Career & Leadership › Junior Habits & First Job

Tutorial Hell

Endlessly following tutorials without building anything on your own.

Also known as: tutorial trap, course hell

Tutorial hell is the cycle of following one tutorial after another, typing along and feeling that you’re learning, but never building anything you could start from a blank file. Tutorials are a good way to start. The trap is staying in them.

The sign is that the code only works while you’re following the video or the article. Ask yourself: if I closed the tutorial and started a new project, what would I do first? If the answer is “look for the next tutorial”, you’re in the loop.

Tutorial: build a to-do app (follow along)
Next step: close the tutorial, build a different app with the same tools and no guide

The way out is to change the ratio. Spend most of your time on your own project and only a small part on guided material, and use the guided part only to answer specific questions. A side project is a good way to force that.

The classic mistake is thinking you need to finish the whole course before starting on your own. You won’t feel ready, because tutorials never ask you to make decisions. Start small, let the project show you what you don’t know yet, and return to the tutorial for that specific gap.