When I finished my first coding course, I was floating on a high. I felt unstoppable—like I had unlocked a secret universe that most people didn’t even know existed. In my mind, I wasn’t just a coder now; I was the next Steve Jobs in the making. A few months —that’s all I needed to build something revolutionary, right?
Wrong!!(Ha ha haa)
What followed wasn’t a straight line to greatness. It was more like a messy rollercoaster of small wins, heavy crashes, wrong turns, and humbling realizations.
Lesson 1: Trying to Learn Everything at Once
In my first few months, I made the classic rookie mistake: I tried to learn everything.
JavaScript? Yes.
Python? Of course.
React, Node.js, Django, Solidity, Flutter? Sign me up.
Every new buzzword felt like a badge of honor I needed to earn. I wasn’t just learning—I was hoarding knowledge like my life depended on it. I thought being a “full-stack everything developer” was the fastest route to success. But all it did was split my focus into a thousand pieces. I would jump from one tutorial to another, from one crash course to the next, without ever really understanding anything deeply.
Soon, the excitement turned into frustration. Concepts blurred together. Syntax errors piled up. My brain felt overloaded and my confidence started to wobble. I wasn’t becoming unstoppable. I was becoming overwhelmed.
Lesson 2: The Trap of Endless Courses
As if trying to learn every language wasn’t enough, I also fell into another trap: Course hoarding. If there was a free course on Udemy, Coursera, YouTube—you name it—I was enrolled. My bookmarks folder looked like a tech librarian’s dream. At first, I felt productive. Look at all these courses I had access to! But reality hit hard: I rarely finished them. Most courses sat abandoned, half-watched and half-done.
Deep down, I knew why. I was mistaking consumption for progress. Watching another tutorial gave me a quick dopamine hit—but it didn’t move me closer to real skills. It took me way too long to realize: You don’t grow by collecting knowledge. You grow by applying it.
Lesson 3: Thinking I Had “Arrived” Too Early
There’s a dangerous thing that happens when you know just enough to be dangerous: you start to think you’ve arrived. After my first few small projects, I felt like I was ready to take on the world. I strutted into developer groups and online forums, ready to flex.
And then… reality checked me. I’d watch other devs casually debug complex issues, build full-stack apps in a weekend, or solve algorithms in minutes. Meanwhile, I was still Googling “how to center a div” like my life depended on it. The imposter syndrome hit me like a truck.
Suddenly, I wasn’t sure if I belonged in tech at all. It was humbling, embarrassing, and painful—but it was also necessary. I needed that reminder: Learning never stops. Even the senior devs I admired were still learning every day.
Lesson 4: Saying Yes to Every Opportunity
As a beginner, you’re desperate for experience. I certainly was. So when job offers started coming my way, I said yes to everything.
Unpaid gigs? Yes.
Volunteer projects? Absolutely.
A startup promising to pay “later”? Why not?
In theory, it sounded smart: build my portfolio, right? But in reality, I was stretched way too thin. I was working crazy hours, juggling multiple “jobs” that didn’t pay me a cent, all while neglecting my own learning journey. Worse, some startups exploited my enthusiasm. They dangled big promises about future compensation that never came. My passion was real. But passion doesn’t pay for groceries or WiFi.
Lesson 5: The Great Equity Illusion
If you’ve ever worked for a startup, you know the magic word they love to use: equity. One particular project stands out. A shiny new tech startup offered me a critical role. No salary for now, they said, but equity in the company—and “huge upside” once we launched.
I bought into the dream. I worked late nights. I gave everything. I skipped out on better-paying gigs because I believed in “the vision.” A year later, the product never launched. The startup quietly folded. And I was left with nothing to show for it but some old Zoom meeting notes and burnt-out motivation. It was a brutal, but vital, wake-up call: Exposure and promises don’t pay bills.
Where It All Led Me: What I Learned
Those early mistakes could have broken me. Sometimes, I honestly thought about quitting. But looking back, I see how necessary they all were for my growth.
Here’s what I now know deep in my bones:
- Master one thing first.
Before you branch out, build a strong foundation. Focus wins every time. - Courses won’t save you—action will.
Don’t just hoard knowledge. Apply it. Build real things, however small. - Never stop learning.
Tech moves fast. Curiosity is your secret weapon. - Respect your worth early.
It’s okay to volunteer, but don’t allow yourself to be endlessly exploited. Experience is important—but dignity is more important. - If you’re working like it’s a job, you should be paid like it’s a job.
Equity is not a salary. Exposure is not a salary. Exposure won’t feed you. - You are enough—today, right now.
You don’t have to “arrive” to be valuable. Your journey, your messy middle stage, matters.
If you’re reading this and you’re just starting out, maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed. Maybe you’re wondering if you’re cut out for tech.
Maybe you’re making some of the same mistakes I did.
Here’s what I’ll tell you: You are not alone. Your mistakes won’t define you—they will refine you. Every crash, every wrong turn, every late-night debugging session is teaching you something priceless. Don’t rush the process. Don’t lose heart.
You’re building something bigger than a career—you’re building resilience, grit, and creativity. And trust me: it’s worth it.
Over to You:
Have you made any rookie mistakes in your tech journey?
Drop your war stories in the comments—I’d love to swap notes and laughs with you.
And if you found this blog helpful, share it with someone who’s just starting out. Let’s make the tech world a little less scary, one story at a time.