Ask HN: Self Taught techs, how did you keep from quitting once things got hard? - WheelsAtLarge
======
codegeek
My advice is more general and not just related to self taught techs. What
keeps me from Quitting is the alternative. That gives me nightmare. In my
case, running my own company is what I want to do and it is DAMN hard. There
are days when I am like "WTF am i doing" BUT what keeps me from quitting is
the alternative. For me, the alternative would be to work in a corporate job
where I feel empty even though I could make decent money.

So here is what you should do when you feel like quitting. Close your eyes and
imagine doing the alternative. If that gives you nightmares, you know the
answer. If that doesn't give you nightmares and the alternative starts making
sense, it probably is time to quit. Remember it is ok to quit sometimes but
you better quit in return for something worth quitting for. Keep fighting the
good fight.

------
otras
When you say "things got hard", what exactly do you mean? I've encountered
many different difficult aspects in tech as a mostly self-taught engineer.
Here are a few of the different things that were difficult for me:

\- Self teaching got hard: I always reminded myself that the alternative was
staying in the same place, which was much less than ideal. My day job was
enough to motivate me to get out of there, and tech represented a way to move
up. Usually taking a short break or walk (diffuse mode) would also do the
trick.

\- Finding a job got hard: luckily this was hard from the beginning, so I was
able to have a lot of practice from the start. I got _so_ many rejections that
I got acclimated to it. Once I had my first real professional development
experience, things got easier.

\- Impostor syndrome made life hard: post-first-dev-job, I was worried about
my lack of CS foundation and ability to move forward in career. I ended up
taking some classes at a local college, which was absolutely fantastic. I also
ended up later getting a job at a large tech company, which has been both good
and bad for my impostor-ly feelings.

\- Programming problems got hard: compared to the other ones, this was the
easiest. I usually took a break from the computer to draw out the problem,
rubber duck debug, take a break/walk (again, diffuse mode), or ask someone for
help. When the programming problems were when I was self teaching, I'd go the
discussion boards and ask questions. At any job, I'd talk about and work
through the problem with a coworker.

------
anotheryou
Choose the right sized steps.

Like for a new programming language: Tutorial > first example project > first
meaningful addition to something existing > a small valuable first project > a
project where you initially are a bit out of your depth but figure it out
after reading the docs and asking around

Choose the steepest slope you can manage without giving up. This means
sometimes giving up a project because you misjudged the slope, but that should
be the exception.

I'm currently diving in to deep learning, I'm not sure yet if I'll make it.
But I got an Idea and I already found some baby-steps that will be a lot of
work as a noob, but should be doable for me. My biggest challenge is the width
of the topic here, ranging from data acquisition, over math, actual deep
learning, deployment to a production environment, web stuff for a front-end
and so on.

------
BA4gDY-cqjsEPWn
I had no choice if I wanted to break out of poverty.

------
deepaksurti
I take a break, just walk away from it and yes the duration you can walk away
from it is inversely proportional to how much you are paid to solve it!

That is precisely the reason why I have learnt to work on multiple
projects,3-4 at a time, so I can safely switch when things have got hard and
somehow a decent duration (week or two) gives me the insight to unblock it. I
know it is anecdotal but it has worked out well so far.

------
twoquestions
Lower your standards for Good Enough For Now, and improve your thing later.
Building crap and improving on it later is a lot better than building nothing.

Remember the two clay pot classes, where one is graded on pounds of pots and
the other on quality only? The former wins.

------
the_newest_acct
I like hard things. Most of what I do is going "the hard way" so it's just
natural for me to push through. For example, I taught myself to code using
only the internet as a resource at night after work before changing careers to
do it full time. People told me getting a tattoo on the ribs was one of the
mores painful spots, so that's where I went first.

I guess I get the thrill out of pushing myself and succeeding -- or learning
from my failures.

------
0_gravitas
A year long existential crisis where I nearly dropped out of college (where I
went, you needed to learn everything yourself, the professors wouldn't help, I
dont reccomend it). Then I came upon a poem at just the right time called
Curiosity, by Alistair Reid, and I followed that up with a rereading of
asimov's the last answer

------
natalyarostova
The idea that I would be beaten by a hard problem is more painful to my ego
than 5 rewrites and late night debugging.

------
drakonka
Hard things are interesting, it just made me want to learn more.

------
Thetawaves
Nothing worth doing is easy.

