Hello all, I’m looking for the best advice on how to learn everything in FreeCodeCamp. What you all suggest is the best way to study this, how often do you suggest i practice? or how often do i go back over lessons too?
should i do more than going through Freecodecamp and do extra work on the side?
Start at the beginning and work your way through at your own pace.
It can be a good idea to do at least a little bit everyday. There’s a concept of "No zero days:
https://lifehacker.com/work/get-rid-of-zero-days-to-be-more-productive But it’s good to have sprint periods as well when you can get a lot done and get your head deep into the material.
I would not suggest going back over lessons, it’s not necessary. You won’t remember everything but you should instead do an Internet search for other resources to refresh your memory on how to do a particular task. You’ll find other sites with different explanations which might work better for you. Doing research on other sites should be a regular part of your learning.
I think the freecodecamp curriculum is good enough that you don’t need to do anything extra on the side. That said, if there’s something you find interesting, like data analysis for example, I think it’s good to follow your interest and pursue more of that content elsewhere (SoloLearn or udemy maybe).
I am new to coding myself. Well mostly new. I have dabbled in a little SQL in my old job. I have a smattering of python which I am learning through pcep course.
One thing I see consistently is the advice given above.
Practice everyday, repetition and keep trying.
Often using another source or asking in the community is a great resources.
But like the help page states. Read, search ask. Then post In the forum.
A good source of information I used when I get stuck is w3schools to clarify Syntax and usage.
However the course material here is absolutely amazing and the community is brilliant.
But also don’t rush the exercises. Take your time and re, maybe once, twice or three times. Make sure you understand the instructions given. Quite often the question will be the answer you need.
I hope this helps.
I’m new to this as well. I find the material incredibly easy to work through. I would say do it every day or almost every day. I would also recommend taking notes. My notes are generally extensive so I can be sure to find the information that I need when I need to reference something. Plus, writing it down helps me retain the information much easier and quicker than reading it over and over. Keep at it. You got this.
That is great advice joey.
Although after a few times have you found that it becomes fairly intuitive and you recall code. Have you found that yet?
Please check below suggestions to become job ready in optimum time possible
Getting hands dirty each day by coding, debugging, building and meantime building your coding mind muscles is the only optimum way to build confidence and be job ready from my learning experiences.
All the very best
Definitely. I find myself writing less and less as I go. If I get hung up on something that I’ve already learned I take all of the notes for the section that I am stuck on including what the correct code looks like. In my opinion that means that I haven’t beat it into my head enough.
If I do know how to do it without needing the instructions in the step I just make a quick note on what I did. For example: “Step 83 Change the 3rd maker to blue like you did the other two”
That way when something stupid happens like when I deleted code on accident about an hour ago, I can quickly find the step that covered this and get it fixed.
you can also use the reset button, it brings back the code to the start of the current step
That is great advice Vikram.
Building muscle memory is a great way to go.
If you’re just starting out like myself, don’t stress yourself much or overcomplicate things. Just code along for a while.
But as you put in the effort, willing to invest some more of your time, definitely, you have to do some extra work on the side if you want it all to sink in and not just being dependent on what’s being spoon-fed in front of you at the risk of forgetting much of it all after.
Below are just some 8 tips I’d like to share while going through the tutorials:
1. Preview, question, and conquer:
Before diving into a tutorial, there’s a sneak peek at what’s coming up. Ask yourself, “What do I want to know out of this?” and “What’s the point of this?”, “How do I achieve that?” etc. Be curious.
2. Don’t be a tutorial zombie:
Don’t just follow the steps like a robot. Take a pause, think about what’s happening, and ask yourself, “Why is this working?” or “Why isn’t this working?” Tweak things around and see what happens.
3. Spoiler alert: Understanding > Finishing:
Don’t just rush to finish a tutorial for the sake of finishing the tutorial. Take your time to actually understand what’s going on.
4. Try walking it yourself:
If you think you can do it, try ‘walking’ or implementing the steps ahead on your own before going along with the official steps. Then, compare your work with the tutorial and see how you did.
5. (Very Important) Reference, reference, reference:
Look up references like the MDN Web Docs to clear up any confusion/questions you have on HTML/CSS/JavaScript etc. for example. And if you want also to deepen your understanding on the topics. Do similar to other topics in the curriculum. Even seasoned developers look up references while working on their actual projects.
6. (Optional) Re-implement:
If you like it and you got time, you can always go back to tutorials (you learned some days or weeks ago NOT immediately after finishing them) and see if you can re-implement them by yourself. You’ll be surprised to know how much, or little was actually retained and what needs reviewing.
7. You Really Need Some Notes (One way or the other):
Do not write down everything (you have manuals, docs, api references for that) only high-level concepts, what you’ve learned and the answers to your queries at the start of the tutorial, and any unanswered questions after that. Refer back later. Make connections. Draw diagrams. Maybe some ideas you want to work on. Also, maybe some of those pesky APIs, syntax, functions, etc. and other hard-to-remember things.
(Optional) You may use flashcards or any other Spaced-Repetition-System apps you know of as a complement in your studies for some targeted mission-critical knowledge retention and reviewing hard to remember concepts etc. say on weekends (or at night) or if you have one upcoming certification exams yourself.
Though, must warn you, just like taking notes, do not to SRS everything you learned, or you end up reviewing more instead of doing actual coding. Keep it at minimum of 20-30 minutes each day if you can.
The point is to be able to keep coding every day and create something more than trying to remember everything and limiting yourself to the dogma of the tutorials you’ve learned.
8. (Optional) Keep a local copy of the finished tutorial in your system.
You may want to modify and improve the tutorials, make boilerplates off of them for some of your ideas to practice later on.