I'm Out Here
After a couple more hours of work on Maximilian Schwarzmuller's "VueJS 2: The Complete Guide," I can say that I've finished up his 22-hour course in just over a week! This was a great beginner-level tutorial on Vue, and by the end of it, he really covered a lot of ground. He has a really good teaching style, relying heavily on coding examples and building samples to illustrate the concept that he is currently dealing with. I would highly recommend this course to anyone looking to gain a firm grasp on Vue and set off on their own. I still require more training, no doubt. I think I will always require more training; that's just the way web development works, and the main reason why I'm so in love with it. It's a never-ending learning journey with new frontiers popping up every day. The Vue ecosystem is still very young, which is good and bad. It's good because I could become one of the best developers in Vue without having to do too much catching up. I might not have to spend the next 5 to 10 years just getting to where everyone else is now; I could be there in a year or 2, for sure. The bad side is that there really aren't a ton of resources when trying to find the answers that you need. Luckily, Vue doesn't seem to be nearly as complex as React does, so this shouldn't pose as many problems as it would with React.
After getting through about 40 minutes of the tutorial recommended to me by the guy I'm meeting with tomorrow, I decided the best way to learn this stuff is just to start making something. It will be a struggle, but the struggle is how you learn. I've now started the project using the Vue-CLI and the graphical user interface to add some plugins, like Vuetify and Axios. It's configured now, which is great, but now what? I have a general idea of what the components will be at this point, but now I have to figure out how to connect with Axios, grab the data that I need, and render that data on my app. It's actually not that complicated, but I'm still struggling with putting the code on the screen. I think I have to just start small and build it up. I can start with making the components that I need. From there, I can use Axios to call that data, and then connect that to the template. After that, I have to figure out how to configure a search component, and then connect that with the API, thus calling on data from Marvel to render cards of what I need. That may not make any sense to you; I think I just needed to write that to map out what exactly I'm trying to do. Sorry.
As mentioned, I'm meeting up with a local Vue developer tomorrow night to talk about some things. He's been in the business for a few years now, and I have a lot I can learn from him. I don't know if he has the time to mentor me, nor do I know if he would be a good fit for me in this respect, but I really need somebody that can help me navigate the rough waters ahead. So far, he's been more than willing to talk with me and help me find some resources. I would love his input on my personal project, and how I can make it awesome. I want this project to be the cornerstone of my portfolio and something I can show off to potential employers. These code-along projects are great for learning, but as far as showing that you can do the work, I think they fall short. At the end of the day, I'm still just copying code from somebody else. I should have some new information to work with after that meeting!
Until tomorrow!
