What were some preconceived notions you had about coding before starting your journey?

Ah.. I had many! A top few could be,

• It's hard. Actually, the hardest part is just to get started.
• Design is made once and coding just follows it. But the fact is, design can change too.
• I need to know most of the things before jump into it. The reality is, you learn most of the things as you go. However, you use that learning as an experience when you encounter a similar situation next time.
• I can not be a good programmer without Mastering Data Structure & Algorithms(DSA). Undoubtedly it is required to have ideas about DSA but, it is oversold. You don't have to master it to learn to code and continue it.

I had some of these when started coding more than a decade back.

Great question! Here are some of my preconceived notions:

• Playing games != making games. I first got into coding because I wanted to be a game developer. But being a game developer is incredibly hard!
• Getting a computing degree meant you were ready for the workplace. Very little from what I learned in my computing degree was that useful when actually working. It taught me the theory without the practicality.
• You need a good grade or a degree to be a developer. Maybe this was the case 10 years ago, but nowadays a degree is not required for a job. And no one has ever asked me about my grade.
• You need to do everything yourself. I may have had this notion from the terrible group projects I had to do at university. But when you're working with a team, everyone is there to support each other. You don't need to go it alone!

I'm sure I have many more that I don't even realize yet!

I have had so many which can easily lead to imposter syndrome.

• Believing that you need to be good at maths to be a programmer which is a misconception
• Thinking that you had to be highly intelligent like a NASA scientist or someone who works at MIT to be successful
• That you need to have a computer science degree or a degree from a top university to get a good job
• Needing to know Data Structures & Algorithms to be good at your job (these days it seems to be common if you are interviewing but on the job on a day to day basis not so much)

I'm not sure I had any.

I basically just had a huge "mystery zone." I had worked with flash and Dreamweaver - but when I finally started learning code (and really the conceptual stuff) - it was just a GAP.... blank spot in my mental/conceptual model. I also assumed that 'coding' and JavaScript were much harder than they were... and that kinda fed that 'blind spot' - and I worked for years and years with a total... just avoiding of certain things.

In retrospect - If I'd had a mentor to break it down, things would have been a lot easier!