Finally getting it
I'm about halfway through Bianca Gandolfo's "Javascript: From Fundamentals to Functional JS" on Frontend Masters, and I can safely say I've made more progress with the language in these 4 hours of content than every other resource I've consumed put together. It may be that I'm finally reaching the threshold with JavaScript where it's starting to click, but I really feel that this course is strong, to say the least. She spends ample time on each topic, breaking it down and asking questions from the attendees, probing deeper into the reasoning behind different concepts. There are a ton of exercises that are quick, but some up the gist of the point she's trying to convey.
In my last couple of posts, I talked about how I've embraced a different angle to my learning journey. Up until this point, I've been in a rush to get through as many courses as I can, without spending much time contemplating and going deeper on topics that perplexed me. To a certain extent, this is necessary when learning web development. The amount of topics that a developer is required to have knowledge of is vast, so if you want to be able to check all the boxes, you can't get bogged down on one topic. When first starting out, I think this might be the way to go. Get the full picture, then double back and go deep, which is exactly what I've done. Now is the time to dive deep, and I don't think there's a better resource than Frontend Masters, for me at least, to achieve this. As I've said before, FEM is rife with bright minds pushing the developer community forward with excellent instruction.
In other news, I had a short phone interview this afternoon that I was nowhere near qualified for, but I'm still glad I did it. Actually, if I was qualified, I think I would have done really well in the interview. I was relaxed and articulate, which isn't always the case when it comes to interviews for me. I actually have another short phone interview tomorrow for a job that would fit much better with my current knowledge level. Hopefully, I can do as well with that one as I did today and gain a second, more serious interview. I've had a few 15 minute phone interviews now, and they're more difficult than I thought they would be, mainly because it's difficult to sell yourself in a short amount of time when you have no prior experience. I'm learning to tell my story succinctly and to the point, painting the picture that I have a clear passion for web development and a hunger for knowledge. Interviewing is a skill, as is dealing with rejection, both of which I'm learning a lot about!
Until tomorrow!
