How did university/college folks learnt development ( be it web/mobile or anything else ) before the chatgpt or youtube era?

I'm a 20-year-old university student, currently learning web development. Today, I was working on a productivity-focused platform, but I got stuck while designing its database. I tried really hard, brainstorming on paper, but the results didn’t satisfy me at all. In the end, I had to ask GPT for suggestions, and within seconds, it gave me dozens of improvements. But then I thought—if I keep doing this, what’s the difference between me and others who also rely on GPT to build their projects? Whenever I watch tutorials on YouTube, everything looks so easy—smooth like cream. I started coding back in 9th grade, and back then, I learned mostly from YouTube. It was easier because most problems I faced already had answers on Stack Overflow. But now, I’m in my second year of college, and I still struggle to build quality projects on my own. I often end up relying on GPT to improve my work. This makes me feel really demotivated. Sometimes, I wish I had never started this journey at all. But now that I’m in the middle of it, I can’t quit either. I genuinely want to grow into a good developer who can build things independently. Is there something wrong with my mindset? or maybe how I'm approaching this whole process of learning development ? I also wonder—how did people who didn’t have access to YouTube tutorials or AI tools like this become good programmers? I’m from India, so please don’t suggest things like “just do more DSA.” I’ve seen many people here do DSA only to land jobs, and those already in good jobs keep recommending it, assuming that getting a job is my only goal. I mean no disrespect to anyone, its good to have priorities, but it isn't just not fine to assume other people's priorities. Also I'm from a tier 3 college so no good company here. But right now, that’s not my priority. I just want to become a genuinely good developer.

Apr 10, 2025 - 23:45

How did university/college folks learnt development ( be it web/mobile or anything else ) before the chatgpt or youtube era?

I'm a 20-year-old university student, currently learning web development. Today, I was working on a productivity-focused platform, but I got stuck while designing its database. I tried really hard, brainstorming on paper, but the results didn’t satisfy me at all. In the end, I had to ask GPT for suggestions, and within seconds, it gave me dozens of improvements.

But then I thought—if I keep doing this, what’s the difference between me and others who also rely on GPT to build their projects?

Whenever I watch tutorials on YouTube, everything looks so easy—smooth like cream. I started coding back in 9th grade, and back then, I learned mostly from YouTube. It was easier because most problems I faced already had answers on Stack Overflow. But now, I’m in my second year of college, and I still struggle to build quality projects on my own. I often end up relying on GPT to improve my work.

This makes me feel really demotivated. Sometimes, I wish I had never started this journey at all. But now that I’m in the middle of it, I can’t quit either. I genuinely want to grow into a good developer who can build things independently.

Is there something wrong with my mindset? or maybe how I'm approaching this whole process of learning development ?

I also wonder—how did people who didn’t have access to YouTube tutorials or AI tools like this become good programmers? I’m from India, so please don’t suggest things like “just do more DSA.” I’ve seen many people here do DSA only to land jobs, and those already in good jobs keep recommending it, assuming that getting a job is my only goal. I mean no disrespect to anyone, its good to have priorities, but it isn't just not fine to assume other people's priorities. Also I'm from a tier 3 college so no good company here.

But right now, that’s not my priority. I just want to become a genuinely good developer.