How are you guys dealing with information overload

#1

Hey there, I’m on module 3 of the responsive web design certification. It seems like we’ve covered a million different properties, types of tags, types of classes etc. How do you guys deal with the information overload? I keep thinking there is no way any of this will stick by the time I have to do the project, and I will end up looking back at the curriculum for each aspect of the project I have to code. Perhaps this is normal?? Maybe we are not meant to absorb everything in the curriculum? I have heard nothing but good things about the program, so I am not losing faith but i can’t help but think sometimes that i’m just throwing fecal matter at the wall, hoping some will stick.

Thanks for any advice, fellow campers :wink:

#2

Just like building one big castle it goes brick by brick

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#3

totally normal! and if finding the topic you want to review in the curriculum is taking too much time, you can google it

any developer will often consult the documentation on the language they are using

some people find useful taking notes to retain the basic syntax and fondamental concepts, you don’t need to if you don’t want, you can always google it

you will memorise the things you use most often, and the real learning part is the projects, right now you are getting familiar with the syntax, and what is it possible to do

the curriculum anyway touch only on a small part of everything, so at one point you will need to find other sources to do different things

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#4

when i started the curriculum last yr there was just the web design part iirc, i’m not entirely sure. eventually when i picked it up again this yr and actually got to work on the projects section, i forgot a lot of it and had to look back on most of the material from fCC and/or google it

also i was kinda skipping around the different learning areas since i noticed fCC pumped up all the teaching content from that last time i had been active on this site and figured it was best to go work on the projects for that area (the one i actually completed ‘challenges’ in) as opposed to jumping from section to section (to learn a bit on data viz or JavaScript) and working on the projects later

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#5

This is comforting, thank you! And now back to the grind.

#6

It’s normal to feel like you won’t retain any of it. FCC does a wonderful job of trying to help you retain information via the challenges.

That’s one thing that will help you retain the information. Building side projects help as well. And FCC, while it certainly can be your only resource, likely shouldn’t be your only resource for learning. With HTML/CSS, I started with FCC but retained the most information from a Colt Steele course on Udemy. With JS, I started with Colt’s course, but learned the most/retained the most with FCC. With React (Front End Libraries), I started with a course by Stephen Grider on Udemy and retained most of the knowledge, building a couple of side apps. But I came back to FCC to freshen up and solidify the knowledge, as well as get more practical experience via the projects.

The point is, there are a ton of resources on the web. FCC is a great one, but also supplement what you learn here with material from other sources (or vice versa). Good luck!

#7

You won’t remember everything and you don’t have to. You will quickly learn the value of searching and documentation.

Learning something new is hard, coding is no exception. There is a bit of a psychological disconnect between the way memory works and how you feel it should work. You might feel like you should remember something, but your brain doesn’t give much of a hoot about that.

Even something as seemingly passive as sleeping will help you learn, but you won’t take a conscious part in this learning. So you might feel like 8 hours of sleep is a waste of time when in fact it is vital time spent forming new neural pathways. That got a bit highbrow, TLDR; it takes time.

#8

I’m bilingual, I learned Mandarin in my early 20s and I can tell you I know this feeling very well. How am I going to remember all that!?
The key is to put it in practice, with a second language the most you speak those words the quicker you will remember them in conversation. The same goes for coding. The more you code the more you will remember all these handy tools.
And for the record, you don’t have to remember EVERYTHING to make a good website. A lot of tools are just time savers. So if you forget the tool, you can use the longer way to fix the problem.

Let’s say you forget the word “roasted” So instead you say “Cooked over a fire”
我祝你好运哥们儿

#9

As they say, how does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

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#10