it or the ability to retain the required information. There are many adjacent roles that you can get into that benefit from a little programming or scripting experience, however the role isn't 100% based on whether you can solve a programming challenge. Have you considered Systems Engineering or DevOps roles? If you're not someone who is naturally very curious about computers and technology then you may really struggle in those roles as well. People who seek out challenges like setting up your own servers and network devices/appliances, writing small apps and automated scripts to provide some functionality, or trying out many different Linux distributions along with the many core infrastructure services & daemons available for them tend to be the ones who excel in Systems Engineering and DevOps type roles. Otherwise you may better suited for technical business roles such as Technical Sales & account management, Project/Product Management, or Business Operations for a technology company. If you think you'd be better suited in something not focused on engineering or technical operations then I'd suggest you get some education/training or certifications in project management / Agile, business management courses or training, etc. If you think you still have the technical chops I'd suggest learning more network, and DevOps skills. Learn Kubernetes and Docker. Learn how to deploy different web applications. Manage some Linux servers & services. Learn to script and automate different applications & system processes using shell, python, ruby, etc.

[-]

AbbreviationsLive398@reddit

I'm studying computer science, and I don't really enjoy the programming. There are loads of other jobs out there in the field of IT. Personally my dream is to work with CRM-systems

[-]

Sad-Bad9592@reddit

Life is still in front of you use AI for programming to be smart instead of you

[-]

shifty_lifty_doodah@reddit

You might be right. But sticking it out and completing the degree is still a great accomplishment. You might be a good fit for adjacent roles in sales and the like.

[-]

desiderorg@reddit

yeah bro, you are not enough. just quit.

[-]

Ok_Spring_2384@reddit

I think you are being too hard on yourself man. Maybe you haven’t found your niche, but there are plenty of things you can do with a CS Degree. Don’t best yourself too much, coding takes time, software engineering is hard, and sometimes things click easier for some people, doesn’t mean you ate dumb or skill-less.

Why did you initially go into CS? Do you like the idea of building stuff? If your degree plan focused too much on theory or web stuff(some really do) then maybe you have not found something that brings about your passion, maybe we just need to dig deeper. But first things first: you are not a dumbass, and this field of study is not above you.

To everyone else treating CS like a gift from the heavens, stop, we lift the homies here, we don’t push them down.

[-]

Glum_Cheesecake9859@reddit

Just like with any other technical trade, it only works if you have a passion for it. Not just doing it for the money or because other people are doing it etc.

There are other options in the CS field other than coding. You could do data science or DB admin etc. which doesn't require a whole lot of coding or very limited set of things you need to learn compared to full stack development. Try to at least get internship jobs so you can get a feel for it.

[-]

Saleh_Al_@reddit

Dude, why you are so hard on yourself ? These interviews does not represent real life nor daily work. With the way you talk you are even more qualified than they need because you are capable of learning and doing most tasks they expect from you.

So take it easy, learn these stupid tests until a company overlook these exams or until you excel in doing them. Do your own projects too. Do your best without stress.

[-]

JaniBoySwag@reddit

What are your dreams?

[-]

JayGridley@reddit

Honestly, it’s okay if programming isn’t for you. It doesn’t make you stupid. Find something you like doing. You don’t want to spend the next 40 years in a career that you hate.

[-]

BuyMyBeardOW@reddit

This has got to be ragebait

[-]

Frugal_Caterpillar@reddit

IT world is much, much, MUCH bigger than just programming. Just because you are having issues programming, doesn't mean you can't do other things.

[-]

nardstorm@reddit

Yo, check out network engineering. CS degree is still valuable for that, but you’re not programming

[-]

DigThatData@reddit

I'm confused: you're graduating with the degree, yeah? That is a much bigger indicator of your ability to succeed in this field than leetcode BS.

I'm sorry you're feeling so discouraged right now, but I suspect you probably learned more from your program than you are giving yourself credit. Impostor syndrome sort of comes with the territory in this field. GTFO of target, or maybe see if you can leverage your degree for an internal transfer to corporate. You're clearly a hard worker and the fact that you perservered through your degree while working through school and simultaneously being this down on yourself says a lot about your strong work ethic. Even if you've concluded that you don't want to pursue a career as an engineer: you can still leverage the fact that you have a STEM undergrad degree and achieved that while working your way through school to find something better for yourself.

[-]

Glad_Telephone5543@reddit

what exactly do you get stuck at? if you have great language knowledge maybe you can work in sales, or as a tech recruiter or on the business side. Try non IT companies that need It talent. there are lot of possibilities out there, you just ned to hang in and take the ones that come towards you. Good luck!

[-]

s1nequan0n@reddit

Preface by saying it took me a similar amount of time in school, and I felt like an imposter. Being a developer is not the only alternative with your CS degree. Degree alone opens doors, and I'm currently working as a Systems Analyst (which was not something I envisioned during school but absolutely benefits from my degree).

I agree with everyone, don't be so hard on yourself!

[-]

CharlestonChewbacca@reddit

Most people come out of CS programs severely lacking in programming ability. But I think you'll be surprised how well the foundations work for you when you start getting work-related programming tasks.

I usually assume my interns have no clue about anything and get them the resources they need because I was in a similar boat up on graduation. It wasn't until 3 years post grad that I actually felt comfortable and confident programming.

I still use Google and Stack Overflow religiously. (And now, I use Claude a lot)

An internship or a job related to programming will help you build the confidence you need.

[-]

wuannetraam@reddit

Don't compare yourself to others. A line that someone told me and i will always remember: "have you ever seen a programmer talk positive about someone elses code?"

Then I was thinking and actually no. Never. Wether it is at my job or on discussion boards online.

Everybody knows it better.

[-]

vickydaboi@reddit

God loves you. just a simple prayer can help, because God has a plan for your life, a good plan to help you out and a plan to save you eternally. call out to Jesus to save you, read the Bible, find Christian community and pray. trust in Christ

[-]

clingrs@reddit

Take your CS degree and enroll in a one year accelerated ABSN program, then you will make good money and always have a job

[-]

SDeaV@reddit

Not everyone is the same. Some can learn it in 2 years, and some can learn it in 6 years. Some can't learn it at all.

[-]

RufusVS@reddit

I’m sorry it took so long for you to recognize that it is not in your “toolbox” to be a programmer. There is certainly a knack to it. I’ll never be an artist or composer but I’m an inspired programmer. Most successful programmers I know have always felt a joy in programming. Very few do they grunt through it just for the paycheck. It will be tough to avoid those programming brain teasers while interviewing for work unless you have a personal network. Don’t tie it to general intelligence. I know several brilliant people who couldn’t program their way out of a paper bag. I hope you can find a career more suitable to your thought processes and if you’re lucky, be able to use your training in some capacity as well.

[-]

PierreNel77@reddit

Bud, I'll tell you a story. Did my MCDBA. R 25 000. 20 YEARS AGO.

Sat in class. Felt like a complete twat. Way in over my head . Started thinking my class mates and teacher were conspiring against me. Couldn't be sure, because they sure as hell, were not talking English anymore. Talking gobbly de gook. Flunked out. Had paid course upfront. No refund of any sort. Huge pile of textbooks.Great. Worked barman position. 2 years. Met retired doctor at the bar. Completely computer illiterate . Start teaching him at the bar. After shift. Just basic shit. He really wanted to learn how Email real bad , so he could chat to his kids and such. Brought his sister along. Worked out a nice price. Family discount. Yada Yada, she introduces me to some old folk at the old age home . Oude west Hof.I go from there to the One in Seapoint Behind the library. Can hardly keep . now I go to a lot of retirement homes, teach the old timers how to access Pornhub. Just kidding. I teach the basics . The course was never going to get you a job. It opens doors. It shows people your commitment. You are not a fool. Just a gear that has not found its cog. Salute.

[-]

Poopoopeepeestinky1@reddit

I work 50-60 hours a week, have three kids, building a house, and I still manage to study 20-30 hours a week. You don’t want it.

[-]

RepulsiveScientist93@reddit

Are you having basic entry level programming interviews?

[-]

Relative_Locksmith11@reddit

Yo this is me haha.

But old version of me, i went to UNI for comp sci, specifically software engineering in germany. I was probably the worst student in some classes. I took (repeated) again some classes / subjects 2-3 times until the uni kicked me out.

I really probably only have an IQ of 90 but im still interested. I started the vocational training and failed like everyday. My supervisor couldnt look me in the eye or even wait till i finish my sentences because hes that bothered. I also hate and like most of my collegues. Hate because they are rude, arrogant and way smater and like because its somehow fun and fascinating.

C# was a different, easier story for me than java or c++ or javascript. My biggest accomplishments came with html, css (sideproject for a neighbour also with social media and google) and then i sticked to c# work problems on a daily basis, asked stupid questions got laughed at or they critizied me for being slow and not focused. Now close to my end im quite comfortable with being critizied.

Even in the vocational school, like every week. But i found join in doing those code "riddles" and we finished our spring boot angular web app. I contributed to the software architecture by reading a lot of docs and creating a rest api prototype with crud functionality. I learned a lot and that i will not work with the when the school is over, for me the right team is more important than the idea of a cool side projects.

Right now im doing c# api course on my weekend, i also want to do a prototype with react native and besides that my duty from work is to get comfortable with one big js framework. When i get interested again, i ll probably spent some hrs doing that. Some days its descipline because i also wasted a lot of years in this field, some days its the peace of studieing this IT field and on other days its the passion.

For me personally i try to fit as many eggs in each nest, going fulltime, fullstack in c# .net and "a js framework plus its techs" but also wanting now to build a small portfolio with .net api and react native. The plan is set, ive got a lot of ideas but im implementing only my best ideas in "every tech stack in those mentioned tech stacks".

Which means yes i want to build for example a small language app in react native, having it on my phone or even web is something im really hyped about, consider one day when travelling when u can say "ok fk this i stay here and i go full time cross plattform mobile dev". Or

This small language app with a c# .net api as backend and as frontend the mentioned "js framework with other techs".

It sounds about a lot of work, but think this way, i got one UX UI, i got already the smaller units of a software which are mostly the properties, and the abstraction on top, which is for example the design pattern makes it interesting. Its not that i go online and do heavy research, im watching right now only tutorials and the direct documentary.

Also AI, i failed so hard and even now im a bit scared to be faced with coding interviews, but ill probably buy this week a udemy course about c# data structures and algorithms. Then hopefuly find cool mini programs by myself or with AI.

The cool aspect made me stick also longer to those courses. Microsoft made their api course with the example pizzas. Which really made it a bit easier for me.

I enjoy more the building, crafting software part, then doing logical riddles. Thats why i also would probably be quite ok or good in the field of self employment. And yes i got a lot of different experiences in this field of self employment or lets say "project / business thinking".

I listen less to what people say and more what their interesting stories are. Those who trigger me will forever be blocked in my story. Decide whats your story in IT. It could even be that gardening is your main story, like serious gardening or weed planting idk haha

Good luck and dont do drugs when frustrated. I suffer from this to this day, not sure how bad my heart condition is..

[-]

Mountain_Way5570@reddit

The second you stop bashing and judging yourself you will have easier to learn and enjoy it more again. Don't give up, you are close now. We all have these ideas of how we should be and compare to others.. why bother? Be happy you made it this far, relax take a deep breath and go at it again.

[-]

TAW453@reddit

You just sound exhausted and scared. Working full time at target while completing your studies and trying to handle projects on the side, pay bills and keep up a social life is EXHAUSTING.

Many students feel this way when they graduate. It's a real thing.

Give yourself some time.

[-]

CellularBeing@reddit

I’m not smart enough for this.

This is going to sound assholeish, but I think it needs to be said.

I understand your frustrations. The job market is shit. But this mentality and negativity is not going to help achieve your goals.

From my own experience as a certified dummy, there are a lot of people working in the field who are not smart enough for this. And yet they still are employed.

My suggestions:

-Find adjacent work. Doesn't have to be programming. Go into IT or similar. Learn to script to hone in your skills. At the very least, use the role to practice.

All in all, no one here is going to care about your career more than you. Best of luck in your future.

-Someone in your similar shoes who worked multiple jobs while in school.

[-]

kingky0te@reddit

Sorry but I’m gonna be one of the assholes. You only fail when you quit. Einstein said it best. “I’m no smarter than anyone else, I just sit with my problems for longer.”

You think people get paid 300k a year because they code like gods? Unrealistic. What’s more realistic is they have the tenacity to get the job done. So if you’re ready to quit then… go ahead. You probably should.

It’s the only thing stopping you from succeeding.

[-]

BBQQA@reddit

My best advice is look into project managing. Every tech company needs PMs, and it is REALLY rare for a PM to have any kind of functional understanding of the backend stuff. You having that knowledge, even if it isn't enough to be proficient at programming, is valuable as a PM.

[-]

Loud_Palpitation6618@reddit

I was (maybe I 'am') in the same boat as you. One thing I did is - ask chatgpt to present something as a question. Example: I give chatgpt the following prompt before starting any project - I want to build a calculator. So please present me the high level steps of this project. You can tell me languages and frameworks to be used, and give me a brief overall idea. But please don't give any codes. Please present the entire thing as a todo assignment, because I want to figure out things on my own and solve. Also, give some scope of how or where can I add my own creativity (just a small overview). Note- You can drop 2 hints at the end just as a help to this project.

Then paste the answer in a doc , this is your guide, then use it to do a project on your own.

(This idea really works very very well. We can figure out everything ourselves and this becomes like a implementation question and a system design problem. Give it a try, you will enjoy)

[-]

Impossible_Box3898@reddit

Imposter syndrome. Don’t let it get to you.

[-]

dantechiel@reddit

Plenty of good roles where you only really need to be able to read docs and explain it, look into sales/solution engineering. Great role honestly

[-]

-SavageSage-@reddit

Target isn't getting you anywhere in your development career, so that bit was irrelevant. Do you have github? Do you have projects? What you need is to find something in your life that you can apply programming to. Find a reason to build something. Even if it seems dumb. Find something you could use, then start working on it. I had this conversation with my 20 year old son recently because he is in the middle of a degree program for the same thing and doesn't have a portfolio, doesn't have a github, has nothing to show for anything he has done.

Start working on things... Anything. Just to show yourself what you can do.

For example, my youngest son is a hockey goalie. One of the other goalie parents asked if I was tracking my sons stats. I said no, and asked her how she does it. She showed me an app on her phone. I looked up the app, but what do you know, it's no longer on the app store. In fact, the only app that exists fucking sucks. Idea, why don't I just make my own?

So now, since last October, I've been working on building my own app. I had never built an android app before, so I didn't even know where to start and it was a huge learning curve, but now I've learned and built it and I've already previewed it to a facebook group of goalie parents and they are excited about it because it's a need that a lot of people have.

Here's another example. At work, I'm a unified communications architect. We use polycom phones. One challenge we face is phones disconnect from our cloud management software and get signed out. To solve this, we need to factory reset the phones, but how do we do this in bulk when they are disconnected from the cloud management software? So I wrote a simple server-based application that uses the API's the phone's support to blast out API commands, in bulk, to all the phones on our network, securely.

These are real life needs that I have applied programming to my day to day life... And I'm not a programmer by trade.

[-]

djmagicio@reddit

You don’t have what it takes to apply it because you’ve never applied it. It was until I spent a couple years programming full time that I didn’t feel useless.

My advice: don’t quit before you start. Get an internship or entry level job. Also start trying to build something yourself. In whatever field you think you’re going to work in. I’m a full stack web dev so if I were doing it I’d build the obligatory Twitter clone. And hit the 1,000 bumps in the road along the way.

It’s gonna be rough for a while, but it will “click” one day and you’ll realize you can get in a flow state and write code without thinking about it so much. You’ll have seen various situations enough that you just know you need to write a loop here, going to need to break this bit up into a couple separate functions. Obviously these two things are going to be classes with these specific member variables.

It gets better.

[-]

Ok-Entertainment-286@reddit

You already know enough. Don't let the stupid interview questions get you down. Just code!

[-]

ImReformedImNormal@reddit

If you are able to graduate, you are capable of doing it. You sound pretty unpleasant though. Best of luck!

[-]

ForerunnerPete@reddit

I originally started college for Graphic Design but switched to Computer Science in 2011. I ended up leaving in 2014 when I got pregnant, and while I really liked CS, I realized later that I didn’t have the patience to keep up with all the new programming languages or see myself doing it full-time (especially as a parent lol). Instead of going back to school, I focused on working, and just like you, I started in retail. I worked my way up to a management position and helped grow the business so much that two of our wholesale suppliers noticed and offered me jobs (I went full time with one and just did a project with another). From there, I moved into admin roles in education, then became a project manager for a creative design department. Over the years, I picked up so much experience, made a big impact at every job I had, and built strong connections, so much so that past employers still reach out to hire me for contract work. Honestly, it wasn’t a degree that got me here, but my tech skills, leadership, and ability to adapt to different industries.

Now, I still don’t have a degree, and I don’t plan on going back because I don’t need to. Since last July, I’ve been a full-time freelance graphic and web designer, something I started before college but only did part-time while building my portfolio. And guess who most of my clients are? My old bosses and coworkers! Every other client has come from word of mouth—no marketing, no ads. I’ve finally built a flexible lifestyle that lets me do what I love on my own terms, rather than just working to build someone else’s dream. Of course, I’m still growing, but my experience has taught me that success isn’t just about having a degree but rather knowing your strengths, applying your skills, and finding the right opportunities. I hope my story gives you a little confidence in your own path, and I wish you the best in whatever you decide to do!

[-]

sheeps_heart@reddit

I laughed when I red your EDIT. People, are so willing to "give advice" or criticism with only 2 paragraphs of context for your whole life.

Good luck man.

[-]

noodlesteak@reddit

Programming will not go away. As people automatize more coding and debugging the % left will indeed shrink in volume but grow by equally much in complexity.

[-]

prodjsaig@reddit

Computer programming there are 1000 people better than you at languages. They have multiple spoken languages and can pickup new programming languages easier. It’s a fast ever changing environment. People flooded my country from over seas they can have the jobs. That’s why I got out.

Let the rich play and pretend to make money programming. You shouldn’t do it for a living because of this.

[-]

Abadhon@reddit

The problem here is first your not a dumbass and second is that you wasted so much time , yes practice matters yes putting in hours matters but , sometimes its just not for you and its okay

[-]

rCentripetal@reddit

I wanna see your GitHub

[-]

ShiftyShifts@reddit

The answer isn't that you're "stupid" or "not smart enough" I promise the issue is and was for me also is to have a problem solving mentality. You don't get that in school so don't get discouraged yet friend. The only real answer is being thrown to the wolves. I suggest you figure out a way to do that yourself. Fall back tools are too readily available, and you're going to have tools available in your job but if you want the practical knowhow what I suggest is you start out not focusing on the language itself but the part people skip over the most, pseudo code. Start writing it. A lot of it. Find a problem that needs solved and pseudo code it. It doesn't even have to be a programming issue. I know that sounds stupid. But like "the yard needs mowed today, how is the most efficient way to get it done." Then execute it. The vision is the issue, and I promise you'll get there. When you get into coding again, throw yourself to the wolves, refuse to look anything up. Don't set yourself an unrealistic timeline. Do this until you're comfortable problem solving and it comes to you like second nature.

[-]

Crab_Enthusiast188@reddit

Can you provide some insights on what you don't get?

[-]

mostlikelylost@reddit

I think relying on a university to teach you to program is a mistake and a waste of money.

[-]

SeaComfortable9765@reddit

My friend here saying he spent 6 years of his life studying something, and some assholes think that he didn't try hard enough. Now, my friend, I ask you, did you like programming? Did you enjoy doing it in any of those 6 years? Did you take breaks so you didn't get burned out by the lessons? Is it even the language that you liked? Or you simply get uncomfortable every time you sit down to program, because the lessons took away the fun you had? Is it even useless? Or do you understand something?

[-]

hoolio9393@reddit

What is this complain.t that you have a degree. A lot of ppl want a degree. You have one. Now go make use of it. Or try other jobs. Most jobs need a bachelor's and when you get one. Just settle. Learn. Earn a bit more. It's ok to give up something not good at. Even if you applied finish

[-]

kingflyceratops@reddit

I always wanted to program. Went to college to learn, graduated and now I have a job at one of the largest retailers in the world, working in tech. I don’t code everyday but it sure as hell beats $20 an hour that I was getting paid. Once you have the experience to get into a tech company, and you have projects under your belt that you’ve worked on, it will be a tad bit easier to get in the groove and find a job.

My goal was to code, but landing a job in tech fixing website issues has been a blessing. Now, if I want to, I can learn from coders here and possibly switch to their team in the future.

Start working projects and building. I used to make games like galaga with simple HTML, CSS and JS. You can do it. Just develop a passion and practice

[-]

Appropriate_Ant9579@reddit

Its normal to feel this way once you get out of college, the experience will give you the confidence and expertise to do great things, I sucked at physics and calculus, now after 8 years of experience I'm on of the best in my field in my country.

[-]

The__King2002@reddit

you need to have self confidence, just tell yourself you are enough and you can do it and even if you dont believe it at the moment you will eventually start to believe it

[-]

bighugzz@reddit

I have a CS degree and 4 YoE. But haven’t been able to get a job in the field for 4 years.

Some people just don’t make it, no matter how smart they are or how much they love it. Is due to a variety of things but the simple answer is life just isn’t fair. I’m in the same boat where you are now that everything feels pointless, and that I worked so hard for the past 10 years just to end up a failure.

Dont know what else to say other then that I understand what you’re going through. Life sucks.

[-]

Gloomy-Floor-8398@reddit

Yea but what projects have u done?

[-]

Sigmund-@reddit

It's OK. I too had a career change after finishing a University that I hated. You only have one life. Find something that makes you happy and monetize that.

If coding makes you sad and frustrated, fuck coding! There's good money to be made in many fields. Just find one that you like.

[-]

964racer@reddit

Sounds pretty self defeating. Maybe spend time washing dishes in a restaurant and after a while you’ll realize you’ll want something better and you’ll put the opportunity you were given into practice .

[-]

Longdickyougood@reddit

Exactly

[-]

e92htx@reddit

No one not even engineers or lawyers have all the skills to do their job once completely formal education or training. Real world experience is worth 10 fold what you learn in school.

[-]

AnthonyBY@reddit

it was exactly how I felt at university. It becomes much easier when you pick one language and master it. All the knowledge from the university will start to make sense after 2-3 years of real-world experience. all you need is a little support and confidence, don't give up

[-]

UtahJarhead@reddit

Because you misunderstand what a degree is.

A degree does not mean master of your craft. It means "You now know the bare minimum of knowledge to be barely competent at your chosen profession." Shoehorn your way into your first gig and then the REAL learning begins. Don't worry, many have been there before you. That's OK.

[-]

Tempr13@reddit

you need to find programming mentors for your next journey , you are 2 to 3 steps away from massive success , take a deep breath and keep going... you will succeed

[-]

BobbyTables829@reddit

You're better than you think you are. There's no way you get your Masters and you're not.

This industry is defined by absolute logic and everything always being able to be better. It makes us think we're all terrible at it even when 99% of people would be worse at it than we are.

[-]

Anxious_Ad3969@reddit

Don't give up. I had a "tough major" in college. O studied music performance. I was spending money driving and flying to competitions and auditions finding hotels to sleep in. Always being told practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect performance. The thing is that none of my professors were stars. They went into teaching because they never made it performing. When I graduated, I felt like my degree was tissue paper that I ought to keep in the restroom. I know it feels like you're not going to make it, but eventually, you'll forget all of the "perfect" lies they taught you and realize that only a fool wouldn't hire you.

[-]

DigiHustle@reddit

No code is NOW you don't need to know coding but understanding frameworks could make you a wizard with no code ... you could build intricate apps with flutterflow and bolt.new and lovable.dev

[-]

Friendly_You_429@reddit

If you need help with anything I am happy to help you. We’ve all been through this. DM me

[-]

therealsyumjoba@reddit

Have you tried actually building something that you want?

[-]

lefix@reddit

I think this is the key. I have been trying to self teach myself programming multiple times during my life. I learned the language and was clueless as to how to actually build anything with it. About 20 years after my first attempts, I kinda did a different approach. I knew what I wanted to build and googled how to actually approach it, step by step. And I realized you don't even need to be a very skilled programmer to build something that works. The information is out there, and with AI it's easier than ever.

[-]

therealsyumjoba@reddit

Just don't become a "vibe coder" 😂😂😂. But in essence, yeah

[-]

Gogogo9@reddit

"vibe coder"

Kept seeing this term recently and finally looked it up. Not sure what to think.

[-]

nerd4code@reddit

AI making it “easier than ever” will hinder learning, though.

[-]

No_Training6751@reddit

Just keep going!

Maybe do a hundred interview practice and extracurricular questions online, or find in person help. Also you could try a temp agency that suits your skills (ie don’t go to a labour agency). You could also ask your professors for tips or even leads.

[-]

WarPlanMango@reddit

Build something bro

[-]

vitalblast@reddit

I'm sorry I don't buy it. Your telling me you can pass discrete math, physics, calculus but can't write code. It doesn't make sense. Stop being hard on yourself and look at tutorials and practice at home.

[-]

Herebec@reddit

You will always feel like that.. been doing it 20+ years and you will always have a bit of imposter syndrome. That mixed with this brutal job market and AI taking over is very discouraging.

Don't give up.. it's largely about taking large goals/tasks and breaking them down in bite sized and getting them done. Then go look back at what you have accomplished in the past to remind yourself you aren't dumb

[-]

alreadytaus@reddit

You will probably know enough to go into testing. And when you have job and making real difference in the world even if it is small difference you can rest and then find out more about yourself.

[-]

CaffieneSage@reddit

You should practice your craft because you enjoy it. Gaming. Cooking. Guitar. Development. Whatever. If you are burnt out and not enjoying yourself it will be massively hard to get anywhere. Only you can decide what you want to do. I hope you find whatever you are missing and put the light back into your eyes, and your heart. I am rooting for you!

[-]

MarkJames2909@reddit

Also, there is an over supply of Indian programmers who are better and will work for pennies. The market is fucked. I wish you good luck. It will work out for you.

[-]

DustinKli@reddit

Build something

[-]

doesnt_use_reddit@reddit

What were the dreams that you gave up?

[-]

DustinKli@reddit

Many professional athletes have only spent 6 years training. Many professional athletes aren't even 20 years old yet.

Nobody can build a power plant by themselves.

The average architect has about 6 years of professional experience.

No civil engineer could ever build a dam by themselves. Not unless they're a beaver.

[-]

Jumpy-Round4508@reddit

Well. Just let it go. Not everybody is smart enough and we do need people stacking up the shelves and taking out the trash.

[-]

OrangeTroz@reddit

The job market can be weird. In the past they were looking to fill chairs with "code monkeys." Now they are looking to pick up some laid off senior developer on the cheap. There are whole subreddits of people despairing over the job search. It isn't you or them that is the problem. Most work is is adding a new field to a screen and saving it to a database. Programming isn't rocket science.

[-]

Quokax@reddit

What dreams did you give up?

I would encourage you to purse your dreams.

I’m studying computer science to fulfill my dreams. Before I was as committed to learning to develop software (games specifically), my dream was to spend all day playing video games. So I worked as a game tester until that was no longer my dream. If playing video games became my dream again I could go back to that and the years I spent studying computer science would benefit me in that career. It is possible whatever your dream career is that computer science can help you with it even if it’s not software engineering.

[-]

JohnnyOmmm@reddit

Nice

[-]

millhows@reddit

Devils advocate here.

Graduate. Then quit programming.

Just try something else. You can always come back to it.

[-]

Ornatemustaches@reddit

Are you passionate about it? What kind of dev work are you looking to do? It’s more about critical thinking and being able to articulate and break down a concept, than just memorizing blocks of code.

[-]

swimrunrowff@reddit

I was in the same position 25 years ago. My advice is ignore that voice in your head and keep on working. You've just started and don't know what you're capable of. I felt like I was the dumbest guy ever to graduate with a CS degree. I went a completely different direction and the biggest reason was the job market sucked but I also had in the back of my mind that I was an idiot. A few of my friends were around the same level as me and they're still working in the field. I had four different careers since then, and it ended up being a great ride, but I regret not giving programming a chance. Once you get your first job work your ass off and if it isn't for you they'll let you know. Also, if you hate it, pivot it to another career. Like you said, many others never graduated with a CS degree and gave up. You worked your ass off and accomplished something very difficult that a lot of people couldn't. Put that same effort once you get a job and you'll be fine. Don't give up!

[-]

magicalsavant@reddit

Have you built anything yourself that has nothing to do with a class or assignment? That’s how you get better. Just build stuff. It doesn’t have to be great: Don’t get too caught up in “the best way” to structure your code or get it to work. Just pick out an idea and code it to completion for the fun of it.

When I was at university in the early 2000’s, I converted my personal website from static HTML/CSS to a LAMP stack (very basic) CMS. It didn’t have plugins or extensibility or anything but I learned so much from doing it. I’m sure the code was terrible but it worked. I took the building blocks I knew and kept plucking until it did everything I wanted it to do.

[-]

xtra_kazhiv@reddit

From my experience, 6 years is not even that much. I've been learning tech fields since I was 10 (now 21). I was learning HTML and JavaScript, Entering competitions like Code Jam, Kick Start, Basics of Ethical Hacking, Shell Scripting(all this in my mom's smartphone). I was the tech guy in my friends group. Fast forward, COVID 19 happened and took all the knowledge away from me and made me a lazy ass.Now, at this point, I'm about to graduate from college. I don't even remember anything taught by my professors from college, except for AWS, AI and ML, C# and DSA using C.Even though I knew these concepts, I felt like I'm not eligible to apply for a job yet. So, I started grinding every single day (literally anytime I'm home and doing nothing)and I believe I'm on track to become my old self. Thanks to my group project friends, I started to love programming again.

If you're in it for the money, I'm sorry to disappoint you. You may get a job but you ain't gonna love it. You need to start loving the process of solving problems that require creativity and enthusiasm to tackle. If you can't think of a problem that's right in front of you, expose yourself to problem solving books or competitions more that don't involve programming.

[-]

vickydaboi@reddit

try some personal projects

[-]

the-impostor@reddit

i used to feel the same way, i was stuck in tutorial hell. keep writing code, eventually it clicks

[-]

Le_Faux_Jap@reddit

I know it is hard but the average company coder is dumb as bricks. It is just very unfair that application quizzes are very hard.

[-]

sTacoSam@reddit

Me when I can't figure out a bug

[-]

bucketwine@reddit

Even if you actually were born stupid (which I doubt because you are at least self critical) you already proved you can graduate, which is harder than working most of the time. Might as well give it one more shot. I got friends literally applying for 200+ interviews and getting nothing, hang in there and work on your own projects to buff up your curriculum.

[-]

ouhw@reddit

Do you try to solve everything in your head? I started abstracting the solution in the tiniest possible parts and draw a full solution set with my own kind of janky syntax which is a combination of different syntax. Since then I can solve almost anything. But it takes a lot of thinking ahead before writing a single line of code. Before that I tried to solve everything by only comping up with the solution and mesmerizing it. Works for trivial stuff but you hit a wall very quickly

[-]

Toshikazu808@reddit

What exactly would you want to build? Are you interested in UI / frontend stuff? If so try think of a website or app you can build to apply your knowledge. If you’re not interested in UI, meaning backend stuff, devops, etc., you might wanna study more system design stuff and databases, and probably SQL. You can always try putting a system together on AWS / Google cloud / Azure and deploy your containerized backend / etc. You probably just need a few good projects to apply your knowledge and build your portfolio to help land a job or internship. Try going to meetups or career fairs to network with real recruiters or people who already work in the industry. Their connection could lead to a recommendation which could help with getting your resume pulled from the stack and considered.

[-]

boumagik@reddit

Can you give an example of what you can’t solve?

[-]

chrispianb@reddit

I never went to college and I'm self taught, been doing this 30 years. I'm also not smart, I have average intelligence. College is the same as watching tutorials - if you aren't actually building things you want to build or getting paid to build, you'll never learn the real skills that are required for this job. You're also not building habits and muscle memory around common topics. School is useful for theory, fundamentals, etc. But they don't translate to real world work. We have interns all the time fresh out of college and most of them can't even deploy an app much less jump in and start working. But it's also the same for most bootcamp graduates so it's not just college.

I know you are probably already doing a lot of hours for school - but if you aren't building projects on the regular you will never pick this up.

Find something YOU want to build and build it. Release it, make it public, and then build something else. If you can, get people to pay you to build stuff like on side projects etc. But just like writers need to write to get better, painters need to paint to get better, we have to build things. Lots and lots of things.

It's easy to get discouraged and this field has become super competitive.

Also, you don't have to be a full on "programmer" per se either. There are lots of roles in companies that include programming but aren't just programming, like Salesforce Admin/Development. Almost every app in an interprise has someone behind it who manages it, does ome programming, backups, migrations, etc. You can make 6 figures just doing that kind of work.

You've invested a lot of time and money into learning this stuff. I hated it when I first started too, everything was so fucking hard. But that's going to be true of any skill when you first start it.

You say programming was your dream, but you don't mention any projects you've built on your own or any areas you are interested in - what is it about programming you love? Why do you want to do this? If you are truly passionate about it, don't give up. This is a normal phase of learning. Most of the people in this field are average (by definition) and they succeeded by simply not quitting.

I would encourage you to stick with it. I strongly encourage you to get involved in it outside of school if you really want to get better at this. Find an open source project and contribute. Write plugins for stuff. Make small apps for friends and family or solve your own problems.

Good luck!

[-]

Longjumping-Face-767@reddit

JFC. Get off reddit. Your fine.

[-]

TisTheParticles@reddit

I don’t think your issue is related to intelligence or getting better at programming. You need to focus on your emotional and mental wellbeing, and the rest will follow. You don’t seem to be in a very healthy place.

[-]

GstarDaflyesttt@reddit

I felt the exact same way. I graduated in 2022. I hate coding, but I can do it. Finish up your degree! I work as a Solutions Architect for one of the leading cloud computing companies. On the daily basis I do NOT need to code at all. It’s more so learning and applying technologies to solve business problems. I wouldn’t have had the door opened without my degree.

DM me if you have any questions or need direction.

[-]

Dragonimi@reddit

Hello fellow idiot. I also cannot answer interview questions. You know what helps, having done your own projects so you can talk through the solution, so even if you don't get it 100% right in the dumb amount of time you get on a question, they have an idea of what you might do to try and solve a problem.

Give me 1year and I'll be where you are. Degree. Anxious. Imposter syndrome. And a fully able to program.

Learn to sell yourself. I answered an interview question with the right answer and the interviewer was wrong, but made me feel like an idiot.

Don't give up on yourself.

[-]

Particular_Lie_8975@reddit

Other than programming we have so much domains for cs like sales manager ,UI/UX designer,frontend developer and so these doesn't require programming skills ..so u can try on any of these and some domains it's all related to commmunication.If you are strong in your communication skills then atleast you can go on with the domains related to it .

[-]

DaW_@reddit

Did you write any software, or you're just memorizing languages?

If you have experience in programming, DM me and I'll hire you. Otherwise, why would anyone hire a living dictionary? I can buy one in the book store for $10

[-]

crashfrog04@reddit

How did you pass CS courses without writing any code?

[-]

-sebadoh@reddit

Realizing you know nothing is the first step to learning!

[-]

Proud_Ad_6520@reddit

Choose hope. Everyone is not going to make it to the top. Sounds like you came a long way but have ways to go, dont give up now. Reassess your situation. My advice, settle within the field for now, while you gain more experience and practice your craft. Dont give up!!!. Hard work always beats talent, if talent doesn’t work hard.

[-]

btstphns@reddit

You can use a CS degree for far more than programming.

[-]

ancalime9@reddit

First thing, don't be so hard on yourself. Take a minute and look back at what you've already achieved and let yourself feel a bit of pride. You've worked hard and did something, you should feel good about it.

Next is to realise that Computer Science and programming are not synonymous and are seperate. When I finished my degree, I was not a programmer. I could talk-the-talk but I couldn't actually make anything. I got lucky and found a company willing to take a chance on me and didn't take advantage. Got to work with other programmers and ask stupid questions while making lots of mistakes. Took a while but then it sort of clicked for me and I started to actually understand some stuff and became what I had been pretending.

Lastly, job hunting sucks. It always sucks. It sucks more when you've never worked and have less experience to pull from and to bullshit about but even after a decade in the industry, it still sucks. There is a large amount of luck involved but you have to keep trying and don't let the rejection and bad interviews get you down.

Wish you all the best but most of all, be nicer to yourself. We've all been there.

[-]

warm-midnight@reddit

I love this reply, thanks for this.

[-]

outerspaceisalie@reddit

If you were not programming on your free time, you're like an artist that did all the work in your art classes but never made or practiced art on your own personal time. That was a mistake, but good news: nothing is stopping you from actually learning starting today.

[-]

222thicc@reddit

I tell myself this almost every day until I find out what was wrong with my code

[-]

No_Anteater8899@reddit

What was the dream you gave up?

[-]

alexspetty@reddit

I've noticed that many people in your position go into software team management. You know enough to work meaningfully with engineers and architects and help the team steer clear of all the various corporate friction. These days, with AI taking more and more off the table for devs, the pays better too. Go study for the PMP certification.

[-]

deftware@reddit

You get good at programming by making stuff. It also helps to code in a language where you're writing code that doesn't have a bunch of degrees of separation between you and the real physical machine underneath it all the way that webstack languages do. Make something in C, for fun, see how you like it. Or heck, mess around with TIC-80 or PICO8 just to get all the webstack nonsense out of the way without overcomplicating things with syntax and whatnot. Look at what other people have made on there and see how stuff works.

If you're not having fun, and being inspired, then you're not learning programming or going to get better at it.

People learn programming everyday, on their own - even children. No university required. No leetcode required. All you need to become a great programmer is a love for solving problems and understanding how things work - and some natural sense for numbers, math, and logic helps a bunch too but those usually come hand-in-hand with a love for solving problems.

If all you've been doing is webstack then you haven't programmed yet.

[-]

mosenco@reddit

i used to struggle a lot with simple if else code lmao

i became better with projects. in that way you are improving. Just read the tutorial, and apply the tutorial is pointless

for example in uni they made us build a linked list in C, or given a maze, try to write a algorithm to move inside the maze and find the exit. Maybe you can download unity3D and try to make a game, or try to build a website

[-]

Ok-Instruction-3653@reddit

It's important to understand how each programming language functions, I've heard memorizing isn't good because you won't actually understand the language.

[-]

turtlenigma@reddit

I think what you truly need is a breath of air and a stroll. Then you take another deep breath and decide to push through.

[-]

ttejas220@reddit

Brother if you can write a loop write a function you can code just practice and understand pattern of solving problems. It's hard but that's the only way but sad to see you think you can't do it.

[-]

unterhugo2@reddit

There are so many awesome comments summarizing the exact thing, I was gonna say - When I graduated, I was fumbling around in code. The amount I have learned about programmering can after school, building the projects. When you hid error after error, that will be the place, when learning truely starts

[-]

Motor-Efficiency-835@reddit

Think you need to actually practice some projects, sounds like you’re stuck in turorial hell n not building anything.

[-]

Significant-Syrup400@reddit

Glad to hear there is 1 less person competing for these job roles now. We salute you, OP.

[-]

particlecore@reddit

Having an actual programming job is nothing like school. Most devs I deal with are just specialists the well rounded devs are just good at learning quickly. You are given a task and you just use AI to solve it. My advice is learn all the AI coding tools like cursor and windsurf and you will be elite.

[-]

RiskyPenetrator@reddit

"Coding" isn't a studied field in my opinion. It's a practiced skill.

You can be an utterly brilliant mathematician who has extensive knowledge and be shit at programming despite the overlap in logical thinking.

Similarly you can be brilliant at remembering details and info from your course. but if you have not practiced, you won't be good. The idea you can go through a university course and be good at programming is something that is utterly incorrect and is likely why most graduates have difficulty transitioning into the workforce.

If you are unable to apply anything from a language you have gone about learning to code fundamentally wrong. If anything, software development is the one of the topics where you don't NEED to know how to code something exactly. You just need to understand how to solve and frame a problem so that you can tackle it in a manageable way.

Honestly, pick yourself back up, brush yourself off, and go read a book on problem solving and problem chunking. Do this along with some leet code questions or a simple starter project from https://roadmap.sh/, and you will be in a significantly better place in a few months.

[-]

SadlyNotBatman@reddit

As someone whose husband constantly is begging me and pleading with me to “get into software dev” I have this to ask you :do you actually like it ? Is it something that you enjoy ?

My husband always asks me (not to understand but to argue )why I don’t want to do IT or soft dev.

The answer is simple : it’s not that I’m not smart , or incapable . I simply find it to be mind numbing boring . In the same way that if I, someone who went to film school, could hand him an Alexa , a lighting kit and a decent script and say what all folks in IT day “you just need to work on projects” he would be bored out of his mind .

So ask yourself : do you really want this ? Does this engage you ?

[-]

scare097ys5@reddit

If anyone wants harkirat singh coding cohort 3.0 dm me

[-]

Theprof86@reddit

What you are basically demonstrating is what most Computer Science students feel doing the program. Computer Science is very math and theory focused, not very hands on unless you spend a lot of time building stuff on your own.

The gap between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge can be easily addressed by building stuff yourself, unfortunately for many CS students, they dont realize that until they finish their schooling and cant find a job. Dont get discouraged, you need to realign your expectations and just focus on stuff you're weak at until you get better. It is an achievement in itself to finish a degree, but unfortunately, it does not mean much in the real world where you actually have to do the work.

Sometimes, you have to go back to basics and learn the foundations well. Dont give up, you've achieved a lot already, just keep pushing.

[-]

Secret_Mud_2401@reddit

Explore your talent. Try new things.

[-]

osotramposo@reddit

There are hundreds of CS jobs out there that don't require programming. It will all work out. Chin up, don't be so hard on yourself.

[-]

Aglet_Green@reddit

I gave up on my dreams to study programming. Now it’s all pointless. I don’t know what to do.

Well, clearly you haven't given up on your dreams, there's a part of you that resents programming and wants you to follow your actual dream, be it as a writer or actor or singer or whatever it is. You need to resolve that deep within you, or you'll never succeed as a programmer and never follow your dreams.

[-]

Far_Low_8503@reddit

This is a really tough read as I see myself from a few years back reading this, and it’s heart breaking seeing someone question themselves this much.

I think you should do some self reflection and find your why again, why did you decide to go into this field of academia, what drew you to programming, are you willing to put in the work to make up ground if indeed you aren’t getting it as quickly as others?

Personally when I left university I felt the same way after some heart breaking interviews didn’t go as well as I’d anticipated but eventually I landed a job and I’m now a senior dev in that company, and I don’t particularly see myself as someone overly smart I think I’d fall somewhere in the middle.

The fact you made it that far into your course tells me you’re brighter than you give yourself credit for, you just need to find some self confidence as a lack of it will quickly be exposed in interviews.

But as others suggested in the thread, start applying what you’re learning, build projects at home during your spare time, or even better, take part in some open source projects to beef up your CV, learn how to work with others and continue building on what you already know.

I know it’s tough out there, but if you decide to keep chasing programming as a career I do wish you luck and hope you find your footing and mature into a great developer. This is a tough field to go into and don’t let anyone tell you differently, and you’ll spend the majority of your career second guessing yourself and that self doubt will never really go away, but you will find success if you keep pushing forward and try to improve at least a little bit each day.

Best of luck. 🤞

[-]

Astrodelica@reddit

7 is a lucky number, keep going!

[-]

giant_albatrocity@reddit

I feel for you, I really do. I absolutely struggled to find something to do in life. I have a stupid amount of college credits (enough for probably 3 degrees) and only one diploma. I started out in natural science, bounced to literature, teaching, then to a little niche of computer science, taking 12 years in and out of university. There are still a few times per week where I feel stupid, even though I’ve been in this job for 5 years. You’re definitely not alone. I don’t have great advice other than to try to be kind to yourself. There are lots of ways to apply programming—maybe finding a niche would help. It’s honestly a solid career move anyway, since just straight up web development is a shark infested sea right now, for example. You could try engineering and data science. GIS is a great avenue, which is a mix between programming and making maps. Or, fuck it, try making art for a while. ❤️

[-]

Ixsul@reddit

You should value yourself and slowly fit into the professional world where you are truly comfortable. The difficult thing is getting a first job, most human resources and people who conduct interviews know nothing technical or about what they are interviewing and they rely on generic guides. Others look for a superman for two dollars and the worst are those who want to undermine your confidence as if what you do were not worth so much to get discounts from you. Do not seek their approval because it is worthless, one day you are a hero and when it is not convenient you are a villain. Therefore, value yourself and your effort, do not compare yourself and make your way. Look for something rewarding to do related to your profession, while the door to work opens, which will open and close several times and more than approval you should seek learning, learn everything you can along the way. And above all, do not be too hard on yourself, sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we get it right.

[-]

SnarkyOrchid@reddit

Have you considered a career in management?

[-]

Primary-Rich8860@reddit

I think you need to create your own personal project.

A website, an app, a game, SOMETHING.

This will give you 2 things: understanding of HOW to apply code to fix problems and the confidence to apply what you learned in university.

Start small and see where hour passion project leads you, its also amazing portfolio.

Good luck fren!

[-]

Mackansw19@reddit

Learn by programming a hobby project. Something you think is fun, mod for a game? A simpler todo list? Discord bot?

I still think hobby projects is the best way to get in its how i did it

[-]

unknow_feature@reddit

Start following your dreams. 6 years is not that much. Find yourself, find something that you like. Programming is not for everyone. Dancing not for everyone. Everyone has their own talents. Find and develop yours.

[-]

Loko8765@reddit

Programming is a skill that can be learned, but one can have more or less aptitude for it.

However while programming is an essential underpinning of all that is IT, IT is an enormous field and there are lots of careers in IT that do not require you to be good at programming, and some that don’t even require you to know the first things about it.

There’s project management, auditing, some branches of UX, and the number of branches that don’t require you to be able to solve leetcode in record time is basically all of them except SWEs.

[-]

kitsnet@reddit

I don’t know what’s wrong with me other than being born stupid.

You have wasted at least 3 years of your education time by not participating in real-life projects as soon as you could.

[-]

bicrophone@reddit

Don't give up, this is part of the curve of getting good at anything. Just keep going. Right now, you think you need to solve every problem that could come your way but that's just not true. You're going to be fine but you have to keep going if you want to see the fruits of your labor. Just keep going.

[-]

Main_Percentage3696@reddit

me too, but i'm switching to PLC programming, less stress and easier

[-]

FunkMasterPope@reddit

I'm thinking about doing this as well. I graduated over a year ago and can't even get an interview. Do you have any good places to get started with PLC? I have warehouse experience so understand concepts of it

[-]

Main_Percentage3696@reddit

for starter i'm buying arduino after that buying myself used PLC and install cracked SCADA software. Youtube is my main source of tutorial

[-]

furby5ever@reddit

I've been speaking out against certain types of technical interviews for a long time. Flat out, they weed out a lot of people for things like neurodivergence unless the interviewer (and company) really know what they're doing. And in my experience, a lot of companies don't.

I thought I was useless after I graduated because I kept bombing technical interviews. Turns out I had (then) undiagnosed ADHD and that played a big part. But I am a successful intermediate software dev now and I'm actively working towards making hiring more equitable.

In Canada at least still (where I am), it's not legal to discriminate based on disability. Leetcode style technical interviews are veiled ways to discriminate without the visibility of it. Disabilities or diversity in thought that get weeded out absolutely do not prevent you from doing the job. So these hiring practices are really gross.

Now, none of this would have been helpful while I was in the throwes of rejection. I get that. But as someone on the other side, please get angry at the system rather than yourself. It's not you.

[-]

CharlieMightDoIt@reddit

I was a mid to below average mech engineer and my job out of uni reflected this trust me. I ended up moving to project/ program management and am way happier. I’m not as close to programming as I would like but that’s ok I’m getting there. Don’t be dissuaded by the interviews, you can pivot this,

[-]

InfernalWraither@reddit

As someone who doesn't have a CS degree but could have gotten one with the right commitment, here is what I have to say.

Programming is like intending something that you have no idea where or how to start. You'd need to picture a process happening like you'd do every morning when waking up and getting ready. Or getting ready for a party or even having to talk about a plan for a life with your spouse.

Planning is only half the journey, coding the perfect process is the other 45%, the 5% left you have is figuring out what you did in the 95% to restart over again.

I've always told those that I train in my Team that practicing code doesn't make a better Developer in terms of development.

It's the lessons you learn from practicing code. An ever evolving field and things you've learnt in school will never be the same you will have to learn in the future.

A developer needs the mindset of breaking (or breaking down on a personal level), fixing, rebuilding and enhancing to make the field work for us and not us for the field. In doing this, the understanding builds and that fuels the knowledge of applying.

Remember the world doesn't change for us, we change for the world just like the code doesn't work for us, we make the code work for the process to follow.

If you're able to compartmentalize these lessons and apply them where necessary you'd do great. You'd also never do work without investigating first which is the key point in the field. Poor planning leads to poor execution and that comes back to the individual and not the code or commitment to learning. But it's the applying lessons that they've previously attempted to understand in a new way.

[-]

kbrizy@reddit

Applied knowledge is way way way better. Why orgs always want to see a portfolio from programmers, same as photographers and artists. Real knowledge lies there, not in the theory.

Unless you want to design computer chips or AI architecture, work on some side projects to solidify your understanding. A lot will click into place.

But 6 yrs.. you might be burned out. Try picking up the piano. Equally hard, if not moreso, and you’ll notice ways of learning you didn’t see before.

[-]

Kindly_Manager7556@reddit

Why ddi you give up on your dreams to do something you didn't want to do? Regardless though, dreams are just dreams anyways.

[-]

Gloomy_Season_8038@reddit

Programming is actually Problem Solving

Only when you are facing the need to effectively solve a problem you'll really learn then

[-]

Funny_Bet6813@reddit

Every single dev felt like this at some point in their career, so you're not alone. You're not dumb just because interviews are hard. The real question is, do you actually enjoy coding?

[-]

akornato@reddit

Don't give up just yet. The journey from student to professional programmer is often challenging, and many feel overwhelmed when facing their first real-world interviews. Your struggles don't mean you're stupid or incapable; they're a common part of the transition. The fact that you've stuck it out for six years and are about to graduate shows remarkable persistence and dedication - qualities that are invaluable in the tech industry.

Consider shifting your focus from memorizing language specifics to problem-solving strategies. Practice breaking down complex problems into smaller, manageable parts. Work on personal projects that interest you to build practical experience. If interview questions are stumping you, there are resources available to help you prepare more effectively. I'm on the team that made technical interview assistant designed to help people navigate tricky interview questions and ace job interviews. It might be worth checking out to boost your confidence and interview skills

[-]

grantrules@reddit

Welcome to Project Management!

[-]

dragondice3521@reddit

If you can't make it as a programmer, then go look at business analyst jobs or consulting jobs maybe.

Business analyst jobs: you will mainly be looking at improving business processes, your life will consist of building slide decks and doing data analysis. If you know how to program this will be a major benefit in terms of analysis, visualization, and automation. People get this kind of job with literally any kind of degree, but having technical skills like programming will help open more positions.

Consultant jobs: lots of consultant tech jobs. You can go become an "analyst" or whatever they call the lowest level at Deloite for something like information security. They'll train you on what you need to know and eventually you'll become a consultant making like 130k a year. I know people in the business who work 45 hours a week. It is very common for people to work like 70.

Even if you can't get a programming job, a computer science degree holds weight, and there are business jobs that can utilize it without quizzing you on the ins and outs of it.

Just be ready for business case studies.

[-]

SwitzerlishChris1@reddit

You're fine. Just choose an area with legacy/proprietary systems with high barriers of entry, and you will be living like a king until you die. Hint: Core banking systems 😆

[-]

SchalkvP@reddit

I'm in my early 30's and I'm trying to move into a career of Software Development. I have felt defeated and dumb more times that I can count over the last 2 years but everytime I solve a problem with code I just get a glimmer of hope that encourages me to keep going. If I can offer any advice. Find a app/hobby to work on that you can get working(I know everyone says this, but that's because it works). Try and do it on your own as much as possible. My last piece of advice that has actually been the thing to keep me going is to join something like Advent Of Code, some of the problems are quite interesting and it re-ignites the fire in my belly whenever I solve one of those problems on my own.

You have made it six years. If you didn't get it you would have dropped out long ago. Goodluck!

[-]

ZubriQ@reddit

I was so clueless 8 years ago. Shit was hard to understand or figure out. It's still hard lol and I have to weave those strings together to have meaning and understand shit. Never easy.

[-]

Careless-Kitchen4617@reddit

Man, I have been doing professional full stack development in JS 6 years already. Currently learning C, want to build my http server (like nginx). 3 months learning. Still struggling with basics of socket creation. I understood only that I know nothing)

[-]

drejfus1@reddit

There are related careers you might want to try; for example, in consulting / helpdesk or QA and the degree in CS should be helpful.

[-]

octahexxer@reddit

Try webdesign instant feedback

[-]

Needhelp122382@reddit

😔Another CS student memorising a language but not actually using it and then wondering why they struggle with it. Create projects upon projects. That’s how you get past. The reason self teaching people without degrees are able to get hired within a year or two is because they don’t just memorise but they apply. CS students tend to only memorise and not apply until after they’re done with the degree which leaves them feeling useless and struggling to get a job straight out of uni.

[-]

Thick-Explorer6230@reddit

Man, join me and let's make a indie game together and strike it rich! I'll provide the music.

[-]

slykethephoxenix@reddit

I know exactly how you feel. Been a developer myself for 20 years and I'm still not smart enough to be one. Been faking it the entire time.

[-]

Himankshu@reddit

thats fine. i also quit programming after 7...8 months of dedication. I realised that you can't do anything without the sub conscious mind acceptance. I realised that i wanted to become a great software developer but more than that i wanted a peaceful, Happy life which none of the software developers can have.

now i am exploring new fields like data analysis or data engineering or a support manager and i am happy with my decision because at the end of the day, i am not stressed even 1%

[-]

idle-observer@reddit

You sound kind of dumb to be honest, not because of your failure but because of still believing it is about intelligence after 6 years. As a person who can relate to your struggle because I'm also not that good with algorithms and stuff and I've been doing that since 2017. I'm unemployed since 2024 January 1st. But shit happens just because some people made it early or less painfully it doesn't necessarily mean you will never be able to succeed. Consistency Beats intelligence. Also maybe you can try something like game development which is less abstract than web development maybe it will help you to overcome that imposter syndrome. ✌

[-]

pebble-prophet@reddit

Good that you realised this. Otherwise you would have wasted more of your time. Find what you are good at now and work hard there.

[-]

BroaxXx@reddit

It's 2025 and the vast majority of people still don't understand the point of higher education. It's not just you, it's the vast majority of society in almost (at least) any western country.

You don't go to college to become employable. You go to college to learn and usually that translates into employability. Either way the point isn't to memorize stuff but to understand complex and abstract concepts that will allow you to understand and more practical applications of those concepts.

If you want to learn a bunch of work skills you should simply go to a trade school or a bootcamp or learn by yourself. You don't need a CS degree to do a fullstack application well. But it might come in handy (note I still didn't say it's required) if you decide to make a new type of database or a new type of server to serve your specific use case.

If you go through a CS degree memorising stuff you're doing it wrong and it's no wonder you see your colleagues being hired faster than you.

[-]

Leather-Line4932@reddit

you become better at what you do if you apply, you'll be better at applying some people are really good at using theory directly but that's not everyone

[-]

Concentrate_and_win@reddit

Have you tried data Analytics or ERP consulting?

[-]

xXxL1nKxXx@reddit

Man I kinda feel ya. I just started a masters of IT. I can do some code and data visualization. I feel I have a lack of creativity. Give me a blank slate and a question and I just freeze. But if I am altering or modifying something preexisting I can work with it. So I kinda feel the same as you and I don’t feel I have the skills to make something my own since I can only work with something that already exists. Not sure how to get past this.

[-]

WrathsPathTV@reddit

I have no education, no guidance, no diploma or certs, and barely a desire to learn programming. But I like fixing things and sometimes that requires me to learn programming stuff. Every day I wish I had the means to go to school to learn the fundamentals so I can be better.

Seems like we are on opposite ends brother.

[-]

Salt_Ant107s@reddit

Same here i can program but i just remember code and know how to do things or know how to solve but i dont unserstand any code.

[-]

eldudovic@reddit

I get it. I was in the same position that you are when I started my job. It felt like I had no knowledge and I had somehow scammed my way to the position I got. Over the year that I've worked though, I've realized that I've solved everything that has been thrown my way even though I didn't instantly know what to do. I've even gotten compliments for many of my solutions by my colleagues.

Realize that you might think you don't know anything, but you definitely know more than most people about this subject. You will probably be the least knowledgable at any workplace, but that doesn't mean you'll be useless. You've managed to graduate, which is more than I did (I'm self taught) and getting a computer science degree means you have the capacity to learn. That capacity to learn is super important in this field because I've realized that no amount of studying can prepare you for when you're actually working with it, but you need to be able to learn.

I think that I got hired based on potential more than my actual knowledge, and that's pretty comforting because I know I'm not expected to produce the same results as my colleagues, though I'd like to think I've exceeded expectations.

[-]

scrollbreak@reddit

Have you ever done coding problems that you didn't get straight away but you figured out with time? The interview questions are demoralizing yes, as they don't appreciate what you can actually do.

[-]

dptwtf@reddit

Become a manager or start teaching it. /s

[-]

MisterMcNastyTV@reddit

Literally it's completely different in industry and interview questions are often not even remotely relevant to coding you'd do. I graduated back in 2018 and coded all up until about a year ago in industry. Probably 80% of the job is just learning who to copy and how to implement it. It's far easier than you'd expect. I'm interviewing to try to teach coding as a change up from what I've been doing for years, but yea industry coding is way easier than college honestly.

[-]

Suspicious-Bar5583@reddit

I think people underestimate the amount of creativity involved.

[-]

Pale_Height_1251@reddit

If it makes you feel any better all graduates suck.

[-]

Proud_Nefariousness5@reddit

Try and build something for yourself.

If you know someone who owns a business ask them if they want some free software built to fix a small problem they have. Whatever. You need a problem and a desire to solve it and you will find a way.

[-]

NanoYohaneTSU@reddit

Don't give up. Just keep trying and keep applying. You've got to do something.

[-]

nooone2021@reddit

I am also a graduate with major in computer science, and have met plenty of fellows like you. Do not despair. There is still a lot to do in this line of business besides programming. I have never met a programmer that wants to write documentation, or plan a project, or manage a programming project. There is a lot of tasks that are neglected, but are also very important in order to get to a final product. With your knowledge about programming you can be a very valuable team member with these tasks.

[-]

boleban8@reddit

"Never give up , never ." I always say this to myself. The pain of regretting is much harder than sticking up.

I can stopping doing something for some time , but I never give up.

[-]

tms102@reddit

I gave up on my dreams to study programming.

What dream did you give up on?

[-]

Careful-Lecture-9846@reddit

Job is more fun when you know basics really well and you’re working on something for money. Get an internship, should be doing that anyways to get a job after college.

[-]

Yhcti@reddit

You got a major in computer science so that right there cancels out the opinion you have of yourself for being “stupid”.

I feel dumb all the time trying to learn web dev. I do it in my spare time after working 9-10 hour days in a completely unrelated field. There’ll be times where I go WEEKS without writing a single line of code, because I felt like a dumbass who couldn’t grasp it.

Honestly it’s a hard career to get into, very hard! I try and watch experts to see how they code and it’s like 80% googling, 20% coding, which goes to show you’re not meant to try and memorise everything, you just need to understand the problems and how to solve them.

[-]

bhh32@reddit

So, I guess my question would be - have you done anything OUTSIDE of your class work? Personal projects, open source contributions, a portfolio site, etc? If not, there’s your issue, that that you’re dumb or stupid. Class teaches you theory, you only actually learn by doing things outside of theory. It’s how you get experience and muscle memory.

[-]

timwaaagh@reddit

a lot of companies dont ask too many technical questions. will just hire you to do coding.

[-]

dylanbperry@reddit

I'm sorry you're feeling this way and I can all but promise you that things are much better than they seem. If you made it through your program, I'm confident you are capable of software engineering.

Have you tried building any projects for yourself? They're great for building practical experience and self confidence. And you can (and should!) start small.

[-]

zoinkinator@reddit

volunteer as a developer at a non profit to get some real world experience. and as others have said focus on problem solving. and ignore the advice of not using ai to help. ai is like having an intermediate to senior developer next to you giving you advice as you write code. it’s all about asking good questions when using AI. then iterating until you get what you need. finally, learn how to debug your code. this is where the magic happens and you really begin to develop expertise.

[-]

FriendlyStruggle7006@reddit

The opposite of growth mindset:

[-]

Cucumbereheh@reddit

Actually it is pretty common, after graduation you get a job.I know the level of competition is just on another level but I am 100% sure there are a lot of people that worse than you in terms of knowledge.But they are good at selling themselves to companies.Also dont forget, your first job will be your guide.I mean they will not ask you to build amazon.This will be your first experience and you will also learn from them. I think just focus on landing your first job or intern, you will be good. Also I am also IT student and a lot of concepts they teach us in uni is pointless, you dont need to know/understand all stuff. My final advice would be just dont give up.Practice a lot and do what you enjoy. Just give more time to yourself. I know that feeling, you feel you are late for something but in general if you look at yourself you are too young to give up this early(I am not native, sorry for the mistakes that I have done)

[-]

Greedy-Grade232@reddit

I have a talk about software engineering, the audience are engineerings and it starts "what do you do?"

the member of the cround always say "programming", or "engineering" but the point of the talk is to shift this frame towards solving problems with code,

hopefully framing it this way focuses on outcomes rather than process, and getting thing in front of people using things is the biggest joy..

maybe focus on the problem and not the code.

If engineering is not your thing, there are other places in tech companies that its useful to know the basics of development, sales, EM, Product Owners,

and of none of that works, there is no shame in trying and it not working out, that's basically life.

good luck

[-]

Few-Winner-9694@reddit

It's easy to get discouraged by difficult coursework and interview questions. However, they are not at all representative of day-to-day software engineering work. I think you'd be surprised at how little CS theory and algos are used in most day to day work.

If you enjoy it, keep doing it. The market is awful right now because of massive overhiring during covid but I guarantee you that you are more than capable of working as an engineer.

Also, don't let the threads and forums get you down. The whole 'FAANG or bust' mentality is really unhealthy. If you get one of those roles, great. But it's important to remember there are so many people who are successful and good SWEs that have never worked at those companies.

[-]

jcperezh@reddit

The interviews are reaching a crazy level. You could also start in DevOps or QA and accumulate some experience (and hopefully some self-confidence)

Best of luck