Need advice with learning how to actually code
Posted by ggmanggxd@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 14 comments
I'm currently a CS major at my state school and I'm struggling big time in my Java DSA class. You've probably heard it a million time on this sub: I relied on working with AI too much and as a result I pretty much can't complete any assignment without using AI. If I were given a paper test, I genuinely would not be able to write down one line (and it has actually occurred once but I was still able to pass the class despite getting a 0). I've been a passenger throughout all my classes just depending on AI while being addicted to weed, but now that I'm sober and trying to lock in so I can actually pass my class, coding has been extremely hard for me. I have meltdowns every time I try my assignments with minimal AI, constantly stressed and thinking about quitting. And I know people here are just going to tell me job market is hard, if you don't have drive don't do it, etc., but that's not an option here. I've switched schools and majors too many times and this is my last chance to prove myself to my parents. From where I am, a job or internship is not even in the scope of my goals; I just want to be able to complete an assignment on my own. I know programming isn't meant to be easy, but I can't for the life of me code. For example, I understand the concept of sorting and nodes, I can draw it visually and sort it right on paper, but once I'm on the IDE I just freeze and feel so lost on what to write. It's like I know the letters and words but I can never form sentences on my own. I'm not really worried if I fail the class, but rather that I can never understand coding. I just feel so stupid and unteachable when it comes to this. And I don't even think I'm that dumb, I used to be an overachiever in high school with good grades, AP scores, and SAT scores, but ever since COVID and college, learning in general feels impossible for me. I just don't know what to do and feel lost, and I guess I need help with some direction. I've browsed this sub for a while now but I feel like all the advice is too vague and overwhelming. I can't just complete a whole Harvard CS50x class or redo all my assignments I cheated on, or read a whole textbook. I just don't know what to do.
ReservoirPenguin@reddit
Anecdotal evidence, so take with caution. My niece is a psychyatrist at a government hospital in Europe. There no DSM for this yet, so she has been desribing seeing an increasing number of patient with what she calls "AI brain", symptoms include freezing, cognitive collpase, severeley degraded working memory. According to her patients who have been depending on AI for less than 7-8 months can fully recover, longer than that it's not looking good - several of her patients had to be put on permanent disiabilty, luckly we have good disiabiliity wellfare here.
ggmanggxd@reddit (OP)
Bruh tell me ur just fucking with me
434f4445@reddit
If you’re far behind with assignments then you really need to get off AI sometimes you have to take a punch to the face to give you a reality check failing isn’t bad, it’s staying a failure that is bad. I always recommend you go cold turkey and actually start pushing yourself to learn. Otherwise you’ll always fall into the justification trap of “I’m so far behind I need this easy button and will learn tomorrow” my therapist calls that the tomorrow delima, meaning you’ll keep putting it off tomorrow. There is no tomorrow, there is only the here, and the now, make the change, you future self will thank you.
ggmanggxd@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the advice
EfficientMongoose317@reddit
You’re not stupid, you’re just out of practice from relying too much on tools
The fact that you can understand concepts on paper is a really good sign. Your main problem is translating ideas into code, so you need to train that, specifically, start very small, like printing patterns, simple loops, arrays, basic problems
Don’t touch any AI at first, write it yourself, even if it takes a long time. After you try, then use something like Codeium, Cursor, or Runable to check and understand mistakes. Do this daily, and it will feel painful at first, but it gets easier
Consistency and small wins will rebuild your confidence
ggmanggxd@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the advice!
Mouse-castle@reddit
What do you want to code?
skysparko@reddit
You’re not dumb, you’ve just trained yourself to rely on AI, so now your brain freezes when it has to do the work alone. That’s fixable.
Start very small. Don’t jump into full assignments. Take one concept and write it from scratch, even if it’s messy. Like just write a simple loop, then a function, then a small problem. Build it step by step.
Also, when you understand something on paper but can’t code it, break it into tiny steps and literally translate each step into code. Don’t try to “just write the solution”.
And expect it to feel painful at first, that’s normal. You’re basically rebuilding your thinking process.
What helped me was doing small, structured problems where I had to write everything myself instead of relying on AI. I used platforms like skillron.com for that kind of practice.
You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to keep showing up and writing code yourself 👍
ggmanggxd@reddit (OP)
Thank u. I understand that i need to get off AI, but the thing is im so far behind right now that I need it to catch up since its efficient at teaching exactly what i want to know, or else I just won’t have the time to turn in my assignments. Ive switched from using it for a straight up answer to using it in study mode so that im asking and answering questions. I do want to listen to advice though and not use it, but I would need to start practicing really small, like as small as learning to do loops. Is there any website / workbook / free courses that helps me build good practice?
skysparko@reddit
if you wanna start doing with loops and stuff i would suggest going on platforms like hackerrank, codewars etc.. but after doing basic practice on them you can move onto skillron.com for practicing real world tasks.
skysparko@reddit
if you wanna start doing with loops and stuff i would suggest going on platforms like hackerrank, codewars etc.. but after doing basic practice on them you can move onto skillron.com for practicing real world tasks.
Silent_Stage_4027@reddit
Been there with freezing up in the IDE when you know concepts on paper - it's like your brain just shuts down right? What helped me was starting super small, like writing just one tiny function at time instead of trying to tackle whole assignment at once. Maybe try coding by hand first on paper before touching computer, then translate it line by line to IDE
The gap between understanding concept and actually writing code is real struggle. I had similar issue with design projects where I could visualize everything perfectly but couldn't execute in software. Breaking it down to smallest possible steps and practicing basic syntax over and over helped build that muscle memory
You're not stupid, sometimes our brains just need different approach to connect dots
ggmanggxd@reddit (OP)
Thank u. I understand that i need to get off AI, but the thing is im so far behind right now that I need it to catch up since its efficient at teaching exactly what i want to know, or else I just won’t have the time to turn in my assignments. Ive switched from using it for a straight up answer to using it in study mode so that im asking and answering questions. I do want to listen to advice though and not use it, but I would need to start practicing really small, like as small as learning to do loops. Is there any website / workbook / free courses that helps me build good practice?
JGhostThing@reddit
Stop using AI. Cold turkey. It will feel bad at first, but you need to do this if you ever want to learn. AI is the worst thing to happen to learning coding.