In an academic environment, there is nothing special about CS that makes it different from any other subject as far as the experience of the OP is concerned. I

In an academic environment, there is nothing special about CS that makes it different from any other subject as far as the experience of the OP is concerned. In the field, however, I have found more than a few "computer professional" environments which are clearly hostile to beginners/newcomers. I suspect this is because people tend to think that the way they learned is the "best way" to learn a topic. In computer-related professions you have a lot of self-taught folks who got to where they are by hard knocks and constantly facing a profound lack of guidance. These same people often feel that newcomers should undergo the same suffering they did. It's human nature, but it doesn't have to be way.