So, this was day 3 of FCC. I got my first Cert in 2 days (21 hrs total) - no sweat. Then i got to the Basic Javascript: Record Collection Challenge and spent 4 hours trying and failing. I looked up stuff, read the hint, and really tried to understand it. Is this normal for a non-project? should i have spent so much time on it?
info: I’ve completed Colt Steele’s Web Dev Bootcamp (udemy) and livestreamed it on my youtube channel “Watch Me Blog” and I am livestreaming myself complete FCC (heres a medium article i wrote announcing it.
So, back to my question…should i have spent so much time on it? thanks for reading.
It takes as long as it takes, so yes if you needed 4 hours then spending 4 hours was the right call. People get stumped on different topics. There are certain types of problems that our experience has prepared us to understand and know how to solve. Others take a lot of work just to wrap your head around.
4 Hours is nothing to worrie about. Sometimes even professionals have a “bad” day and spend hours on something that would’ve taken them only a couple of minutes on a “good” day. I’m just saying that there are many factors which can influence your productivity or the time it takes for you to fully grasp a new concept. There will be days in your career where you’ll be debugging an issue for many hours (or even days) without finding the solution. Only to see a colleague fix it within 10 minutes.
This is all very normal. Luckily, as your knowledge and experience grows, it’ll happen less and less frequently over time.
Short answer - YES. Some of these will take more time.
Logic problems introduced in the Javascript section can be more challenging than previous sections. These cannot be solved by simply demonstrating that you understand the example code provided. Things like order of operations and handling all possible cases becomes more important.
When you reach the algorithm scripting sections you will hit an even bigger speed bump.
This slowdown is a bit of a change if you’re used to seeing that check mark every few minutes. (I kind of went through check mark withdrawal - FCC had quickly become like an addictive computer game to me.) I can only recommend that you take your time here and resist the urge to find a quick answer just so you can move on. Developing problem solving skills will be valuable long after the rush of rapid progress has faded.
This is probably a good place in the challenges to develop some go-to resources. Going back to past challenges to recall forgotten details will become tedious. I like MDN for a general front end reference.
Some of the math algorithm problems will possibly require a bit of online research beyond FCC’s borders too.
Thanks everyone! its good to know that its a normal thing. I had another slow day today, but I’m ok with it because i really feel like i’m learning through the struggle. thanks again!
As everyone said above, getting stuck is all part of learning. The key thing to take away is the experience that comes with grinding against a problem for 4 hours. There is usually only 1 way to solve a problem, and infinite ways to screw it up. The more “screw ups” you explore, the more likely you know in the future. I’m sure in those 4 hours you learned a lot more than if you got it right the first time.
The key part of FCC is the grind, and what you gain with it. It’s not the certs, don’t let the “gamification” of learning overcome the actual value of learning. Glad to hear you eventually figured it out on your own.
