Hi, everyone my name is Tim, and I’m very new to all this. I did automobile collision repair for 35 years. In 2024 I bought into a local hobby business which I manage and co-own. The store didn’t have a website at the time and I knew it needed one. I hired a development group to build it for me, which was an exercise in frustration. The website is up and I manage it but want to learn more about how to make it better and easier to manage. I also want to learn coding because I’m hoping to be able to make money remotely part time so that I can retire someday.
That being said., I have completed the HTML portion of the curriculum and started the CSS. I haven’t really practiced writing code in any other way. I’ve had chat gpt give me some tests and I don’t do too well. I’ve spent a couple of hours in the morning and evening nearly every day for over a month working on this. I just have to wonder if I can make something of this or if I’m just wasting my time.
You’re not wasting your time at all. In fact you have come to the right place. Work through the curriculum. Take your time with the topics to really understand. Relying on chat gpt is not a good idea. You have your own website to work on so you have an advantage over many of us. If you have any coding questions just put them in the forum.
I’ve been finding more and more as I get older that some things take a while to “click.” I got through the HTML, CSS, and JS parts of the course pretty easily. However, a bunch of times, I thought, “Man, this is sure a bass-ackwards way to do things. No wonder people use tools to abstract away a lot of this.” Then it got to React and man, that absolutely does not “click” for me. I’ll go back to that whole course section in a couple of weeks, hoping that it makes more sense on a second look.
TL;DR there’s value here, but the forums are part of the value. Use them a lot!
Programming isn’t something to make quick cash, it’s a complicated art. It’s hard to land anything with your current stack. However, if you’re more invested in the art, you’d require more than what you have.
First off — you’re definitely not wasting your time. What you’ve already done (committing hours daily for a month, finishing HTML and starting CSS, getting your first site online) is exactly how every developer starts. Nobody does well on tests in the beginning — it’s like trying to fix a car after only a month in trade school. Practice builds confidence.
A few thoughts to keep you motivated and moving forward:
Practice > Memorization
Don’t worry if tests feel hard. Instead, build small things. Take your store’s website and add little improvements: a styled button, a new page layout, a product grid. Each win gives you more skill than a quiz ever could.
Think of coding like auto repair
You didn’t become an expert mechanic in a month. It took years of hands-on practice. Web development is the same — you learn by trying, messing up, and fixing. You already know how to troubleshoot and solve problems, which is half the battle.
Progress takes time
After 1–2 months, it’s normal to feel like you’re “not getting it.” But after 6–12 months of consistent practice, things start clicking. You’ll look back and be amazed at how much you’ve learned.
Next steps
Keep practicing CSS — make small styling changes daily.
When you’re comfortable, move into JavaScript (it will unlock interactivity).
Use your store site as a playground — that gives you real-world motivation and results.
I have dabbled a little here and there for minor website edits with html and css. That’s really about it. So far in 2 days, I have made it to step 79 of 228 in the HTML part of the certified full-stack developer curriculum. Sometimes taking a little break and then getting back in can help if you been at it a while. Good luck with learning.
First off: huge respect for diving into something completely new after a long career. That takes real courage and curiosity. The fact that you’re studying consistently every day already puts you ahead of most people who start.
You’re absolutely not wasting your time!! Everyone struggles at the beginning; coding feels abstract until it suddenly clicks. Keep building tiny things and celebrate those small wins. They stack up faster than you think.
You’ve already proven you can manage a business, that same persistence will serve you well in coding, too. You’ve got this!
