How do you guys get out of a rut?

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@cptmacaroni, I sometimes feel the same way. When I was making my portfolio page, I almost thought I was in a rut also. Using some supreme googling skills, I came across a few cool examples of portfolio pages like these:

I tried to mimic them, using Bootstrap. One of my favorite features of bootstrap is their “Jumbotron” feature:

It looks really minimalistic, and it is easy to setup. My ending portfolio page used the Jumbotron, and fit everything inside of it. Here is my portfolio page for reference:

On another spectrum, the mental side. To commit to coding is one thing. To work to finish coding is another. Whenever I am stuck in a rut, I take the rest of the day off coding. The next day, I wake up feeling refreshed, and I find answers to problems that I never even thought of before!

Also, what @njanne19 said was brilliant!

A whiteboard is a great way to sketch out your ideas! Paper is also a great way also. Before I code anything in JavaScript (This could work with your idea in HTML), I always sketch it out on paper! One of my drawings usually look like this:

Sample Portfolio.png3350×1336 208 KB

This design was not made on paper but was in fact made in Microsoft Paint with my sister’s drawing tablet. This is an alternative to paper and a whiteboard.

If you can’t read my handwriting, I apologize, as it is really messy :P.

I wish you luck on your coding journey, and I hope to see you working alongside other campers in the near future!
Happy Coding! :slight_smile:

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Uh huh.

Tell us, did that Udemy course teach you how to be salty and unprofessional, or is this just an unfortunate quirk of your personality? I’m sorry that FreeCodeCamp hurt your feelings, but instead of discouraging people from completing the course you could channel that pain into contributing to the project yourself. You would certainly have more of a positive impact because - and I’m sorry to be the one to tell you - pushing students away from a free, open source, and completely self-paced online course and towards some paid videos doesn’t exactly make you a hero. Since you’re literally brimming to the lid with compassion, I’m sure you’ll have no trouble deciding how to best direct your energies.

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Wow…this is quite exciting stuff to read at 6am! I need to get myself a cup of coffee and settle in before I continue with some thoughts here…

Okay back! Well, firstly, I’ll say its kind of unfortunate geekysmurfs post was flagged for deletion…its just an opinion, and while I don’t agree with it at all, it does offer some insight to an alternative train of thought. Super happy you quoted it @anon52159105 cause if someone just told me what the first post was to get up to speed to understand what sparked the convo after it, I wouldnt have believed it lol

Anyway, its not FCC that is frustrating…its the material. Coding is hard. Its confusing. Did I mention its frustrating? Oh, and its hard :laughing: . Its perfectly normal to struggle. If coding were so easy, there would not be a demand for programmers and the pay would suck. But that’s not the case…not only is the tech field desperate for developers, its desperate for good developers and the process of becoming one is a hot topic

Those out of college with a degree have learned the science, the math and the concepts but generally only “tap the table” on different languages while being taught just enough of a lower level language to complete the courses… Actually learning the languages and frameworks they need to know to compete in the job market is something they will have to do on their own time.

Those coming out of a bootcamp where they are promised to learn everything they need to know in 12 weeks to get a high paying job…well, theres a bit of half and half there. its intense…theres a lot to pack into 12 weeks to become job ready. So much that many employers are a bit cautious… Lots of debate as to whether or not to even admit one took a bootcamp on a resume.

Self learners are on their own self-guided, self-paced path by finding many different resources to learn from with the freedom to use whatever they find interesting. And there’s so much to choose from…no secret there. A downfall is without a defined path, its easy to get side-tracked and suffer set-backs… Still, it takes a certain kind of drive, tenacity and passion to learn and reach that point where you can compete with those with formal training which is something employers do like to see.

Then theres geekysmurfs recommended path to take one course from one source for 2 - 3 weeks and know everything to get a job in development and start your own business… I decided to explore the possibilities and googled learning development in 3 weeks. Nothing but stuff about pregnancy and babies. Okay, so I tried learn web development in 3 weeks and found something! Well…one thing… This guy learned web development in 5 days by watching 12 YouTube videos. For kicks, I googled learn web development with hypnosis, cause hey, why not?! :joy: Right up top are Udemy courses to learn hypnosis! So Im really feeling good about where Im going with my train of thought here to take things just one step further to learn web development and acquire a demanding high paying job with no time and with no effort!

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere. Frank A. Clark

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Funniest line ever!

googled learning development in 3 weeks. Nothing but stuff about pregnancy and babies

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Also re GeekySmurf’s advice/blatant shilling, he advertises he has ~8 years of IT/dev/web dev/design education soooo maybe take the “I got a job by just doing this Udemy course” advice with a pinch of salt.

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Ahhh!!! Interesting… so the whole I got a job after just one 3 week course that “will walk you through front-end all the way to the back-end” thing is more than a bit misleading…

Another thing to note…I found that did not actually get a job, that’s not something he’s interested in doing… what he meant is he started freelancing and got his first client 3 months after he completed the Udemy course. Nothing wrong with freelancing of course…thats what Ive been doing for years now and its a pretty awesome gig indeed.

However, to say he got a job which implies hireability as opposed to saying he started freelancing is rather misleading…along with of course leaving out the bit about already having years of education and experience before the course, which is a pretty big bit to leave out.

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FreeCodeCamp does something that not many others do. They throw you in the deep end, and they expect you to learn your way out. I respect that. They do help you for a while and teach you the basics, but before you know it you have to be self-motivated and you have to work with an ideal in mind. It’s helped me grow, and it definitely has accelerated my learning by testing me on how I can apply myself to abstract ideas rather than being told:

First write this, then write this, then write this.

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and then …

Hmmm. Wow. What color is the sky in your world?

Look, if you don’t like fCC, then I’d suggest maybe hanging out in the fCC forum maybe is a little disingenuous.

People come to this forum because they want support on fCCs program. It is (so far) and amazingly troll free environment. If you want to contribute to the group them please do. But if you want to disparage the program and shill your personal favorites, then maybe this isn’t the place for you.

That being said, different people learn differently. Yes, I get a little frustrated with fCC sometimes in that we don’t always get what we need. But I also recognize that that is a good thing. On a job, the boss isn’t going to say, “OK, here’s what I need you to do and you’re going to need these libraries and these frameworks, and here’s the API for the microservice you’re going to have to build, and here’s 10.5 hours of videos of someone explaining exactly what you need to know.” No, all too often it’s going to be someone that knows little to nothing about the internet who tells you to do something and you have to figure out what exactly s/he wants, if it is even possible, how it could be done, and teach yourself those technologies. Personally I’ve grown to like fCC’s approach. Even if it is frustrating at times.

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I strongly disagree with everything you say, Free Code Camp is a great resource, both for the chat and freecodecamp.org. Is it a one stop shop? No, but what is? One of the most important attributes of a developer is resourcefulness. A lot of these sites and courses are “hand holding courses” but FCC is not that by any means and thats what I love about it. Also FCC gives u the opportunity to do non-profit work which allows you to build ur portfolio and get experience. As a previous technical recruiter, I can tell you that this alone is so valuable in the job search. Finally, my favorite part of FCC is the gitter chat. It is always active with tons of people there and willing to help, where else can you find a live help like this with out having to fork out a bunch of money? I think it was a little tacky to promote some other course on here but thats alright. Also you seem surprised by some of the back lash from the community. That is because FCC actually has a large community, can you say the same about that course ur promoting? Probably not. Good luck to you!

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It’s because the user is going into a ton of threads and trying to discourage new users. This is a pattern, it’s not him being helpful but to accomplish his goal of making people quit freeCodeCamp and buy a Udemy Course (I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a referral link and he’s making money off of this).

You can’t possibly become a web developer in 5 days, it takes time and work. You have to apply yourself to become .a web developer, it won’t be easy, but it’ll be rewarding.

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Oh too serious a reply! I do hope you could tell from my reaction to then look up hypnosis to bypass learning anything whatsoever that I was completely amused by the whole idea and do not take it seriously at all that guy learned web dev in 5 days…hes right up there with geeksmurf suggesting its possible to learn web dev in 2-3 weeks and get a job :laughing:

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I think there’s some valuable advice in here, but this thread has deviated from its purpose so I’m going to unlist it for now.

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That’s understandable. Though let’s focus on ways to help the op of the thread get through the initial frustrations. What recommendations do you have for @cptmacaroni to get through the frustration and complete the project?

EDIT:

Opps didn’t see your response I assume we shouldn’t reply further at this point.

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Check above…I’ve contributed a few times actually answering the OP’s questions and concerns…

I’m just not of the everything has to be serious camp… I think actually for someone trying to learn to know that quite the contrary, you absolutely cannot take someone serious who says they became a professional web developer after 5 days of study, or 3 weeks of study, or anything similar.

Coding. Is. Hard. And I would hate for anyone who is struggling, feeling stuck, trying to find motivation to see someone say, oh its easy you are just using the wrong site, just do this site and in 3 weeks you can go get a job!! That’s setting people up for failure, because that is not the reality for anyone. And if they follow that advice, 3 weeks and one course later they will feel worse than they did to start with, because on top of being frustrated, they put unreasonable expectations onto themselves.

So yeah, away with all of that…see someone talking crazy talk? Its okay to laugh and not take it seriously…There are more important things to take seriously…like data structure and algorithms lol sigh And yea side note…telling me where I should focus and what I should be posting is a tough road. Im fine with it if you dont see any value in what I post…someone else may…

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If we’re hiding this thread for the sake of the bad posts, would it be appropriate to split them off into a new thread that’s unlisted, or just delete them? Like you said, there’s good advice here, and I’d hate to have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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