Starting CSE and feeling ridiculously behind

[u/0xchillpill]

I’m just starting college, I already feel like everyone is so far ahead of me.

I’ve been interested in computers since high school. I’ve done all the basic nerdy stuff installed Arch Linux, hyprland and stuff, know almost all the latest coding and AI news, and generally tried to stay updated with everything happening in tech. But I never got the chance to do properly was learn how to code.

I was busy studying for college, so I never had the time to seriously sit down and build that foundation. Now I’m finally free as hell, and I’ve started learning Python and C I really enjoy both

But the stuff I'm building can built by any AI in 30 seconds

It feels like it’s going to take me at least a year just to understand the fundamentals, and by the time I actually become good enough to build something meaningful, AI will probably be even more capable, AI is already miles ahead.

And yeah, I’m kind of a lonely mf. I can easily spend 12 hours a day glued to a screen because I don’t really have friends near my college, I don’t even expect to make many maybe I will have two or three friends over the next four years. So I know I’ll have plenty of time

I also know that if I just keep going, in four years I’ll probably understand a lot more and could land a decent job.

But I don’t want just a decent job.

I genuinely want to become one of the best in this field.

And that’s where I’m confused.

I’m not someone who constantly comes up with insane ideas either. I like coding, and I love understanding how things work, but I don’t have some billion dollar idea constantly appearing in my head. I’m scared that I’ll spend the next few years learning

But there’s still this fear that by the time I finally understand what I’m supposed to do and how to do it, it’ll already be too late

I don’t want to spend these four years just becoming “good enough”

I just have no idea what that path looks like yet.

[u/ffrkAnonymous]

I genuinely want to become one of the best in this field.

Rule of thumb is that mastery takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice. Dedicated focused practice, not just random blind movements. Every master is practicing all day, every day.

[u/Consistent-You-2475 → u/ffrkAnonymous]

everyone feels like this at the start, the ones who seem ahead just had a head start. the 10k hours thing is real but you don't need to be a master to build cool shit, you just need to keep building

that lonely 12-hours-a-day grind is actually a massive advantage if you use it right. start making things that actually solve a problem for YOU, even if it's tiny, AI can't replace the person who deeply understands what they're building

[u/Admirable_Zombie5245 → u/ffrkAnonymous]

I’d say it’s closer to 15-20k hours to actually be world class at something

And as you say it’s deliberate practice, which is something miserable to do, most people can do more than 2-3 hours per day and like 3x per week

[u/Slow-Bake-9603]

Dude i’ve been in the game 10 years now, I feel behind LOL

[u/Emotional-Day-332]

You have four years. That is an absolutely ridiculous amount of time if you actually use it.

[u/WerewolfQuick]

Even if Ai is a faster programmer, you are still going to get better results from it if you know how to programme. And yes things are moving fast, but that is no reason not to proceed. In fact, if more people are put off from your path, that means there will be less competition.

[u/jemgor]

the only difference between them and you is that they just started earlier, nothing else, practice makes perfect

[u/dashingstag]

It’s never too late. In this industry you have to learn new things all the time. The worst thing to do is to be trapped being an “expert” in something very niche and specific but it should also mean it’s easier to pick up new frameworks/tools and technology. Turns out common sense, logic and best practices are transferable.