Should I Quit My Programming Job? (Can't Cope)

My brother (am presuming you are a guy), what you are facing is very normal in the early stages of any career. Infact, your fear to embrace failure is the reason why you would succeed if only you really 'persist'.

Let me give you a bit of my own story: I read mathematics and computer science in one of the universities in Nigeria, but I must confess there ws really nothing like computer science about it --- it ws all mathematics and I was very good at  it, I mean I could formulate problems, read and understand ancient math texts that my mates in school could not even understand. My interest in life lies in solving problems and that was even buttressed when i was recruited straight after graduation by one of the leading software companies in Nigeria to become a programmer. Initially it was very tough for me because I had never written industrial codes except for the exam paper codes I solved while in the university; but in all I ws determined to learn the tricks and soon found out it ws not too different from the same level of reasoning I apply to solving problems (whether math, physics, chemistry etc , ). I bought java programming books and learnt everything with little or no supervision and before u could say jack, my company was already using me to train staff on how to program with java. It did not only end at java, I could and can still look at any code snippet, no matter what language its written and tell you what the code is doing --- my point here is that you jst have to be able to solve problems. Think of programming as trying to understand a physics problem and try formulating a solution for it. However, in the context of programming you'll ask yourself (or even people around you) what does language X,Y or Z have to help me compute the cross product of two vectors for example etc ,  If you can learn these tricks you can code in any language be it C++, java, SQL, etc,  To God be the glory am inching closer to completing a PhD in computer science. So my brother, the bottom line is that you should always ask yourself: how do I solve this problem ? Once that is established, you can then ask again, what does a particular programming language offer (I mean syntactic structures, since semantically you would have had a clue by answering the first question) to help me achieve what I want to do?

One last advice: always be determined to solve a problem through; with a degree in physics am sure you are a smart chap. Do you know what the danger of quitting that job is? The answer is simple: you might end-up facing thesame problem (of always quitting) in any other job you find yourself . Live by the tenets of your screen name and always 'persist'.

I thanks all the poster who have encouraged me on my path.I think I will stick with it for another 2 to 3 month. I Have already being exploring other areas of IT.I started a cisco Weekend class and I have been reading my Unix pretty hard.I guess I am just going to compare and see how it all goes as for the guys who volunteered to help me in my programming endeavor .I will mail u guys.

I have been working on c#, Entity Framework and  wcf for the past 2months.

Hang in there if it,s your passion. However look for materials/resources to equip yourself.good luck

Man-woman biz is a very RAM consuming task.

Even your hard drive will attest to this.

My advice:

Tie down the privates and READ YOURSELF into the work that's giving you headache.

There's nothing most of us are facing that hasn't been encountered by people that came b4 us;

problems and solutions have been documented on the internet for you to read up. No be beans. Read am.

As someone earlier said,  make www.google.com your home page and search away from there.

There's nothing you can't do if you'd only just put your mind to it.

Then, and only after then, can you release the one-eyed dragon.

programming is just like dat.infact,javalove has spoken a lot of wot i av in mind.
bt guy,it's goin 2 b a MISTAKE if u walk out a job wtout gettin anoda first.
just pray & giv in your best.& allow God 2 order your steps.'coz my brother programming pass man o;u need God.

If u decide 2 quit. Make sure u have a good backup plan.

Well, a whole lot of people suggest you keep your job and try to get by. In the meantime since it's your source of income you could still hold on to find out if you'll grow to loving it. But if it still doesn't conform to your person dont imprison yourself there and say you dont have a choice cos u really do. You can accomplish more than you ever thought you could. We have one life to live dont live it regretting at the end that you didn't live it with fulfillment. Do what you we're created to do. We all have options. Choose right.

I don't think anyone would expect a non-IT graduate to be able to write good code in two months. I would suggest that you stay there for a few months and see how you get on. You'll need to do a lot of studying and practising in your spare time. In about 4 months, if you find you are not making any progress or are still struggling with the job, then you can consider changing careers.

However, if you have problems with logical reasoning, then programming may not be the career for you.

When I first started as a programmer, it took a lot of practice, patience (for debugging code), paracetamol, coffee and studying for me to learn how to write decent code.

no

what u need is to pray if u are a christian or muslim ,pray and fast,
when u get to office in the morning ,before u start working at all,make sure u pray ,commit your jobs into the hands of the lord,
cos God is the best programmer and he will lead u right,this thing has happened to me also but i overcame it

@OP
Firstly, I dont like programming. I feel it is the peak of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop. That being said, if you like programming, feel  free to pursue a career in it. I have several friends who are programmers and are quite successful at it,

On to your problem. You need to be clear on what your priorities are. Your priority is to see to it that your career is developing as you wish (salary, job responsibility etc), while your employers should be left to worry about if your productivity is commensurate with your remuneration. There is no need for you to over criticize yourself, cos believe me, the moment your productivity is below expectation, your employer would let you know. So all your self condemnation is a waste of precious time.

As to the challenges you face with your job, there are two parts to programming: The problem analysis and algorithm development, and the actual translation into code. The latter is the easier of the two IMO, and you would get better the more time you spend with the language. The former part is a bit more challenging as it would depend heavily on how developed your analytical skills  are. Whichever, you can develop both areas with time. Invest time in developing yourself and make friends with those who have the skillsets you desire.

For the short time solution, I would suggest you find yourself, a programming benefactor. Someone outside of your office, who is quite capable in the field, and who you can ask questions and bounce ideas off, possibly willing to act as a private tutor. You should also join a tech forum where you can post questions and requests. You will be amazed at the amount of free help that is available on the internet. Do not be surprised if most of the problems you find challenging have already been solved by others. This will give you time to develop an expertise in the field. Make sure you have internet access both at work and at home. The internet is the best friend to a programmer. Also work on your google-fu. Searching with the right keywords on google could save you several sleepless nights and instead make you look like a wunderkid.

You need to have confidence in your own abilities, while recognizing your shortcomings. Dont let anybody intimidate you with their profiency in programming, as they were all like you at one point in time. Everybody likes to look smart, but the corporate environment is full of ducks on a pond - they look calm on the surface, but are paddling like crazy underneath just to stay afloat. Nobody get two heads, if you put in the effort, you will see the result. Nobody is born a programmer, it is an acquired skill.

So in summary, dont quit.