Advice and tips for completing projects?

Advice and tips for completing projects?
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#1

I feel like when I’m going through the lessons I grasp most of the concepts fairly quickly, pass the test, and move onto the next. However, when it comes time to complete a project on my own I usually feel quite lost. Does anyone else feel this way? What’s your process for starting on the project at hand?

I’ve completed the responsive web design section twice - just did it again because of the update. So I’d already built a tribute page and portfolio page. I just finished the survey form. I’ve got the landing page and technical documentation page left. It’s usually that I finish the project and it passes the test(s), I just always think it’s subpar. Should I spend time perfecting things like the survey or just move on if I pass the basic tests?

Thanks for any input!

#2

Hey @lurkaround,
Yes, I felt like I was in the same place a year ago. Reflecting on my past projects, they’re quite poor, and I recently decided to complete FCC from scratch since the update while interning at a company.

To be honest, I’ve found FCC most helpful as a learning path and starting point rather than a primary source. A lot of the exercises are simply injecting relevant bits of code rather than working on one cohesive project, which doesn’t help solidify concepts. I’d suggest pursuing your own projects and ideas in tandem with the FCC curriculum + making multiple versions of your FCC projects. Take your time to learn concepts in depth from your own research so that it’s drilled in memory. Don’t move on until you’re absolutely confident in the material for each section.

It really is all about reinforcement and consistent practice. Similarly to working out, you need to exercise consistently, and while you won’t see immediate results, over time you look back and realize you’re far better than when you started. :slight_smile:

#3

Well, it took me 6 months to start working as a software engineer. Starting from a complete beginner level! I have done lots and lots of tutorials and online courses… but when I was at the point of doing my own project I was lost. Lost a month trying to figure out where to start but let me tell you something. You just HAVE to start somewhere. And FCC gives you the best way to do that. It gives you the project and you just have to find your way around it.

The thing that helped me the most is that I used to see every project like a client. Like I was truly working. And that was it. After a month I got my first job!

You know you can do this. It’s a decision you have to take. Unfortunately nothing comes up doing nothing. If you really want to do this, you have to work hard. If you don’t give a project/job to yourself nobody is going to!

If I can help you in anyway I’ll be glad to!

#4

I had to jump and say I love this bit of advice you gave. I literally just posted a question in my own thread about this. The trouble that I’m having is this:

Let’s say I learned how to do an exercise in JavaScript, I complete the task and then I’m quickly being taught how to do something else without any reenforcement. As a result, I’m going through exercises but nothing is really sticking except for the very basics.

Do you have any recommendations as to how I can put into practice a exercise that You learn here? Sorry if my question is confusing. Thanks!

#5

I think for the responsive web design certificate, you could complete the sections in chunks. Let’s say you build your tribute page the first time. Then build it again but with Flexbox, and then again with CSS Grid, then Bootstrap, etc. Alternatively, you could find some websites you like and pick a page to reverse engineer/build yourself. That’s a fun challenge.

For the JavaScript portion, I’ve made and maintain a personal quick reference guide in Evernote while going through the exercises, which I’ll scan over periodically as a refresher every day or so. If you’re just beginning JavaScript with FCC, it might just be worth flashcards or something, and then eventually you could find a small project to build when you finish the basic JS and feel comfortable enough taking one on (you may want to start trying out IDEs at this point, too). Whenever you learn something relevant to the app, try to add it and reference material as you go.

At the moment I’m building a mobile app in Angular for my internship, so I’m completing the JS part of FCC based on what part of the app I’m coding (i.e. styling a page with SCSS, so I’ll do the sass section, or handling data, so completing the data structures section, etc.). Whatever works for you!

#6

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated!

#7

@Christinakal wow, that’s impressive! Any other tutorials/online courses you’d recommend? How much time did you spend doing courses/tutorials during this 6 months? I’m trying to put in 3+ hours a day.

@bhuffy Thanks a lot for your advice! You saying you view it as a starting point rather than a primary source gives me some reassurance. My routine has basically been go through a course section and then watching a tutorial on how to create a landing page, survey, etc. I then usually try to look at several projects on CodePen along with reading over more documentation - I find W3schools to be really helpful.

I really appreciate all the input from everyone! These courses and learning everything is super fun - I’m glad it comes with such a supportive community on the forum as well!

#8

@lurkaround
I don’t have specific tutorials to suggest to you but I was picking tutorials that were building something. A webpage, an application, a database etc. You’ll fine a lot of them on youtube. Udemy is another great source for courses and you can purchase a course for 10-15$.

Well, I was committed to teach myself how to code like a full time job so, as you can imagine, I was spending lots of hours (maybe 8-9 a day) with many many breaks and walks (remember to do that!). I saw improvement extremely fast. But remember, after a course or a tutorial try to build something similar on your own. And… Search Engines are your best friend!:grinning: