Leverage code even when you hate it

Thoughts on why you should start coding in any capacity and deconstructing barriers that have been holding you back till now. If you are a maker of things like me and want to build solutions as an engineer/startup/PM you already know how important is the skill of code.

But what if you hate doing it?

Coding: High leverage skill

As a student, I have developed this belief over my 4 years in which I Interned with 2 companies, One right after my first year in Software Development (Stack: Javascript, GoogleAppScript, Jquery) and In the prefinal year on Deep Learning(Stack: OpenCV, Pytorch, Keras) in Korea. Here’s why the leverage is so high, that you can’t ignore it.

1. Build Stuff fast: My majors is in Mechanical Engineering and yet I have been into developing software since the first year of college. I couldn’t see any practicality or implement ability in theoretical science courses (not even Computer science) until I could get a PhD level understanding. While I could learn+build+rebuild a personal productivity chatbot in just a week.
2. Permissionless: Unlike equipment heavy fields like robotics/theoretical sciences, you have the power of the cloud and pretty much every tutorial that you need to learn and build on your own. Constraint free from capital, learning material, teachers.
3. Career Capital: Coding is a skill that is high-demand high-value, You can see software companies offering jobs with averages of 15–16LPA with the high end being ~20LPA compared to jobs in business analytics/ development avg ~9–10LPA even at IITs. There is a stark difference in value to be captured.
4. Modularity: Very few developers work on infrastructure/architect level with data structures&algorithms. Students around me have used it in biomedical research, AI/ML, Analytics, simple websites, solving daily life problems or just building cool projects. It’s a transferrable skill for most domains.

If the leverage of this skill is so obvious and there are enough resources to learn yourself, why isn't every college student who knows this is building something? Why aren’t there thousands of cool side projects?

Isn’t the career prospect and capital lucrative enough that students put a few months to get to a basic developer level?

In fact, they do try. Almost every other fresher from a batch of engineering college tries his hand at coding/developing and yet gets worn out by his sophomore year. Colleges even have compulsory CS courses teaching C/Cpp/Python/Java and yet we have very few senior yrs skilled enough to get employed. What are we lacking?

Let’s look at this from AIDA perspective. It’s the closest to understanding the development of behaviors, the motivation and realization of the habit of coding. At What step do we fall short?

1. Attention: Insane packages, Toppers opting for CS. Everyone’s aware!
2. Interest: We have GFG, Interviewbit gamifying DS/Algo. Prospects of building cool stuff(Full-stack development). Interesting enough to try!
3. Desire: Lofty packages, posh offices, swag, overtly paid internships, FAANG status quo. Who doesn’t drool over this?
4. Action: Sitting in front of the screen for hours and keep resolving bugs, exhausting your brain over how to make it work: A really uncomfortable experience for many. Here’s where the majority drops off.

If you relate to the Action phase drop off, allow me to be radical and claim that

I genuinely hate coding!

It really makes me uncomfortable. Debugging my code makes me want to punch the laptop screen hard. The coding challenges? I die inside having to write code for the sake of it with no real life purpose. Data Structures and Algos? Theoretical BS that seems so far from actual development. Spend 10 mins writing code and 1 hr debugging it. Give me a break!

Over the years I have Interned with 2 companies, One right after my first year in Software Development (Stack: Javascript, GoogleAppScript, Jquery) and In the prefinal year on Deep Learning(Stack: OpenCV, Pytorch, Keras) in Korea.

I didn’t enter these places knowing I’ll hate it. I actually wanted to be a developer because my circle of friends was full of kickass developers and seniors who had all the advice in the world for software jobs. I marveled at things they would build and wanting to work with them often came with the realization that I had to have something to contribute.

But I didn’t like sitting on my laptop for hours and would sweat at the thought that I would have to do it as a job day in and day out for weeks, months and years. In fact, I barely managed my sanity during my internship. So I pivoted to something that suited my personality but that is not the topic for now.

Having the skin in the game, and yet hating the game. I have developed empathy for people who hate coding like me & If you are still reading this you atleast dislike it XD. I understand why you hate it, what freaks you out, How to get over it and embrace the leverage within your capacity.

I left coding after securing my prefinal year Internship, Yet I made it a point to continue doing it in any capacity that I could because the leverage it gives you is undeniable. This is literally one of the only two permissionless leverages Naval talks about. (Other being media)

Here’s what is holding you back:

1. Write Code, don’t copy-paste: This is such a small thing but the biggest blunder to commit. You might dismiss it by saying it’s the same, believe me it’s not. Writing it yourself internalizes the logic and you think twice while 1. reading and while 2.writing thus likely compounding the benefit.
2. Build something cool: Freshers start with DS/Algo and end up blacklisting coding as something they are not interested in. Just starting with something that you would love to build will help you appreciate the power of code. It prepares you to embrace the harder aspects. Lesson: Aim for 10 miles, but start with a single step.
3. It feels Impossible, until it doesn’t: In the 1st year Intern, I had to work with GoogleAppScript, had no idea what it was. I felt like quitting and going back home as it was 1st yr and I didn’t have to put myself through this. I’m glad I stayed at it and within 3 days I had built the V0 and within a week had checked off 70% of expected features. I surprised myself and so will you! It’s meant to feel like that. Don’t quit.
4. Patience-Last longer: Some of the best coders I know can stay staring for hours at the screen, meticulously searching error after error with diligence and an unrealistic amount of calmness that otherwise noncoders see as unproductive time. This is the moment that determines if your software will get build, Lesson: Last longer.
5. Unshakable Optimism: If the code shows an error, coders jump on the occasion to search and resolve. While the rest of us immediately feel a rush to give up and find an existing codebase or ask someone to do it for us. Lesson: Be irrationally optimistic about problem resolution, everyone gets through!
6. Cooldown: Breaks prevent burnout frustration. I try for a fixed period of time on a problem and If it isn’t resolved I’ll leave it and sleep, resolving it the next day. This has repeatedly helped me avoid giving up on the project compared to if I was to keep attacking it head-on.
7. Not for me attitude: Yes, you might get along perfectly fine if you don’t code. But you’ll be always dependent on those who can, even to build a basic MVP. If you want to start-up or get into Product Management. You earn the respect and trust of your dev team and in my opinion, can empathize better with devs when you know their pains. Do yourself a favor!

These might sound trivial/obvious to my developer friends, but breaking down obvious things and deriving learnable insights that people can take away is what I aim to do.

Once we have unlocked the Action phase by seeing the roadblocks in their face. What you face is something, everyone does. Keep the 7 things in mind and you shall triumph.

Build your own heuristics and let us all know. Let’s try to appreciate code and hate it lesser every time one StackOverflow search at a time :D

Pumped Up? Start with the this. Now.

P.S: Have something interesting to work on? I can help you with product. I’m available on Twitter. You can find more about me at — aniketmandle.in

Aniket Mandle | Portfolio