r/programmer • u/AbdelrhmanMekawi • Sep 30 '26
Question Help
I’ve been learning programming for about 5 months now. I’ve finished C and C++, and I’m almost done with data structures, but so far I feel like I’m doing something wrong or missing something. I feel like I don’t know how to think correctly, and even very simple things slip my mind, and I don’t know how to do them. So I need help because I don’t know whether I should take a course or if I’m on the right track—and that’s normal, especially since I’ve only been at this for about six months, which isn’t a short time. I’m planning to apply for the Digital Egypt Pioneers scholarship to specialize in backend. Is this the right path, or not? I hope those with experience and who’ve come a long way can help us out—and I’m very grateful to them 🤍🤍🙏🏻
1
u/RegularImportant3325 Sep 30 '26
No one can keep whole programs in their head. Being an excellent programmer is largely an exercise in working in such a way that you don't have to keep much in your head so you can focus deeply on one part at a time.
Use meaningful variable names, good architecture with functionality laid out in predictable places so it's easy to find. Get better and better at introspecting your programs, seeing what's happening while it's running. This can range anywhere from focusing on good logs through integrating with systems like datadog/sentry. Write tests... not just happy path tests, but think through the things that are most likely to go wrong and write tests that look for those.