Hit 500 hours of self-study before realizing most of it was wasted

I tracked my time learning Python through free tutorials and hit 500 hours last month. But when I tried to build a real project, I froze because I never actually applied anything past basic exercises. Now I'm thinking structured bootcamps or mentorship might beat the scatterbrained YouTube approach. Which do you think actually sticks better for long term use?

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faithb781mo ago

Flip your whole thinking around... instead of asking what program or mentor to buy, try just starting a tiny project tonight that scares you the least. Pick something so small you can finish it in one sitting, that way you break the cycle of just watching and start building your confidence muscle instead.

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park.troy1mo ago

500 hours is a ton of time to put in and feel like you got nothing out of it. That rough feeling is actually pretty common once you try to build something from scratch. Bootcamps work because they force you to apply stuff right away with deadlines and real feedback.

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