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Comment by swatcoder | Hacker News Reader

Coding is hard exactly the way painting is hard or sculpting is hard or playing guitar is hard or writing is hard. It is but it's not. You need to put real effort in to learn, some less if you're naturally inclined to it, and many reach a point where they crest ahill and it really isn't that hard at all anymore.

If you're chasing after it as a career and coding feels persistently hard and unnatural, you might be aiming for a career not really suited to you. On the other hand, if you think making software is cool and you're just quite finding it easy all the time, keep grinding and you may get there. At least in this latter case, you'll be grinding on something you care about as you try to get there. If it's just about money (be honest with yourself), that can be found in a lot of places and some of them might come a lot more easily to you.

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I have the impression that some people can be software developers for 10 years or longer but they still don't "get it" while some junior devs are really great right from the start.

These Seniors might be good at duct taping, overengineering or have a "my way or the highway" mindset but aren't capable of finding and implementing a good solution given the constraints.

It probably boils down to factors like intelligence, creative problem solving, ability to focus, reading skills, knowledge retention and a healthy dose of humility.

I guess everyone can (and probably should) learn basic coding skills, but it doesn't mean everyone can become a great software engineer.

Absolutely. Some people just find learning itself hard too. It's a whole other skill that's orthogonal and similarly trainable. To keep making progress at making more things feel easy, you need to remain curious and ambitious. Many don't internalize that and just plateau when pressure lets up enough.

I object to bringing intelligence into the equation. It never explains anything that other factors couldn't. And it trains people to think they have innate limitations, which is a poor mindset for learning.

A common definition of intelligence is the capacity for problem solving.

There are few fields where the capacity for problem solving is more relevant.

People do have innate limitations. I agree that it's dangerous to categorize one's self too harshly, but it's also important to understand your own capabilities and limitations.

Telling people they have no innate limitations sounds nice, but probably just results in them becoming more frustrated and confused if they do hit those limits later on.

I say this as someone who has hit my own limits before. They exist. Maybe not in an absolute sense - I could likely learn nearly anything - but in a relative sense. If it takes me ten times longer than the average participant, it's simply not viable as a career. As a hobby? Sure, go wild.

None of that implies an innate inborn limitation. Although I know the concept flatters a lot of people here.

You don't think a lack of intelligence limits people in stem?

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