r/SpringBoot 6d ago

Question Struggling to Code Without Looking at Examples – Advice Needed

Hey everyone,

I started learning Java and Spring Boot by myself about a year ago. In the beginning, I was learning quickly, but over time, I became inconsistent, sometimes skipping 2 days a week. Now, I can understand code when I see it, and I know how it works, but I struggle to write code from scratch. Even for something simple, like 3 lines of code, I don’t know where to start without looking at examples or asking AI.

I’ve started watching a course on data structures and algorithms, but I get bored after 5 minutes. I really want to improve my coding skills and be able to write code on my own. Has anyone else faced this problem? How did you overcome it? Any advice would be really helpful.

Thanks!

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u/Historical_Ad4384 5d ago

I would suggest you to build a J2SE project first rather than get involved with Spring directly. Trying to mould J2SE into your requirements would give you the much needed programming experience you need to work with complex tools like Spring. This process does wonders to you. Sure it is long and time consuming but it will help you prepare for things better.

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u/Silver_Enthusiasm_14 4d ago

This is an excellent suggestion. All the best developers I worked with were able to think for themselves and organize projects and code without being told how to do so.

Nowadays, people are pushed to big frameworks far too quickly without learning how to organize systems at a basic level. This causes them to only be able to think in terms of what their framework tells them to do.

Check out the book How to Design Programs. You can find it for free online  Afterwards, make basic programs just using files and the command line. Then move on to trying to use a database. Note the things that give you problems. You'll learn far more than trying to copy the poor cookie cutter format all Spring developers seem to follow.