Tutorial Hell. Impostor Syndrome. If you read enough posts by new software engineers on various social forums, you’ll see both of these terms regularly.
Tutorial hell means that you’re following many tutorials - likely too many - but that you struggle to move beyond the tutorials to solve interesting problems independently. Impostor syndrome means that you do not yet feel like a ‘real software engineer’. There is still so much that you don’t know, and that you can’t do.
To me, these are the same problem, with the same root cause.
There are [[Four modes of learning in software engineering]]. When you you’re stuck in ‘tutorial hell’, or you’re suffering from impostor syndrome, the problem is likely that you’re spending too much time in only one mode of learning. Following tutorials - and taking classes etc - is only one of the modes of learning. It does not necessarily follow that completing tutorials will make you an effective software engineer, if you don’t supplement these tutorials with other modes of learning.
Tutorials and other introductory content aren’t necessarily bad. They can be both informative and entertaining. They are easy to find and consume, and they are a friendly and gentle introduction into software engineering. But, relying only on this type of content will not help you to build sufficient depth of knowledge and skill. Use the other three modes of learning to break out of tutorial hell, and to overcome impostor syndrome.
Some engineers will offer well intended advice like ‘just go build some projects’. This is not altogether bad advice, but it is incomplete. You can learn much by building ‘real’ projects, but there is a big gap between following guided tutorials, and building projects independently. To overcome this gap - between ‘mode 1’ learning and ‘mode 4’ learning, you must also incorporate mode 2 learning (reading books and documentation) and mode 3 learning (reading code)
Learn to engage in each the four modes of learning regularly. Follow tutorials. Then read some technical documentation and books. Then read some code. Then write some code. Then reflect and repeat. Over time, this will help you break out of tutorial hell and overcome impostor syndrome.
It will also be a lot of hard work, with many challenges and setbacks, but you can do it!
See also:
- [[2 Knowledge and skill in software engineering]]
- [[3 Depth and breadth in software engineering]]
- [[4 Necessity and curiosity in learning software engineering]]
- [[Four modes of learning in software engineering]]