Is it a good idea to complete 3 curriculums concurrently?

I wanna start to learn front end development. I decided to learn 3 curriculums(Codecademy, Freecodecamp, and The Web Developer Bootcamp by Colt Steele) concurrently. Sometimes, I think, “WOW! I will get a lot more skills than from only one curriculum. I will not feel insufficiency of any information, explanations and exercises from each of them because they will complement each other.” But on the other hand, I think, “It will be too boring to listen and to read the same things many times. And I will waste a lot of time for that.”
And what do you think about that? Should I choose one or complete them all concurrently?

  • WOW! I will get a lot more skills than from only one curriculum. I will not feel insufficiency of any information, explanation and exercises from each of them because they will complement each other.
  • It will be too boring to listen and to read the same things many times. Besides, I will waste a lot of time on that.

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I am going to go with the first option. Yes, you will hear some of the dame things over and over from the three but there’s also a chance that one source will cover something that the other source does not. I personally love colt steele’s courses, I tend to use him before any other instructor on Udemy. The other advantage you get from the three sources is they are all going to use different projects, and problems to help you better learn the material. FCC projects are great, but they arent the only projects out there and the more you do the more the material will stick with you. You can always skip through lessons if you feel like you are hearing the same exact thing , but I personally think its better to not limit yourself to just one source of learning

However, I dont think its the best to do it at the same time. I would focus on one and then see if the other one is providing something that the other isnt. Or, if one source is a struggle for you to learn from then switch to another. I am not sure if its is going to benefit you to do all three at the same time

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Do you think I should complete first one on 100% and after that to start second one?

So, i dont think you should necessarily have the goal of 100% completing all of them. Not everyone learns the same way, or understands topics at the same time. I love FCC but its not going to be for everyone, some people may not find this as a good way to learn for them. So they may go and try Udemy and find much more success. I think you can go through some of the lessons on FCC, some on Udemy, and some on code academy and see which one you think is better for you. If you like two of them then you can go through the lessons on one, and then go back and see how the other presents their curriculum. At the end of the day it is the same information, but some may explain it better than others. You just need to find which one is best for you, and then you can always go to another one if you need to.

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I would first finish one and doing only one until the finish and then start to do the others as you learn higher things in web development

As someone doing just that, It depends on how you use them XD

Having a concept explained in many different ways with different examples can help build understanding…
But following ONE curriculum that is compatible with your learning style is far better

When starting out, I had the misguided belief that using multiple curriculums would give me a better understanding than just one.
I now realise that a curriculum only introduces you to concepts and tools.
It doesn’t ‘teach’ you.

Using multiple curriculums can often feel like being introduced to the same person again and again.
But if you want to get to know that person, you have to spend time with them.

They often use outside resources.
Referring to references and documents in a similar way you would refer to a dictionary.

This means multiple curriculums will point to the same thing, so you get the same thing from one curriculum, as you do from many, without spending extra time.

To really learn something, you have to use the tools or concepts.
Learning is often a series of mistakes you make.

The time spent in an environment, trying to make small projects will teach you more than any curriculum or tutorial ever will.
(look into ‘tutorial hell’ its the same thing as using multiple curriculums)

There are a lot of places out there that will introduce you to the things you want to learn.
Its not a bad thing to try out more than one at the start, to see which suits your learning style.
But once you find one that works, Stick with it.

I use the freeCodeCamp curriculum as my introduction.

I often spend time in the forum reading posts and occasionally answering questions.
(It still surprise me how much I gain from being in a community.)

If I don’t understand something I look for references, documents, and occasionally for visual explanations on YouTube

Most of my time learning is spent working on mini projects.
These projects are always very broken and messy, they are what I use to make my mistakes while I learn.

I use other curriculums for inspiration.
For example ‘The coding Train’ on Youtube and ‘happy coding .io’ both explain a concept with project examples I can try out and expand upon.

One of the worst mistakes I made was trying to follow several curriculums at the same time and trying to keep them at the same place.

Even if a curriculum introduces the same things, its unlikely to introduce them in the same order.
This often means examples that include things you don’t yet understand because you’ve had to jump ahead with one curriculum to keep it inline with another.
It can cause a LOT of confusion, and will set you back.

This does not mean you cant use the resources from another curriculum, just don’t let the curriculum itself tie you down.

At the end of the day your goal is to learn, only you can decide what works for you and what doesn’t. :smiley:

(Edit: Using multiple curriculums can be a bit like consuming a meal, you eat the things you think go together, but you don’t have to finish the meal to be full. Don’t wait until you’ve finished a curriculum to begin making your own mini projects)

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From my experiences of hell year of learning in 2021

  1. Just pick up one of the option to learn, concurrent is total waste of time and you will go straight into tutorial hell
  2. Once you’re done learning, start building projects. Build as many projects till you’re super confident. Refer to Frontend Mentor to build projects
  3. Learn HTML and CSS + build loads of projects ( using your own brain, not copy-paste, or watching YT video )
  4. Repeat step 3 for JS and later for React or any other framework.

This has worked perfectly for me. Learning to use self brain and building coding muscles over the time is very important.

All the very best in your journey.

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Thank you for your super detailed answer and shared experience! Really you opened my eyes. Before I started this thread many people advised me to use multiple curriculums at the same time, but no one of them was learning in this way :rofl:

All programmers learn in the same way.
What I am doing is very much the same way they would have learnt programming.

It can be hard to understand when you haven’t gone through part of it, but in truth, all the replys to this post are suggesting the same thing.

To really understand what people are saying, you need to start the process,
Then come back to this post after you have a folder of tiny failed attempts and one project your proud of even if its small.
(these should be things you just wanted to try on your own, not tutorial projects)

Then re-read the reply’s. :slight_smile:

It may take several months for any of this to make sense or be helpful to you.

The bottom line… Just start building :smiley:

Do you mean all programmers have tried to complete multiple curriculums concurrently?

I completed one another curriculum, but it was many years ago.

Which replies? I said “BEFORE I started this thread”, not “WHEN I started this thread”.

I was coding many years ago, so I completely understand all that people saying.

Give me links to them.

No, now I should choose a curriculum that suits me the most, and only after that to build something.

This is solid advice.

Don’t make it more complicated. Don’t focus on finding the optimal learning path. The more time you waste trying to find the “best” learning path is time you are taking away from learning.

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I think I should try Codecademy for one week and after that Colt Steele for one week and after that decide what is better for me, video learning style or text learning style and continue only 1 curriculum with.

Sure, you can dabble. Ultimately pick one and start. Which one isn’t hugely important. It’s all the same information, more or less. Learning is more important than learning from the 100% optimal course.

i d’nt think its better to do both at same time firstly you have to focus on one then after a solid output you can move to rest.

I would recommend following Codecademy and Odin Project along with freeCodeCamp. Codecademy is excellent. I recommend it along with freeCodeCamp. Also, Codecademy provides very useful cheat sheets. Which you can review after completing a topic.

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