Learning how much I don't know

Progressing through Andrei Neagoie's "Advanced JavaScript Concepts," I'm finding out I have a massive knowledge gap when it comes to JavaScript in almost every facet of the language. I'm remembering a lot of stuff I learned before I got going on frameworks like React and Vue, but I'm starting to realize how much further I should have gone with it. I think it was smart to start learning React when I did; I've created a ton of projects that just wouldn't have been possible without moving into this realm. I needed to get some tangible projects on Github and deployed to showcase for employers, so I believe this was necessary at the time. I also learned what areas of JavaScript are more important than others for what I want to do. However, I've spent a lot of time just copying code without a full understanding of what I was doing because my JavaScript knowledge base was weak. For the most part, I could read and understand what I was writing, but I could never manipulate it for my own use because of this limitation.

I'm about a third of the way through this course, and I've already learned a lot. I've also come across some topics that are still baffling to me in this course. I said yesterday my plan was to complete this course, circle back to the React course I was nearly finished with from Udemy, and then move on to Frontend Masters. This is still my plan, but there are a lot of different paths I could take within Frontend Masters. I could skip the beginner courses and move to the next level up or I could focus on one specific technology, like React or JavaScript. I think the best plan for me is to start from the beginning, though. The beginner courses are about 40 hours in totality, so this isn't a huge investment of time, but I think there will be some information in those courses that I've missed or need to revisit. These courses will include CSS, JavaScript, and some other odds and ends from a basic level. There will be some overlap from other courses, I'm sure, but it's always good to hear something taught from a different perspective. From there, I'll take the Professional path, then the Expert path, then start specializing with the React path, NodeJS path, and CSS path. This will be a ton of content, and I think it will do what Udemy did for me a couple of months ago: take me to the next level. Before Udemy, I was struggling to learn what I needed to learn, but now that I have the foundation in place, it's time to master these skills and go into some depth. I think there are still some courses I'd like to take from Udemy, but at this point, Frontend Masters is going to hold a lot of the keys to my success going forward.

Hopefully, somewhere in the middle of doing all of this, I'll be able to land a job, which will really accelerate my learning curve. Being able to use these skills in the real world with the help of experienced developers willing to lend their time to my advancement will be pivotal to progressing me to the highest levels. I have to remember that I'm still less than 4 months into this lifelong journey. I've learned a lot up until this point and sometimes it feels like I should have a job already. This is a long process that I'm still at the very beginning of. I've landed 2 interviews already, which I think is a huge success, but maybe premature for where I am in my learning process. I'm competing against people who have gone to college for Computer Science or have worked with these technologies for x amount of years; I've been doing this for less than a third of a year. That's nothing, and I have a long way to go.

Until tomorrow!