[Filthy_casual]

As a beginner I recall myself asking other programmers "is using pen and paper cool before writing any actual code?" and they giggled before nodding in agreement.

I had this false expectation in my head that when programmers tackle a new problem (be either writing a small program or solving a challenge) they're able to think about it for a few minutes then straight up write code and if I can't it's because I suck and this job isn't for me.

Then I realized that what I expected was unrealistic and the "no pen and paper" stage only occurs to people who already met the same or similar challenge before and can recall even the slightest hint of what they did back then.