A lot of it is practice. There’s an old saying about calculus - don’t worry, once you’ve done a thousand integrals, you’ll really start getting the hang of it.

A lot of it is practice. There’s an old saying about calculus - don’t worry, once you’ve done a thousand integrals, you’ll really start getting the hang of it. Taking one of the popular algorithm and data structures book and working through it, and actually doing the exercises, will improve your skills; specially, the ability to identify the shape of a particular problem. Pure CS is very beautiful IMO, and rewarding to dive into.