The first time I gave up was during the ‘flexbox’ lessons. Everything went over my head and it felt like I was a fool to even believe this is something I could have done.
The second time I gave up was during the ‘survey form’ project. Radio buttons and checkboxes looked simple enough during the lessons but I just couldn’t seem to get them right. Frustration led to procrastination led to never coming back to it.
I gave up twice in the last three years but the optimist in me managed to come back with a new account.
I went through all the lessons again (didn’t take notes - mistake) and started on the projects quickly. The tribute page took a while but wasn’t frustrating. I posted it on the forums to get some feedback and frankly because I was feeling great about this small achievement and wanted to share it with someone. I got valuable feedback from @Roma and more members of the community. Going back to the project and changing things felt too overwhelming so I didn’t, but I kept the feedback in mind for future projects. I understand that as a professional you need to make sure all the details are perfect and work on things as many times as needed to make it right but I knew if I keep pushing myself more than I could handle, I was surely going to give up for the third time. So I figured it’s better to do something than nothing.
The survey form project went fairly smoothly.
The product landing page though! It felt so exhausting to even think about it. I tried to just get the project over with and did the very bare minimum. No HTML or CSS more than what the user stories required. Needless to say, it did not look good. I passed the test and by then I felt so drained by the whole process that I didn’t even look at the next project. However, I learned one very obvious thing that everyone probably already knew. That it’s easier to work with all your HTML elements in place first and then put the content in.
I didn’t log in to camp for over a month after the product landing project. All it took to change that was a friend asking me over mail “hey, how’s the coding thing going?” An hour later I was back at camp, fixing the product landing page.
Technical Documentation the next day and Personal Portfolio page for the two days after.
Here’s my final project:
And, here’s my certificate:
I know I’ve still got a long way to go but I’m very happy with how far I’ve come. I stuck to the course and I can see how much I’ve improved between the last and first project.
I guess what I’m saying is don’t beat yourself up for not learning things immediately or for not making perfect projects. Just do what you can at the moment, there will always be room to improve later.
Taking it slow is okay too