Harvard's CS50 is Hard? How to Make it Easy

Tutoring: kombina.gumroad.com/l/cqftj
0:00 Intro to CS50.
0:36 My experience with the course.
1:17 Too many learning options.
2:18 Only work on CS50.
3:14 Pace yourself.
4:25 Just show up.
5:16 Be patient.
5:37 Be consistent.
5:52 Stop comparing yourself to others.
7:17 Go outside.
7:52 Slow progress beats overnight success.
8:16 Ask for help.
9:29 CS50 Tutoring.

[@cacurazi]

“Be loyal to the course. Focus only on CS50. Don’t get yourself into tutorial hell. Don’t jump in between different courses. Start with the course and stay with it until you finish it.” Best advice ever. Thanks 🙏

[@mrafam626]

I have nearly 25 windows open on my browse lol

[@lior-z-]

Did you finished?

[@itsjustme684]

Trust me, as i was about to comment this but glad i found you hahahahaha. Rare tips.

[@mdem337]

Finally, seeing honesty in KZbin for first time.

[@bfogelstrom]

"When you finally get the answer correct, you feel so good" I experienced that each assignment that finally comes back all green!

[@thegentlejesus]

I'm currently stuck on CS50P week 2 and been felling really crappy about myself. This video came at the right time on my recommended. Thank you so much for making this, its helped put me back on the right path. "You should be comparing yourself to who you were yesterday, a week ago, a year ago, a month ago. That's who you should compare yourself to." This quote gave me hope. I'm better than I was yesterday even if I only learn and understand one extra function today or this week I am better than I was! You got yourself a sub from me mate! 😊

[@BoltRM]

Also I noticed when learning a new computer language something similar, my progress tends to be in 3 month increments. 3 mos & I'm _beginning_ to get it & feel good about my progress. Another 3 mos & I'm "oh yeah" it's all coming together & makes sense! And so on.. That's how it works for me. Also each language you learn, the next lang has similarities & comes much easier etc. By then you realize, you KNOW can figure it out, cuz you've done it before.

[@cipher1167]

It is good you mentioned those guys that claim they “learned” to code in 4 months or so, the thing they do usually mention after you watch their videos is, they were unemployed and put in 8 hours a day of learning how to code at least 40 hours a week. Or they quit their jobs lived off their savings and all they did was code all day everyday. The most believable time frame to me if you have a full time job and are learning to code doing 2 hours a day is 9 months to a year, maybe more depending on where you live, stuff like that.

[@BoltRM]

And most Harvard students are full timers, or maybe a _short_ part time job.

[@neutechnica]

What an unbelievably encouraging way to help people to believe that it's possible and how to make it happen.

[@xpo2k9]

I would like to thank you for for this video, i was a bit overwhelmed during my first weeks of CS50's Introduction to Programming with Python and for some reason this showed up at the right time. It gave me some peace of mind about the struggle and made me relax and get out of that mindset of wanting to get everything right and correct first try. And yes, the rush i felt every time i've gotten 5/5 on my assignments is very fulfilling. You are doing everyone a great service. Thank you very much!

[@Alexander-iq5yq]

Ive hit a brick wall every week in this course. Its hard, and they show no mercy. I do think the course is great, but theres a canyon between the lectures/videos and the assignments. Perhaps that canyon is filled better in the context of a university, with other students and teaching assistants to help you along. Alone it is quite daunting, but Ive managed to break through those walls more than I ever have before.

[@raybp7512]

I thought this too but many people watch the lecture and go straight to the PSET. If you do ALL the Practice, the lab and watch all the shorts + your own out of course research (which is the point of being in CS) the canyon is not as big

[@morninglory8988]

@@raybp7512 Where are the "labs" and "pracrice"? I am doing cs50p on edx and only have problem sets.

[@brandongranger6436]

Needed to see this!! I’ve been trying to shove every single video about CS in my head the last few days. I need to focus on CS50 and go!!

[@johnxnet]

Totally agree with all that you said in your video, I am taking the CS50 and really enjoying it, you got a subscriber!

[@itsjustme684]

Usually people will overwhelm with suggestions to study which partially help. This guy made it very very clear. STAY LOYAL TO A SINGLE COURSE AND FOCUS ON IT!

[@mokotomolokwane9384]

Thank you so much. You are truly honest. 🙏 Nice advices.

[@Arban19]

Such a sane voice. Thanks, man.

[@demirkrasnici7430]

You're a legend man! Thanks!

[@asankagodage109]

This is honest review. Respect you ..!

[@thomzydervelt5152]

Thank you for your great video . I’m in the new cs50 blues. I’m struggling with how to find things on the course . You helped me with my struggles. Cheers from Danang Vietnam 🇻🇳.

[@kombina_official]

Hey I'm glad it helped! Much success! Cheers.

[@branaginslaw]

Man im glad I found this. Im full time so guy trying to do the cs50...its going to take me 6 months I reckon. Full time work and life and im 45....

[@fvazquez64]

Thank you for your kind words, I was looking for some kind of signal for going ahead into cs50 or stop, but your words gave me the strength to go ahead...

[@kombina_official]

Glad I could help!

[@smartswift7803]

Awesome content truthful stuff Good advice

[@johnwellgroup]

Thank you so much for this. it was really motivating

[@kombina_official]

Cheers!

[@JustBCWi]

3:50 if you are in Harvard, you're not raising a family and working hard to put food on the table. You're taking debt out the wazoo, eating in the cafeteria and staying in the dorm.

[@lior-z-]

Thank you so much 😊

[@00rigmyster]

Motivational. Attempting cs50 for the 2nd time.

[@siddharth5876]

thankyou so much for your advice really helpful😀

[@kombina_official]

Glad it was helpful!

[@siddharth5876]

@@kombina_official could you make a video on how to submit the projects in all of these courses I'm preety shure a lot of people are having a hard time figuring it out

[@innovatorschannel1919]

Soo much needed

[@nguyencanh7424]

I’m at week 4 and having mental breakdown more often lmao

[@ThePoliwraith]

Amazing video, picked me up after I was feeling down over how difficult this was for me. But you're right you even showed a specific youtuber I was comparing my progress too ahahaha. I'll take my time and do it right. Thank you bro

[@kombina_official]

Wishing you much success! Thank you for sharing your story!

[@mariamjaparidze9299]

I love your vids, but u know what I don't get, the website says that the course ends on jan 1st 2024 and I enrolled just 2 days ago, what happens if I don't manage to finish it? @@kombina_official

[@reckless_iguana6143]

Hey,great content! I was wondering,did you paid for the certificate or just watched the course for free?

[@gamelife7059]

You are my big brother I love you

[@random-xl3zm]

Sir i have a small request , can u make a video on what to do after cs 50 introduction bc u know there r 30 plus videos of cs50 on edx now and its very confusing which course to view in which sequnce so that i can b on par with a harvard graduate for a software engineering job

[@joaobastos7722]

Thank you!

[@kombina_official]

You're welcome!

[@masterchief167]

You are awesome man

[@kombina_official]

Thank you!

[@abdullahialiyu9039]

Thank you so much

[@kombina_official]

You're most welcome

[@lilynana24]

Well said!

[@kombina_official]

Cheers!

[@stantonreddy6276]

You couldn't have said it any better. I'm on week 1, hopefully, in 6 months I finish it.

[@malamutemo]

@stanton Reddy how are you faring?

[@googleuser7454]

did you finish?

[@matejhirschbaeck1376]

Great😮

[@countermeasuresecurityengi9719]

kombina not lying misrepresenting the facts

[@haiqal6941]

Good advice

[@kombina_official]

Glad it was helpful!

[@hey_avacado]

Do you recommend doing all the psets?

[@brucehussian7257]

Im doing it on week 3 hope it goes well thnkx for your helping video ❤

[@kombina_official]

All the best. Wishing you much success

[@Airlinecuisine]

I started cs50 I can do it while im at work(im a security guard there is alot of downtime) I plan to just commit the time im at work to the course which can give me like 6 hours a day with minor interruptions but im not gonna speed through it so far week 0 the assignment is pretty easy with knowing nothing about coding i heard it gets harder starting week 1 tho. But im committed no more shitty paying security job.

[@bradfry2259]

What did you do before learning to code?

[@El-barto1]

can someone help me with week 5

[@abraao.maximo]

1) “Be loyal to the course. Focus only on CS50. Don’t get yourself into tutorial hell. Don’t jump in between different courses. Start with the course and stay with it until you finish it.” 2) Show up for 2h every day. 3) Stop comparing yourself with others. You should be comparing yourself to who you were yesterday, to who you were a week ago or a year ago. 4) Go outside and have fun, workout, play sports, go out with frineds. 5) Reach out for help if you're not feeling motivated or if you feel like you can't figure things out on your own.

[@ReshanSingh-nz9ol]

Hi thanks for the video. Is it possible to do this course within 5 weeks ? I have most the day and evening to study .

[@kombina_official]

I wouldn't hurry it. If you have extra time - use it to build your portfolio (or personal website) even if it is just on a word document - just preparing all the content for that. Or start working on your CV. Work on your interview skills. Brush up your English (I'm assuming English is not your mother tongue) Eat well. Sleep well. Go outside.

[@derekyiung2007]

do you know what happens if i dont finish by the end of the year ??? Will i need to star over again

[@ratioreid343]

Respect 🫡

[@ReplayMastersTekken]

it sucks because everytime there's a problem set i feel like i have to watch a video on youtube. and i feel like its cheating. and im still on week 1 mario less problem

[@kombina_official]

Mario: Do a loop within a loop.

[@MADA_QWE]

I am taking cs50 introduction to programming with Python sometimes when I try to solve the problems I can't solve them. I may know the logic , but i don't know how to implement this logic and i have to look at the solution(after trying to solve the problem first) when i look at it i understand it am i a bad programmer. Or programming isn't for me

[@emmyyassin1587]

so does that means I don't have to finish it in 10 weeks? I am asking because of the assignments I mean is there a deadline to send it?... you don't know how much you motivated me

[@elviofrancisco8638]

The course is available for an entire year so you have the whole year to complete the course

[@emmyyassin1587]

@@elviofrancisco8638 thank you so much Elvio

[@lauracde4414]

I can’t find the link for info in the cost of tutoring. Can you please share it?

[@kombina_official]

kombina.gumroad.com/l/cqftj

[@ReplayMastersTekken]

what's your next step after CS50?

[@kombina_official]

I'm publishing a video about that soon. In short, I think the best route is to go into IT. So aiming for a junior DevOps job. Right after CS50, take their follow up web-dev course (cs50.harvard.edu/web/2020/) and then CCNA. After this a few other courses within the DevOps specialty. Again, look out for the video - coming out in a few days.

[@ReplayMastersTekken]

@@kombina_official oh i see ill look into it. sorry to say this but im still on week 0 on cs50. Currently stuck on scratch game. I have the logic in mind but i just couldnt find the idea of implementing at the moment. Is it okay if i skip scratch for now ?

[@chiraag9638]

If you’re struggling with scratch you’ll most likely struggle with the rest of the course… that’s a good thing though. Part of the learning process. Don’t skip steps

[@blewcheez]

I stared late December and finished somewhere I the middle of January. It's definitely possible.

[@bxnny0374]

Oh look, there’s the point! It’s going straight over your head!! Woooooosh. There it goes! His point was that everyone has their own life, and their own pace, and that comments like yours make people who are struggling, or who need to take longer due to having a full-time job, kids, a life, etc, feel bad about themselves, get discouraged, and give up. So, he encourages people not to listen to people who brag about how fast they completed the course, because at the end of the day, all that matters it that you keep showing up, and that you learn, and that you finish. And this is in a video specifically FOR people who are struggling, so your comment is completely tone deaf. For you to hear someone’s advice and encouragement for people who are struggling, and your immediate response is to leave a comment under that video with specifically the kind of rhetoric that the video JUST explained is unhelpful for this audience to hear, is just selfish. If something doesn’t apply to you, you can just skip it. Why would you go out of your way to make other people’s struggles worse? Based on your level of absorption of the information in the video, I doubt you even learned anything from your speed run through cs50. I work full-time as a professional programmer, and while working through this course I intentionally do one module per week, even when I feel I could go faster, specifically because I know you can’t truly learn & understand these fundamental concepts if you rush through them, and don’t allow yourself the time you need to let the concepts sink in. It might be possible to complete cs50 in a month, but it’s certainly not an accomplishment. You’re likely only shorting yourself out of a true understanding (and long-term memory) of the topics.

[@epicgamer0007]

Bruh you smart asf

[@blewcheez]

@@epicgamer0007 Grinded in like a video game 😂

[@dantecruzorozco8850]

I'm on week 1 and, it's not that hard, at this point I already know almost all from lectures, well I kind of cheat here, because before CS50 I got certify in C programing, but it is worthy

[@lauracde4414]

If you are already certified in C programming I don’t know how you can say it’s not hard on week 1 since the course is intended for people with no computer science experience. Those with no prior experience are those who can fairly evaluate the difficulty

[@dantecruzorozco8850]

@@lauracde4414 that why I said I'm kind of cheating, but don't go crazy, I'm just certified with the CPE (C programing entry level) and indeed someone who already know how to program, knows the better how difficult actually is something