Hi! I am certainly glad I found this community. I am trying to make a career change, and I know it is going to be hard. I am just so tired of bouncing around job to job and finding them very unfulfilling. I’m hoping the problem solving aspect of coding keeps me engaged. I’ve been surfing around here and some discord channels and making a career switch doesn’t seem out of reach.
I also just really appreciate all the information out there and the community surrounding the tech world.
So far I have picked up some main points:
practice every day / just pick and work through a learning path
get on Frontend Mentor
have a github account and figure out what to do with it later
I have trouble not bouncing around all over the web trying to learn things, I’m guessing that that is common … there is just so much information out there … I didn’t even know where to start at first, so I picked up the html course (cat photo app) on freeCodeCamp
If anyone has any pointers or lessons learned for someone that is MAYBE 2-3 months in on learning that would be awesome
As far as learning paths go, I highly recommend the one here in FreeCodeCamp. It goes through a lot of things you need to know so you can actually build the projects on Frontend Mentor.
As for GitHub, that is where all the projects you are proud of or want to keep get uploaded to. Source control is essential for backing up your code. It’s a way of being able to back up your code and restore it to any previous state before a change was made.
I hope this helps you. Best of luck in your career switch!
Hi! I’m also trying to transition into Tech, and I hear you, especially about getting so much information.
It’s been a while since the last reply, how’s coding going?
I just wanted to share that I was initially overwhelmed when I started here at freeCodeCamp. But it was actually working on the certification projects that taught me how to use GitHub, Codepen, and other tools. Now I’ve been getting the hang of it, and like your first main point, I’ve learned how to use fCC to practice everyday.
Hi! I appreciate your reply, reminded me I have bigger goals and ambitions … not just surviving day to day … I had to let my schedule simmer down a bit; now I am getting back in to practicing every night after work.
Happy to hear that the certification projects help you learn the other tools, sometimes I get ahead of myself … haha
Just be sure you have a few constants to keep you grounded.
Bouncing around is fine, even now I still do it. But its important to have one thing you do consistently.
That can be a course, project or language you spend a little time on at least 5 days a week until you meet your goal, such as completing a course, finishing a project, improving your skills with a language.
Have one community you stick with and post on regularly.
When I say community, I don’t mean a forum. Discord or meetups tend to be better.
This gives people time to get to know you, to know what your passions, strengths and weakness are.
Eventually, people will help you fill in any gaps in your knowledge and guide you on your journey.
What are your favorite discord channels? I can’t seem to find any local meetups that are specific to coding or programming, so will probably stick to online communities for now.
I like smaller communities that have a mix of people from around the world, working with a number of languages.
But will only commit to 2-3 at a time. I also leave all alerts on, so I can respond immediately if needed.
To find small Discord communities, I go to YouTube.
Since youtubers are great for gathering together likeminded people heading towards the same goal. And will set up a discord with some project, hackathon, course or game jam in mind.
But there’s only really one Discord I’ve found so far to be a good fit for me.
You can check out the YouTube channel by searching ‘Dev Mentor Dave’.
The link to the discord will be on most videos and live streams.
I’d advise watching some of the YouTube vids first, to see if its something your interested in.
Tho the community’s working on a project together, many members prefer to discussing concepts, review code and answering questions instead of contributing to the project itself.
I’ve been in it for about 6 months, finding it to be welcoming but a little quiet at times.
Happy to help if I did. I also needed to get my momentum going. I’ve been practicing here for a few months now! I managed finish two certifications so far, and I feel like I finally feel like I can actually code haha
I read the other replies here too, and I also haven’t found an offline community myself so I understand wanting to hear some feedback or support like you did here <3
I have a technical background, and would like to get into Data Science. So the first course I finished was the Data Analysis with Python, then tried the HTML/CSS, and now doing Scientific Computing with Python.
The video you put up is one I tried to follow a year ago. But without the course material, its really hard since you cant really practice any of it.
However, Harvard does have a free cs50 online course, which will give you the course material, code, and some extra videos for explaining concepts.
Its the same lecturer with updated course material and is project based giving you some problem sets for each week. Apparently they do it every year.
You’re on the right track with daily practice and focusing on a learning path. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by all the information out there. Stick with freeCodeCamp for now - it’s a great starting point. As you progress, build small projects that interest you. Don’t worry if you struggle; it’s part of the learning process. Remember to take breaks and celebrate small wins. You’ve got this!
Yes, I have circled back to the fCC curriculum. It has my attention now that I listened to the audiobook version of How to Learn to Code and Get a Developer Job
Like you said I need to just going to pick one course to go through at a time until completion
