I've been struggling with what people call 'tutorial hell.' I find myself avoiding YouTube tutorials completely because I've heard that watching too many leads to confusion once I actually try coding myself. Instead of watching videos, I've been focusing on reading a lot of documentation, but I still can't apply what I've learned. I'm stuck wondering if I should just let go of this fear of tutorials. How can I tackle this issue?
5 Answers
Tutorials can definitely be useful, but don’t lean on them entirely. Try to follow along with a tutorial, but also add your own twists to the project. Make sure you truly understand the code you're writing. Instead of searching for a complete tutorial on a big project, look for smaller chunks. For example, instead of a full tutorial on drawing a smiley face, find one about drawing a circle, then challenge yourself to create more from there.
I think distinguishing between "how-to" tutorials and complete app building tutorials is key. It’s totally fine to watch how-to videos on specific tools or concepts, like setting up VS Code or connecting to a database, but avoid those that show how to build complete projects. Seeing one way to solve a problem might lock you into a single method when you really want to explore more.
Try to find non-video tutorials so you can learn at your own pace. Avoid copy-pasting code – focus on understanding what each part does. After finishing a section, make some modifications to it to put your understanding to the test. The goal is to truly grasp the material, so you won't need to constantly reference the tutorial again.
It might help to share a screenshot of your code when you get stuck and explain what’s confusing you. What types of tutorials have you been watching? Maybe narrowing it down could help clarify your struggle.
Focus on tutorials that encourage you to build alongside them, but also dedicate time to create your own projects using just the documentation. You’ll gain more by practicing concepts from videos while experimenting in your own style.
I've mostly been looking at basic tutorials on C# coding. I'm using Kattis to practice for college, but honestly, I'm not a fan of the speed at which they want us to learn programming languages. Switching from C++ to C# is a lot for me, and I find myself regretting my choice of Software Engineering as a major.