A Welcome Distraction

Just because I've become a professional Software Developer doesn't mean my time at home studying has changed at all. In fact, I feel that I've been reinvigorated and have more direction for my study time. Instead of just endlessly learning whatever I possibly can, I have specific things that will make my daily work life much more manageable. The app I'm working on right now is in React, so it's always good to study React and get as good as I possibly can. At the same time, we use a SQL database, ASP.net on the backend, some vanilla JavaScript on the frontend and some PHP with Laravel. So, all of these skills are important to develop as well, some more than others. I won't necessarily be using ASP.net directly, but I will be interacting with the backend from time to time, and it would be good to have an understanding of this. Who knows, maybe my next position will have more of a focus on it, so this could be a valuable skill to develop. I will be interacting with the SQL database a little more often than the backend, so it will become more important to understand this language more clearly, and I think this could definitely be a valuable skill in the future. SQL and other similar languages, like mySQL, postgreSQL, and others are all hot and will remain so in years to come. PHP and Laravel, on the other hand, don't seem to be as common in the workplace, at least for what I'm focusing on. It could make my daily work a little easier, but I don't think it's something I will spend too much time studying.

Before I started my job, I started a course by Andrew Mead, The Modern JavaScript Bootcamp on Udemy. This course has taken quite a while to finish, as it was about 30 hours long and I spent a lot of nights studying things that pertained to my daily work to try and get the first project I was assigned done. I just finished up this course this afternoon, and it was phenomenal. I just added up all of the hours of coursework I've taken specifically on JavaScript, and I'm now at 145 hours of coursework, so this certainly wasn't my introduction to the language. Some of the material in this course was meant for the beginner, in fact the first third of the class was taught on a very basic level for the language. After that, though, I learned so much. If this was the first time I had been exposed to some of these concepts, I could imagine that some of this stuff would have gotten a little overwhelming. It was difficult as it was to keep up even with the amount of coursework I've taken to this point. That's not to say that Andrew taught this course at too much of an advanced level; I think his teaching style is one of the best I've come across, and highly tout his courses. He's definitely made it into my top 3 instructors, now being Will Sentance, him, and Stephen Grider. Close behind them is Colt Steele.

This leaves me with the question of what is next. I've come to this decision many times now, and it's a more difficult decision than you would think. I try to finish whatever I start; in fact, the only course I gave up on was the 2nd course I took, one by Colt Steele where I felt like the material was going way over my head. Beyond that, I've made a commitment to every course and seen them through all the way. That means that, whatever decision I come to, I will be immersed in that course for at least the next week or two, and maybe longer. If I make a bad decision, I might be stuck in a course that I'm not motivated to get to work on, making my daily perseverance much more difficult. To add to that pressure, but in a good way, my company is willing to pay for any kind of training I get, so if I come to them with a certificate of completion, they will pay for the course. Udemy courses are not a huge investment, but it would be nice to show them I'm studying on my own and get credit for that. The other day, I took the list of topics I need to be focusing on and did a search on Udemy for courses pertaining to these topics. I came up with about 13 courses on the subjects of TypeScript, React, React Native, C#, SQL, PHP/Laravel, JavaScript, and CSS. Since I'm currently immersed in the world of React, and it would have an immediate impact on my daily work, I'm leaning towards Stephen Grider's Advanced React and Redux course, of which I've already taken the prequel. I haven't made a final decision, but I think this is probably going to be it.

Until tomorrow!