Warning: That free online coding tutorial cost me three full days of work

I was at a coffee shop in Austin last week following a free JavaScript tutorial on YouTube, and it taught me bad habits like using var instead of let. The teacher skipped over error handling completely, and I spent 16 hours debugging code that crashed the moment I added user input. Do you think it's better to start with paid courses from places like Udemy or just stick to free resources and learn the hard way?

2 comments

2 Comments

michaeljones4d ago

Heard a friend of mine rant about this same thing last week. He did a free Python course and ended up learning outdated syntax that didn't work on the current version. Paid courses usually get updated more often and have actual code reviews built in. The free stuff is fine if you already know enough to spot bad advice, but for beginners it's a trap. Udemy sales make most courses like $15 anyway, which is way cheaper than three lost days of work.

elizabeth_ramirez4d ago

@michaeljones exactly, same pattern as people buying cheap tools that break in a month.