Elysian Shadows

no. you have to find your own motivation. no one can make you want to do it.

Here's advice from an old woman: The more rewarding the view, the harder and steeper the climb.

Because this is an incredibly complicated and overwhelming hobby/interest/profession, one of the character traits you need to have to be a successful programmer is relentless determination. If you don't have this then it's best not wise to go into programming, it will destroy your self-esteem from always having setbacks. Have a heart-to-heart with yourself. Good luck.

There's not really much advice to give. 1) Teams and programming in a group absolutely 99.999% of the time suck. I can never say this enough. Usually even when Marcel and I code together, I wind up wanting to strangle him. Luckily Kendall isn't that bad... And yes--because of the amount of "intellect" required in the profession, it encourages/breeds arrogant, dickwad-ish behavior. That's just something you are going to have to get used to and learn to avoid. There will come a time (between intermediate and advanced) where the arrogant pricks will be too blinded by their arrogance to accept things that they don't know. This prevents them from ever becoming truly "advanced" and stunts their learning. Meanwhile, the guys who remain humble about it and always know what they don't know will be the ones who become the good programmers.

Other than that, there isn't too much else to say. It's rough. It's not easy. There are hundreds of thousands of little kiddies out there who can write a hello world in C++ and "think" they are going to write an MMO. How many do you see actually do this? Less than a handful. There's a good reason for that.

Don't give up on programming because of your cousin! Learning alone can be tough, but you still have the forums where you can get help/help others.

Every single day I fight a war to find the determination and motivation necessary to progress both my hobby, and career. Luckily for me, I have a passion for this, so at times I simply wake with nothing on my mind but a day of code. But this is not usually the case. I find myself tired from school, work, etc, and want simply sit on my ass and do nothing. It's the times like those that separate the successful developers from the advanced beginners who never get to feel the glory of a finished product. =/

Also, it sounds like your teacher/student relationship with your cousin is quite unhealthy. How are you to progress your learning if you're caught teaching him what you know? How can he contribute anything meaningful to your projects if the extent of is knowledge is what you already know?

I can tell you right now that Gyro and I both think completely differently about code. This is because we were both self taught, but entirely separate from each other--there was no "teacher/student" going on there. Because of this, our discussions tend to be plentiful in misunderstandings, arrogance, etc...But usually yield a different approach to a problem that I'd never even considered. I often find myself thinking in terms of C#/Java structuring, and he in C, with all kinds of intertwining links. That's why, oftentimes, it's quite beneficial to code together. Oh, and he's got way more compiler/linker experience, so any weird errors are his for the taking.

Anyway. It sounds like you are receiving none of the benefits of working with another person (fresh perspective, new idea, somebody to do grunt work, motivation, etc) and all of the downners (arrogance, naivety, time-consuming, de-motivational, etc). So my advice to you: fuck him. I do realize that you said you cannot find the motivation to do it on your own. And I am very sorry to hear that. However, trying to involve somebody else who doesn't already have that motivation you are looking for is the complete wrong way to go, in my opinion. Maybe what you should do is take a break. Play some games, have some fun, meet some people. If you're anything like me, doing so will simply remind you of how much you miss and love code.

If not...then perhaps it's time to pursue another hobby?

Nicely put Marcel, nicely put.

A friend once asked me if I could help him to program, I let him borrow one of my C++ books and answered any questions he wanted to throw at me, he quit after about a week and took up bass

What I'm saying is, you can't rely on motivation through forming a team, you need to motivate yourself, think about what you could achieve at the end, and keep aiming for that, it's very likely that anyone else you work with, will have a slightly different vision to yourself, and so you can't rely on them straight off the bat, especially if they need to learn first, and if there's doubt whether they have the capability to learn programming (heck, it's not for everyone, it requires patience and enthusiasm)

If you were to form a team, form it with enthusiastic and capable people, but before you even try to do so, make sure you've honed in your own skills, even if that may seem like a chore, it's worth it, if you focus on the end goal.

Heck, I remember when I got excited making battleships in the command prompt with beeps and colours! it was a great feeling to get something to work.

good luck, and I hope you figure out what you have to do

short wrote:no. you have to find your own motivation. no one can make you want to do it.

AGREED!

Tell your cousin to become an hero.

You should stop helping your cousin, even if you feel bad about it. If he is really interested in programming, it wont matter to him anyway. Focus on yourself. As for motivation, I usually have off and on motivation towards my projects. Like right about now, I am not really motivated to continue my map editor although I would like to finish it and the work remaining is very little. Now, I'll be unmotivated for now, but you will miss working on your project and gain the motivation once again. What I am trying to say is that if you are passionate about it, have been having trouble with it, and are being demotivated, just leave it for a few weeks. You will most likely come back rejuvenated. I am taking a break from my editor mostly because of school work (finals + graduation = DGDfxshdd), but I know I'll be ready to finish it this summer

tl;dr if you are passionate about it, have been having trouble with it, and are being demotivated, just leave it for a few weeks. You will most likely come back rejuvenated.

Yeah dude, tell your cousin to fuck off.
Lets see him brag when you move on to bigger and better things and he's still making tick tac toe.

LeonBlade wrote:Lets see him brag when you move on to bigger and better things and he's still making tick tac toe.

This is truely the best advice.

AerisAndMe wrote:Here's advice from an old woman: The more rewarding the view, the harder and steeper the climb.

Old woman? ಠ_ಠ

I've had plenty of times of being unmotivated, and being motivated.
For example, when I wanted to learn all the basics in C++ (Java was my first language) and I was looking forward to learning SDL.
I actually got home, did my homework, and then read my C++ book for 2 or so weeks straight.
Then, when I got into coding with SDL, I actually spent a lot of time programming, and learning the basics of 2D graphics; and I didn't need motivation, because it was a habit.

Basically, if you like programming for sure, then find a way to make it happen.
I can guarantee you that in anything you try to get good at in life, there will be a time period in which you aren't getting as much of the short-term benefits;
you can either (a) give up and start something else, (b) get stressed out and lose interest, or (c) keep taking steps forward.

Remember, if you aren't motivated right now, it doesn't mean you can't be; you just need to find a different strategy.