I get people that make tutorials for “content” even if they suck at their job, but I CANNOT get over video tutorials where someone gets completely lost and doesn’t cut it out of the video.
Anyways we’ll go here-oh there’s an error. Uhm. Maybe we can do this? That didn’t work. Maybe that? Hang on, maybe it’s in preferences? Oh, it’s in tools, no, wait, oh I just wrote the name wrong
Would it kill you to edit that out and stop wasting my time?!
When you solve the issue, take a pause and then walk back the problem and how to fix it.
If it’s a “forgot where something was”, take a pause then start with “sorry bout that, it’s this…”.
Own the mistake, learn from it, let others learn from it. But dont waste everyone’s time
I think there’s a key distinction to be made between a “tutorial” and a “vlog.” Some videos you watch to learn things, and other videos you watch to be entertained by the struggle.
(Admittedly, for the latter the examples I have in my head are all makers/artists, not programmers, and I’m not sure I’d be as entertained watching somebody fuck up a software config as I am watching them panic as their epoxy resin pour goes wrong.)
Also… the actual good stuff has a good chance of not being free, or not being on YouTube—it’s just the reality of our world.
When you look for YouTube videos of random people, you can get anything, from good programmers to horrible ones. You can’t really require quality from strangers posting stuff for fun.
The good stuff is usually hidden in low view hell (or in text form, stuck on personal blogs nobody reads). Getting an audience is mostly a property of marketing, not quality. There’s not a lot of natural overlap between those that can teach well and those that can market well.
To me in most cases it’s the opposite. I don’t watch video tutorials to solve a specific problem (sorry, Roal Van de Paar!), but to get into something. And therefore I prefer to see the problem solving in between and the workflow for that activity. If it really tends to waste my time, I just skip forward.
I get people that make tutorials for “content” even if they suck at their job, but I CANNOT get over video tutorials where someone gets completely lost and doesn’t cut it out of the video.
Would it kill you to edit that out and stop wasting my time?!
I think those are more interesting. I like seeing the process.
At the same time, that is part of the developer experience, so the tutorial is still accurate
When you solve the issue, take a pause and then walk back the problem and how to fix it.
If it’s a “forgot where something was”, take a pause then start with “sorry bout that, it’s this…”.
Own the mistake, learn from it, let others learn from it. But dont waste everyone’s time
I think there’s a key distinction to be made between a “tutorial” and a “vlog.” Some videos you watch to learn things, and other videos you watch to be entertained by the struggle.
(Admittedly, for the latter the examples I have in my head are all makers/artists, not programmers, and I’m not sure I’d be as entertained watching somebody fuck up a software config as I am watching them panic as their epoxy resin pour goes wrong.)
Also… the actual good stuff has a good chance of not being free, or not being on YouTube—it’s just the reality of our world.
When you look for YouTube videos of random people, you can get anything, from good programmers to horrible ones. You can’t really require quality from strangers posting stuff for fun.
The good stuff is usually hidden in low view hell (or in text form, stuck on personal blogs nobody reads). Getting an audience is mostly a property of marketing, not quality. There’s not a lot of natural overlap between those that can teach well and those that can market well.
To me in most cases it’s the opposite. I don’t watch video tutorials to solve a specific problem (sorry, Roal Van de Paar!), but to get into something. And therefore I prefer to see the problem solving in between and the workflow for that activity. If it really tends to waste my time, I just skip forward.