Keeping it going
This post marks the 2-month anniversary of starting this blog. I've posted a 3 paragraph entry every day, without fail, in this 2-month period. I will be the first to admit they weren't all pulitzer prize-winning articles, but that wasn't the point. This blog accomplishes 3 big things for me that I think are integral to my success. The first and most important is to establish a routine and stick to it. There were days that finding the time and energy to write a quick blog entry was incredibly difficult, but I understood the importance of staying on track. The second was to have somewhere for people to view my progression through this learning journey. I only keep the last 20 entries on this site, but if you looked through all of my posts, you would be able to see exactly what I've been up to for the last 2 months and how hard I've been working. For prospective employers, they can see that I'm able to motivate myself to learn what I need to learn and problem solve my way through this process. For other aspiring developers, they can see what resources and tactics worked for me and what were incredible failures. The last thing that this blog accomplishes for me, and this was completely unexpected, is that it helps me formulate my thoughts more concisely. A lot of my entries have helped me formulate a learning plan on the fly and commit to goals that I normally wouldn't write down or tell others about. This blog, I can say, has single-handedly been the most important thing I've done in my entire journey thus far.
Today, I had the day off and was able to do some serious studying. I decided to leave my JavaScript course for the day after it completely broke my spirit yesterday. I worked tirelessly on Neil Cummings' "Build an app with React, Redux, and Firestore from scratch" with the goal of completing this course by the end of the day. I've completed 3 sections so far today and I have about 15% left in the course with a solid 4 hours left in the night to get this done. It's going to be a close call, but I think I can do it. The final push is going to be difficult, but if I can have some uninterrupted focused time, it's possible. The end result of this course is a really spectacular app that I've started to mold into something unique and interesting enough to be a cornerstone of my resumé and portfolio.
I posted on Twitter yesterday that I was struggling with JavaScript and received some really nice encouragement. I was directed toward a certain course on Frontend Masters that deals specifically with closures and prototypal inheritance that looks awesome. The more I hear about Frontend Masters and the more research I do on the courses within, the more excited I'm becoming to start this next chapter in my journey. Like I've said, Udemy's courses have done wonders in progressing me forward in my knowledge base, and I don't think I would have been comfortable with the majority of the courses on Frontend Masters if it wasn't for what I've learned from Udemy's courses. Not to mention, at the price of around $10 per course, it's the deal of the century. There are multiple courses on Udemy that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anybody. Colt Steele and Andrei Neagoie in particular were huge in getting me to the point that I'm at now. At some point, you work through the best resources and have to start looking for the second best courses. Frontend Masters has the best instructors in the game right now, other than maybe Egghead, and it's clear to me this is the place for me to be. I can't wait to get through these 2 courses and move on!
Until tomorrow!
