How hard was it to go from knowing nothing to learning about Computer Science?

First let me tell you that you are right to worry that you will never have more than a basic understanding of computer science. That is a very valid concern that a lot of people have.

Now on to the good part... most if not all but the very top software engineers and computer scientists don't have more than a basic understanding of computer science. This is not a bad thing!!! Computer Science is such a huge and ever-growing field that it is next to impossible to have more that basic overall understanding of it. Typically you will go through a rollercoaster as you learn more about different subjects in computer science. First you will start off knowing very little about a subject then you will learn more and feel that you're getting the hang of it and then, as you keep trying to learn all there is about the subject, you will eventually hit a point where you will realize that when you thought you knew it pretty well you didn't even scratch the surface.

And then when you look at the field as a whole you will realize that at the rate that new tech and ways of doing things are growing you will never be able to catch up. Again THIS IS NOT A BAD THING!!!! It is just the way it is, and you actually worrying about it this early on just sets you up to have much less of a disappointment when you realize that there is no way to have a deep knowledge of ALL that is CS.

Now I am not saying you cannot have a subject that you are passionate about in CS and become an expert at that. All that takes is for you to become personally interested in that subject and spend your free time learning more about it that your coworkers but overall you will still at best be an expert in at most a few subjects.

Don't let the seemingly unsurmountable size of computer Science as a subject scare you and take it one step at a time, don't try to be an expert at everything at once. Take your "basic" knowledge of CS you have now, find a small part of it that you would like to know more about and concentrate on that. Once you're happy with the knowledge you gained from going down that path see what else out of your then "basic" knowledge you would like to improve on. And most importantly don't be afraid to admit when you feel you're in over your head and take a breather rather than forcing yourself to keep going further into the rabbit hole. It is very easy to get hung up on one thing and become upset that you do not get it and feel frustrated with the whole subject. While you do need to push yourself to learn new things you should always remember that learning is easier when you're interested in what you're doing not when you're frustrated and want to quit.

Olivia,

This life is all about making choices and experiencing the results of those choices.

If you choose to learn about Computer Science (or any other field) and regularly prioritize your time to learning it, you will learn it. If you say, "oh, that's too hard" you are right, you will never have more than a basic understanding of it.

Some subjects take a long time to learn for some people. However, for every person, there are those subjects that are easy. These should be capitalized upon. No sense banging your head against a rock for decades trying to learn something that other people find easy. You would be better off finding what it is for you and then devoting your energies in that direction.

In his book, Goals, How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, Brian Tracy tells how to find your special talents. On pages 123 and 124 he lists 8 ways to discover what your special talent is. Notice how one of them is "easy for you to learn and easy for you to do"

1. You love to do it.


2. You do it well.


3. This talent has been responsible for most of your success and happiness in life up till now. (Something you have enjoyed doing from an early age.)


4. It is easy for you to learn and easy for you to do.


5. It holds your attention (naturally you talk about it, you think about it, you learn about it).


6. You love to learn about it and desire to excel in this area.


7. When you do it, times stands still for you. You can go for long hours without eating or sleeping because you are so involved in it.


8. You really admire and respect those who are good at what you are most suited to do. You want to emulate them.

So don't be too concerned about Computer Science being hard. Try learning about it for a few months. if it is hard, move on to something else. Here's an easy way to get started into programming. Enough to know if that is what you want to do.

www.raspberrypi.org

Look at their learning resources and jump in a swim for a while. You don't need to buy a computer to download the Scratch programming language for you to play with, but if you want the apps you write to control things in the real world, getting a Raspberry Pi is a very cheap way to get into it.

Hi Olivia!

Keep at it and you will succeed!

Here is some helpful information about computer science:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnoxSGfbZzA
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vinamrata-singal/six-reasons-to-study-computer-science_b_3714030.html
http://computingcareers.acm.org/?page_id=4

First let me tell you that you are right to worry that you will never have more than a basic understanding of computer science. That is a very valid concern that a lot of people have.

Now on to the good part... most if not all but the very top software engineers and computer scientists don't have more than a basic understanding of computer science. This is not a bad thing!!! Computer Science is such a huge and ever-growing field that it is next to impossible to have more that basic overall understanding of it. Typically you will go through a rollercoaster as you learn more about different subjects in computer science. First you will start off knowing very little about a subject then you will learn more and feel that you're getting the hang of it and then, as you keep trying to learn all there is about the subject, you will eventually hit a point where you will realize that when you thought you knew it pretty well you didn't even scratch the surface.

And then when you look at the field as a whole you will realize that at the rate that new tech and ways of doing things are growing you will never be able to catch up. Again THIS IS NOT A BAD THING!!!! It is just the way it is, and you actually worrying about it this early on just sets you up to have much less of a disappointment when you realize that there is no way to have a deep knowledge of ALL that is CS.

Now I am not saying you cannot have a subject that you are passionate about in CS and become an expert at that. All that takes is for you to become personally interested in that subject and spend your free time learning more about it that your coworkers but overall you will still at best be an expert in at most a few subjects.