Revelation

This will seem like a no-brainer to most, but I realized why I wasn't creating anything in software, and I was always mired in tutorial hell: I was programming for the sake of programming.

There is nothing wrong with loving computer languages as much as some professors love the English language, but if you want to create something, the language is the last thing you need to focus on.

So what's the first thing? The problem! What problem are you trying to solve? How can your idea solve a problem for you or others?

How could I have gotten through a masters and not asked myself this simple question? Better late than never, I suppose.

So if you are stuck like I have been for 9 years, maybe this will help. Find a problem and start working on ways to solve it.