Goals & Getting Unstuck

You Can Do This!
#1

Hey y’all!

I am a husband, father of a 1 year old, part-time coach who recently found coding 6 months ago. I have never done any this kind of stuff before so it was all new to me. I’ve been doing it mostly as a hobby as I have enjoyed it, but I do believe that I can turn it into a side gig or maybe even a job if I can put enough time and effort into it. So that would be my goal one day! As for what language I want to learn or if I want to be front-end/back-end/full-stack? I’m not sure yet, but I do enjoy learning everything that is in front of me right now.

I have only been using FCC to learn coding and I find myself getting stuck quite a bit on the lessons. After finishing the Responsive Web Design certification (which was difficult at some points), I have moved onto JavaScript. I finished the Basic JavaScript section, but since moving on the ES6 section, I find that I get stuck a whole lot. To me, it feels like I keep missing things or like there are some gaps in the curriculum that I can’t fill in with just the lessons that I have learned, so I feel like it isn’t completely thorough. Are there some resources or other free online camps that I can use that might help me fill in these gaps?

#2

Hi @michaelp91 !

Welcome to the forum!

Since javascript is your first programming language, it is normal to get stuck a lot.

It will take time and practice with projects and coding challenges to start to get comfortable.

Here are some resources you can look into.

Codewars for algorithm practice. Start with the beginner 8kyu level problems.

MDN docs for looking up different array methods, strings, objects, etc.

The modern Javascript Tutorial for more explanations on the topics.

Regex101 for debugging your regular expressions.

#3

Let’s connect this to sports, let’s say basketball or baseball.

So I think most kids know how to walk and run. Small kids walk and run all day long. If you do some running games when you coach, most can do this very well.

I see the Responsive Web Design Cert as something like actual running drills. Not free-running, but real running drills like learning how to move your thighs, where to put your feet etc. Some kids will have problems, but not so many. Some of them already learned how to run, some didn’t.

When you start doing the JavaScript Cert, you will suddenly have to learn something new: throwing. Most kids don’t throw, they push away from the body. And even if they know how to throw, the width and the direction of the throw will be very unreliable. Even most adults don’t have a reliable 3-point shoot (without defender).

#4

Thank you for the resources and for the example! I don’t always think of it as a progression from simple to complicated where it takes more drills to learn. I teach kids that way as a coach so I’ll use that for myself now too! Funny how often things can be like that.