Calculated moves
After spending quite a bit of time working through exercises on FreeCodeCamp, I can tell this was the correct move for me. I went back and did all of the introductory JavaScript section, and just now finished the ES6 section. I'm familiar with most of this material, but have never really worked through exercises to ingrain the concepts. There is a serious disconnect when this isn't done, in my opinion. It's one thing to learn a concept, but if you don't apply it, I don't think you really walk away with that knowledge. I know this is true in my case because, when I would go to implement something in a problem set, I was completely lost. I've now done a ton of exercises where I'm actually coding these concepts, and my confidence in being able to write the code is skyrocketing.
FreeCodeCamp is a great resource, but you have to supplement it with other resources. I've known the value of being an expert Googler since I started this journey, but I'm really putting this to use now more than ever. Some of the exercises are pretty hard and require more knowledge than is provided in the complimentary lesson. Luckily, the world of web development is rich with resources, from MDN to Stack Overflow and everywhere in between. Actually, FreeCodeCamp has a great forum with almost every lesson having some thread where someone is having the same issue that I'm having, so this is typically the first place to look. I'm a long way off from completing the JavaScript section, but looking ahead, this section culminates in a series of small projects to implement the material. I think this will be a great way to really solidify the knowledge I'm receiving.
It may appear to an observer as though I'm bouncing around from one resource to the next, and sometimes it feels that way. Every move that I make in this journey is calculated, though. Early on, I focused on creating projects through tutorials so I had something to show to employers. My Github account is rife with projects, I have a portfolio, and I wouldn't have this blog if it weren't for that period in my journey. I explored a multitude of technologies during this time, but after a while I realized I wasn't learning as much as I should be. My JavaScript, in particular, was pretty spotty, and I knew if I ever wanted to pass a technical interview I needed to become an expert. This is when I started working through Frontend Masters' curriculum. I've taken several courses from Frontend Masters that absolutely blew me away and immediately leveled me up, but now I've reached a point in the curriculum where I can't keep up. I think my main issue at this point is being able to take the concepts and translate them into actual code, and I believe FreeCodeCamp is going to help me in doing this. It may not be the answer to everything, but I can already tell I'm progressing in ways I wasn't by just watching online courses.
Until tomorrow!
