[mettamage]

> I still sometimes panic when initially faced with a very difficult programming problem, but I can put those fears to rest much more easily by saying, "ok, I've solved hard problems before. I may not know how to solve this particular problem yet, but I feel confident that I will be able to figure it out just like I did in the past with difficult problems X, Y and Z."

The following this just my experience, but it's a bit of an odd one! So I thought I'd share for fun :)

I have this too and I only have 1 year of work experience.

What helped for me doing a course where I needed to know:

- C

- X86

beforehand.

The course was about analyzing binaries and malware. I didn't know any C and almost no x86. I did the course as a challenge, but it to date has been the most difficult programming challenge of my life. Teaching yourself 2 prerequisites while following a normal course load at the same time, while feeling insecure and have a strong suspicion to not be intelligent enough was tough, for me.

I've worked at 3 companies in that little 1 year of experience (2 times as a freelancer) and it hasn't come close yet. I'm hoping where it finally gets tougher, but I've heard from people who actually are experienced full-stack devs for 4+ years that that course was way harder than anything they have ever done.

So long story short: do super hard courses. If they're not the hardest courses of your life, then it isn't hard enough.

[sild]

Would you mind sharing which course you took please? It sounds very interesting.

[Mandatum]

It sounds like Offensive Security's OSCP and OSCE

[gcbw3]

calling it "x86" tells me you were not without any prior knowledge of assembly before :)

[joana035]

Try again, you will be surprised how things are more simple than it looks like. Practice, practice, until it clicks.

Give yourself some time in between too. It is all about the fun.