The other day, I came across this thread on a forum that I’m lurking on. It reminded me of how I was literally asking the same question a few years ago. I’ve only been programming for a while (3 years isn’t considered long is it?). When I was still starting out, I have never been able to grasp programming for the first few months. Most of the time, I was even copying my classmate’s code just so I could have something to submit to my professor. That made me wonder why I don’t get how to program while some of my classmates seem like they’ve been doing it all their life even though we’re attending the same class, listening to the same discussion and looking at the same professor.

We all need to accept the fact that life is unfair. If you compare life to an MMORPG, stat point allocations are completely random among people. There are just some people who are naturally good at almost everything while there are people who aren’t. Luckily, we can do something about this bad fact about life. While some people start out with great stat points and some people don’t, we can be at par with those people by leveling up. Like in most games, leveling up is attained by investing time, patience, determination and persistence.

In my experience, I have a lot of friends who are just naturally talented in programming. A few years ago, the gap between us was really high. Nowadays, they come to me for advice and help in programming. It’s no secret as to how I got better. You just need the things that I mentioned earlier:

  • Time
  • Patience
  • Determination
  • Persistence

I still wouldn’t consider myself as above average or expert though. I just happen to practice my craft more than most people I know. Also, don’t be discouraged when you see that other people are better than you because they’re just simply talented. You can achieve the same effect through constant practice and hard work. Don’t worry, you’ll get there eventually.