big frameworks still intimidate me which is why i probably can't work with an engine yet but compiling things from scratch also used to be really intimidating for me until someone gave me an example project and now i feel like i can port anything to the embedded devices we ship
learning by example is what keeps me from being able to follow a lot of textbook stuff
i'd sooner take a project apart and figure out how it works than try to learn through long paragraphs that all blend together and my eyes glaze over