When I just started learning to code I was very obsessed and spent far too much time watching software development videos. I was determined to become the Best Python Developer In The World (don't do this) and I would spend the wee hours of the morning watching programming video after programming video searching for more grains of insight (don't do this either). I wanted to learn the Best Way to write code; the most powerful, idiomatic, robust, resilient, elegant solutions.
That was, in retrospect, not a bad ideal. But the way I went about it may have been a bit silly.
Real working software design is about tradeoffs, and providing solutions, even when those solutions are not as elegant as we would like. And no amount of videos can replace trying your hand at solving a problem. Fortunately I learned this before it was too late.
But I wouldn't call my time spent watching my contemporaries fruitless. Good developers learn from other developers. Whether through videos, articles, courses, pair pr