Is this normal?

I think what you're going through is quite normal, and I can tell you it's a struggle every single day. I've not really had lightbulb moments. For every thing I figure out, I hit 6 more that I have no idea how to do. And so every day is a hustle, it's a grind. You don't hit a point where you write code at a blazing fast speed, with no errors, no looking at documentation, no problems.

If you're someone who enjoys always learning, always being challenged, and always willing to grind, you'll make it! It's not easy! This isn't easy, don't let any of the marketing out there tell you this is easy, it's not. You just have to dig down, get some dirt under those nails, and get to work.

I can today, build with enough time almost any functionality I need in a site. It's still not easy, and it certainly isn't pretty. There is a lot of errors I make, bug I introduce, a lot of documentation I still read.

But I can tell you this with absolute certainty. Is this hard? Yes. Is this worth it? Absolutely yes. The crazy salaries that can be made should tell you how difficult this is, nobody gets paid a lot of money for something easy.

I believe you can do it. I believe almost anyone can do it. Just believe in yourself, have fun and enjoy the learning process.

To pick a direction, just play around with what really seems the most exciting to you. It may be the biggest wall you hit too, but what's most exciting, and go that route. Probably the biggest wall you hit is the route to go, cause it means you got into that route pretty deep, to hit that big of a wall.

And it's so satisfying when you get over the wall, just know there is another one behind it. We'll be here when you get stuck. Have fun, learn a lot, and get coding.

Learning to code is 30% crying, 30% frustration, 30% googling how to do stuff and 10% coding. Slowly these numbers will change to 25% crying, 25% frustration, 25% googling and 25% coding. Best advice when you hit a wall, get some fresh air, divide the coding objective in smaller lumps and start solving them one by one. It is okay to check if 2 lines of code work before you make the last 10 lines.

I would also have to add that I'm finding that there are so many resources out there for learning to code and probably the majority are not going to be the best fit for you. So, struggling is not always a sign that it's you--most of the time, it's the way you're being taught in the resources that you're using. We don't all have the same learning style, there's no "one size fits all" site or book out there, and some resources will help many others but not you.

I can give a great example--most programmers, learners, etc, seem to swear by Stack Overflow, but, for me, unless it's a fairly simple issue or something that I already know the answer to but just need to re-look it up, Stack Overflow RARELY is helpful to me. I need videos--preferably videos where they teach you like you're a little kid, lots of simplistic explanations and details, show me essentially every method there is to code something, no assuming I know terms (even if that means repetitiveness), etc. I've tried lots of sources, and Treehouse in one week has been the most helpful one (with YouTube being second) just because many of these videos break information down the way I said that I need for my own personal learning style. Unfortunately, the majority of resources out there don't know how to bring it ALL the way down to a beginner's level, and that's at least partially why we struggle. Plus, just because something is great for other people doesn't mean it works for how you learn, and you just have to find what clicks with you.

Also, I'm realizing I don't have to rely on memory. Take screenshots, re-do quizzes and coding challenges, rewrite the same programs and/or make little changes, go over the same topics multiple times but from various sources to find the ones that click with you, etc. If you're doing different tracks on Treehouse and feel you hit a wall with ALL of them, that sounds like Treehouse might not be the best fit for your learning style.