With programming having so much in it, you will most certainly be facing various problems and bottlenecks in this journey. One of the first bottlenecks many people are facing when still at the beginning of this process is having a hard time actually starting to write code upon learning all the basic coding concepts and ways it is supposed to be done.

In a broader sense, it is commonly known as Coder’s Block. Loosely speaking, it’s about the time when you have issues to build something on your own, not relying on any kind of theory or practical guides.

Quite a typical problem, especially for the students of those courses and learning programs that do not have the right approach to transaction from learning theory to writing your own code.

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Here are a few suggestions on how to get over this bottleneck once and for all.

1. Try solving coding tasks

Starting from the most simple ones, this way, your brain will have a chance to get used to typing code in an easy and entertaining manner, without putting too much pressure on the end result. We had to put this advice first just because, as you know, CodeGym is the king of Java coding tasks.

2. Try reading and reverse engineering someone else’s code

If you are having trouble with writing code is to start with reading the code someone else has written. While trying to figure the purpose of each line, get a grasp of the structure, and writing the same thing on your own. This way you can start getting used to the actual work with the code and the ways it could be written.

GitHub will be a great place to find projects and code that is most like what you would like to program eventually. After you got used to reading the code, you can try contributing to one of the open source projects there, to get real coding experience and add a project to your resume/portfolio.

3. Try helping others with their code

The principle of learning something by teaching others works for coding as well. If you are having problems with writing code on your own, try to help others with the same task! For example, you can assist those who are looking for help on programming forums and online communities such as Stack Overflow, Hacker News, Reddit or Quora.

At CodeGym, as you already know, we have a separate Help section for those reasons exactly: those who are seeking help can ask for it, while those who are looking to utilize the learning-by-teaching effect, are free to contribute.

4. Try getting in love with the idea of coding your own stuff

If you know how to code, you can create your own software products that serve your individual needs and are based on your ideas, and that’s what makes programming so great! Try playing with this idea and watch how quickly your mind will join in, imagining everything that you could build if you just practice long enough. It may sound like something small and unimportant, but in reality having the right mental settings often is a crucial success factor. So keep going back to the idea of coding your own stuff, while not forgetting to practice as well, and you’ll see where it leads you.

5. Don’t worry about making mistakes and writing code that doesn’t work

Feeling blocked when you are about to start doing something you’re unaccustomed to, such as writing, speaking a foreign language or playing a musical instrument, is typical, and coding is not in any way different. Naturally, you are worrying about your code being wrong, with countless mistakes in it that would stop it from working properly. And you should, but not too much. If you tend to put too much pressure on yourself, and this is what stops you from coding, try to relax and focus on the process instead of the result. Also a simple thing, but it helps to get over the block.