You learn it by writing out of hand code :) But more on the point, what has helped me immensively has been writing out my thought processes before starting to c

You learn it by writing out of hand code :) But more on the point, what has helped me immensively has been writing out my thought processes before starting to code. Write out the problem, and solve it in a journal or somewhere before just starting to write out code and go along. There's nothing wrong with just writing code as you go and solving things while you find problems, but to get structured, documenting the behaviour of the program is a major point. Draw images how the code should work. What is connected to what, who owns what ? By doing this process, you start to see the big picture. It's not always easy, and the tempation to just "go at it" is always there, but this easily leads to code you need to re-factor or re-think more than you would like. But of course, sometimes you just have to write the crap version first, and then move on to a more advanced model. Actually, this is the expected way, as coding is a field where you just can't know what lies in that valley before venturing into it. So, accepting the fact that re-factoring is something you do constantly is also key. If you don't refactor, the old crappy solutions hinder and slow you down. Experience of course helps you make better decisions in new projects.