How do you cope with not being able to understand things

cymatty

cymatty

cymatty

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South Yorkshire
I started a new job in January and I have to admit from the outset that I think I have struggled, (even though every appraisal has been positive and I received an award for some work that I completed). I have contemplated leaving, because I had a terrible week which nearly pushed me over he edge. I was talked out of it.

The biggest cause of my misery is SAS, I have never programmed before and as I dont use it all the time I am picking it up slower than the new people who use it most days.

This has been brought into stark contrast this week when I have been on a SAS training course with work, everyone is is soldiering on and I was OK until today when I started to struggle and not follow what was going on. It was at this point I default to my usual behaviours which are,

1) Start getting angry with myself
2) Getting really angry with the person teaching and the question in my own head (I am very polite if the teacher comes over)
3) Go silent and into my shell (so much so that the teacher commented on it to the whole class, cheers :rolleyes:)
4) Get more angry with myself
5) Check out of whatever I am doing, even if I understand the question by this point it is too late I have convinced myself I can not do it
6)Occasionally it will get so bad that I stop eating for a day or so and cant sleep ( I think this is some kind of subconscious self punishment)

So is my reaction OTT or do people have similar reactions?
 
I get angry with myself if I don't understand something and if it is at school I will look it up when I get home until I do understand it. I never stop eating though (I do sport every day so I need food lol).
 
I'll follow the spiral into anger if things still don't seem to be sinking in, first against my self for not getting it, then against the lecturer/syllabus. Usually when this happens I find backing away from it, then coming back to the subject once I've calmed down a bit helps. Luckily there's a lot of support available at our college for stuff you don't understand, and always someone different on hand to show you something you don't get after classes. Some lecturer's are far better than others, so a fresh perspective helps I find.
 
On the rare occasion ;) that I find I do not fully understand something, I generally take some time to research and learn more about it.

I don't really get angry or frustrated, I just try to apply myself in a different way. Sometimes it helps if you just leave it for a while and concentrate on something else, often it will seem clearer from a distance.
 
As someone who has learnt to use SAS over the last 18 months (having never programmed before), I know where you a coming from. However, the organisation I work for has been very supportive as have the other SAS users in the team.

The best way I found of learning has been to look at others code, and pick out the bits you want. Sounds like cheating but actually you pick up more than you realise. Plus, surely asking questions isn't frowned upon? (unless you haven't even tried to sort it yourself first)
 
If you like you job, and are struggling to keep up then look at getting some books to read/work through in your own time.

Raging never helps either, and TBH I get annoyed in lectures sometimes but have thus far managed to find the answer I need from other lecturers, the internet or books.
 
Ask the person teaching me wtf is going on. Chances are if you don't understand it, there's somebody else in the room who also doesn't get it so you're helping them out too. :p
 
If it's a classroom setup I rage at myself then ask the lecturer to try explaining it different way, that usually does it for me.

If it's distance learning or self taught I take a 30min break to kill things on the PC :D
 
cymatty said:
I started a new job in January and I have to admit from the outset that I think I have struggled, (even though every appraisal has been positive and I received an award for some work that I completed). I have contemplated leaving, because I had a terrible week which nearly pushed me over he edge. I was talked out of it.
Click to expand...

Virtually this time last year I'd started a new job and it was mind boggling.
Imagine doing 500 jigsaws that were part of a gigantic jigsaw but all parts have to go in a certain order - it's the only way to explain it and I was very getting very disillusioned with myself.
In early June I went for my 1 month appraisal expecting to be gone and instead they thought I was wonderful.
I even told them that I'd got about 20% of the job but there was a long way to go.
Well I hung in there and I have made lots of improvements to the efficiency of the department and there's more to come.
From knowing nothing I've become quite an expert on what I do so all I can say is hang in there and it will happen especially when your appraisals have been good (I have mine tomorrow but I've already seen what they've wrote about me :))
 
You sound exactly like me lol

Totally understand where you are coming from.

Went on a training course once, worried myself sick, spent a whole week there and after it was finished i thought " why did i just worry myself that much over something so simple".

Your reaction is natural mate, your just panicking and worrying about it.

Dig in, and get on with it :)
 
Two simple points.

1: Teach yourself SAS programming in your spare time and at your leisure using books or internet resources dedicated to the subject.

2: Don't post in GD on a subject like this where you will get mostly moronic, unhelpful replies. :)
 
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