Hey readers! I wanted to share something that’s been a total game-changer in my coding journey. If you’re anything like me, when you first started learning JavaScript, you probably did what I did — jump straight into writing code without really thinking things through.
Trust me, I’ve been there!
The Moment Everything Changed
So picture this: There I was, feeling pretty confident after completing a few JavaScript tutorials, thinking I was ready to take on the world. Then I discovered CodeWars, and boy, was I in for a reality check! 😅
I’d read a problem and immediately start typing away, thinking “Yeah, I got this!” Only to find myself staring at a mess of code twenty minutes later, wondering where I went wrong.
Sound familiar?
Learning to Slow Down (The Hard Way)
After banging my head against the wall one too many times, I finally realized something had to change. Here’s what I started doing instead, and honestly? It’s made all the difference:
Actually Reading the Problem (I mean, really reading it!) Look, I know it sounds obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve misread something crucial because I was too eager to start coding.
Talking to Myself (Yes, Really!) I started explaining problems out loud, like I was teaching someone else. It’s kind of weird at first, but it helps SO much with spotting things I might have missed.
Breaking Things Down Instead of trying to solve everything at once (and crying inside when it doesn’t work 😭), I started breaking problems into tiny pieces. Like, ridiculously tiny pieces.
Let’s Get Real: A Typical Problem-Solving Session
Here’s what it looks like now when I tackle a problem. Let’s say I’m working on a CodeWars challenge. Instead of diving in, I grab my notebook (yes, actual paper — old school, I know!) and start planning:
// My actual messy thought process:
// Okay, what are we doing here?
// - Need to count letters in a string
// - Wait, do spaces count?
// - What about capital letters?
// - Should probably make everything lowercase first
// - Maybe use an object to keep track?When It Actually Clicked
Want to know the moment it all came together for me? I was working on this seemingly simple problem about counting characters in a string. In the past, I would’ve jumped straight to .split() or whatever method first popped into my head.
Instead, I forced myself to write out the steps first:
// Brain dump:
// 1. Make a place to store my counts (probably an object?)
// 2. Make everything lowercase so 'A' and 'a' count as the same
// 3. Go through each letter one by one
// 4. Each time I see a letter:
// - If I've seen it before, add one to its count
// - If it's new, set its count to 1
// 5. Done! (hopefully 🤞)And you know what? When I finally wrote the actual code, it worked almost perfectly on the first try! That NEVER happened before.
What I’ve Learned (The TL;DR Version)
Taking time to plan isn’t being slow — it’s being smart
Your brain needs to understand the problem before your fingers start typing
Pseudocode might look silly, but it works
Comments are your future self’s best friend
Moving Forward
I’m still pretty new to all this, and I mess up plenty. But now when I get stuck, I at least know why I’m stuck, which is… progress? 🎉
The best part? When I look at my old solutions compared to my new ones, it’s like night and day. Not because I suddenly became a JavaScript genius (definitely not!), but because I finally learned to slow down and think things through.
Are you learning to code too? How do you tackle problems? Do you dive right in, or are you a planner? Drop a comment below — I’d love to hear about your experiences and maybe pick up some new tricks!
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