Opening New Doors: My Journey Into Front-End Web Development
I am most proud of my determination and desire to learn for as long as I can. I recently decided to start teaching myself front end development, and so far the experience has been immensely rewarding. Here are a few things I've learned so far:
Start learning for free. If you're unsure of whether you really want to dive in, don't spend oodles of cash. There are tons of free resources for people who want to learn how to code.
Use multiple resources. I started learning with FreeCodeCamp (which I highly recommend). However, like all learning resources, FreeCodeCamp doesn't offer the entire picture. That meant that I needed to collect other resources simultaneously. This benefits me in two ways: first, I get a more comprehensive view of the subject matter. Second, I get to double down on the basic concepts so that I really understand what I'm doing. I'm currently using FreeCodeCamp and CodeAcademy simultaneously.
Find mentors. I have an amazing friend (I'm looking at you Evan) who is brilliant and helpful. He is also amazingly resourceful. I shot him a quick text when I was running into problems and he (being the angel he is) sent me an incredibly useful list of resources to get me going again.
Ask for help. FreeCodeCamp is brilliant because it's created a massive network of programming learners who are (mentally) rewarded for helping their peers. They encourage people to ask their questions in the FreeCodeCamp Gitter forum so that people can get feedback and test their understanding. When you ask for help, you're helping others. That's a beautiful thing.
Find people to learn with. Check out Meetup for groups near you for programming students. Get together and code together to keep each other on track.
Get in touch with your research skills. If you've been out of school for a while, your research skills can get rusty. Make Google your friend again, and really learn how to make the internet work for you while you're working. Don't be afraid of looking up code snippets to see how they work, and then experiment with it yourself. (Side note: remember that the best way to learn is by doing. Snagging code from outside sources won't give you the education you're looking for.)
If you're a beginning front-end developer like me, I'd love to connect with you. Feel free to drop me a line! I'd love to hear any other thoughts to add to this piece, so please comment.