Ever stared at hundreds of lines of your own code, wondering how it became such an unmanageable mess? I’ve been there—and it’s a rite of passage for many beginner programmers. From writing code without a plan to endlessly chasing the 'perfect' solution, I’ve made my share of rookie mistakes. But the good news? Each misstep taught me something invaluable.

𝑺𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒍 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔: 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒙𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒔.

𝟏. 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠
Jumping straight into coding without thinking through requirements. Like, I once started building a to-do list app without sketching out the features. By the time I added due dates, priorities, and categories, the codebase was spaghetti.

𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛. 𝑇𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐.

𝟐. 𝐈𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Skipping docs and relying on Stack Overflow for quick fixes. Documentation isn't just dry text—it’s your secret weapon for understanding the bigger picture of tools and libraries.

𝐷𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒 15 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑠𝑒.

𝟑. 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
Trying to build the perfect app with the “coolest” tools. I once used a complex state management library for a project that could’ve been handled with simple React hooks. It was like using a tank to crack a walnut.

𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒. 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚍 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚖.

𝚄𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙴𝚂𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢.

𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 (𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏) 𝚋𝚢 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜.

Use tools like ESLint and Prettier to maintain code quality. Collaborate with others (or even your future self) by writing clear comments. The universal nature of making mistakes as a beginner. Emphasize that growth comes from learning and reflecting on them.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓? 𝑳𝒆𝒕’𝒔 𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒑 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔!

Include rhetorical questions to engage readers, e.g., “Sound familiar?” Think of a flowchart as a visual map for your app logic.