This blog post is to give an idea of how I learnt javascript and my opinion as to the best way to learn javascript ecosystem in 2019.
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*2XHUqRlOw4HU-MqP
Achieve your targets using FreeCodeCamp
What I want to additionally achieve: To get more people to take advantage of FreecodeCamp curriculum. Get more people to support this wonderful organization by donating monthly. If there is anyone whom I was able to influence to do either of the above, please leave a comment today or at a later date. Thank you.
My freecodecamp learning streak.
My background: I am a Computer Science Engineer from IIIT Hyderabad in India and have worked as a programmer in both dev and test roles. I have started my own non-tech based startup and have missed not being in the tech space more than anything. I want to get back with my second startup in the education space.
Why Javascript :
So, what is it that helps build amazing things and I need not wait a long time to see results — Websites, Apps can be built with Javascript.
After browsing and reading, I decided I need to learn Javascript and its ecosystem as a first.
How I learned Javascript:
I am used to picking up new technologies by learning just the basic things needed. When I initially did vanilla javascript it seemed so similar in syntax to Java.
With that thought, I started off my first project — mentoring platform. A platform where users register as either mentor or mentees. Administrator can assign mentees to mentors and start a mentorship. Later mentors can call a finish to a mentorship with their comments etc. An administrator can view the overall happenings using a dashboard built using D3.
Jan 2018 — I started off with the mentoring website. I wanted to fuse an existing HTML template with a backend and was looking for some example which will help me do so. After a lot of unsuccessful days, I came across Sahat’s boilerplate. I picked it up and thankfully kept at making it work. It did not work for me out of the box but after a few days of struggle, it worked. Then I revised a little bit of CSS, HTML from W3schools and kept modifying an existing template to get what I wanted.
I was able to get google sign in, the profile of the logged in user as an MVP. I used Amazon web services to host my website. It felt great and doable after hitting the right help.
I did not understand many parts of the code in the current system but I kept at it.
Issues Encountered:
Now came the issue, the places where java and javascript differed. The Asynchronous nature of Node.js. I wanted to do some simple things and I would hit my head to no end with the async issues. The examples to explain async are all over the place. Because there was Promises library, there were promises .there was an async library in ES6. It was with these tasks I felt the need to learn the advanced javascript.
I kept at it and understood how async worked and closures worked. Time and again, because of my earlier experiences, I would find the need to go back to things where javascript was different. I had to unlearn what I knew to think like a javascript developer.
I read an article then, which said all the problems in various enterprises were because the developers did not learn javascript and were just using it by learning bits n pieces. Unfortunately, I lost the link to the article. But this made me strong in my thought to learn javascript using a course.
At that time, I was wondering what to pick up should it be Angular or react. This was in Mar 2018. My research led me to believe it should be Angular. I saw that FreeCodeCamp curriculum had React and so I thought maybe not this one.
Interruptions /Distractions!
Then came the interruptions 
My kids holidays. Then I decided to start blogging whatever bits were a little tricky for me with code. I started doing so on medium and it was great. So blogging bug also bit me Now this also was in my queue of things to learn n do. How to setup the github pages etc. etc.
There was plus to this. I started getting interview calls and views for my posts. Both things stand to prove that what I am doing is current and is what the companies are looking for.
This is good as the next startup will be in education space and the things I master, better be in the hot space!
One thing led to another and in Sep, I decided to do FreecodeCamp curriculum and get certified. Luckily by the time, I was to do the React certificate, research showed learning react was better than angular. Yeah, all these distractions helped 
So one after other I finished 3 certifications and took a break to finish additional features in the mentoring platform. I started to see my learnings pay off as I was able to code faster. Later came back to finish the rest.
The curriculum is well thought of, the exercises are good and definitely need to be done to strengthen your learning.
End Result :
I have spent a year in the javascript ecosystem. I have built a fully functional website from start to end while taking care of running it, hosting it etc and have received my Fullstack developer certificate from FreecodeCamp.
All this while I spend at least 10 hours time exclusively with my kids every day. So I am absolutely thrilled to have come across FreecodeCamp and have found an idol in Quincy Larson.
What you should do? (My opinion)
If you are starting out to learn javascript, then take up one side project. Define the features you would want in it. Then get going on side project along with Freecodecamp. It would take less time and also give you the confidence that you are applying your learning and see the results. Based on your earlier programming experience or if you are starting new the time taken will differ.
That’s it!!
In the end, if you like my article or it has helped you take that leap of faith to spend time doing freecodecamp do consider supporting for the cause.
