Keep at it, there is someone thats always older and is just starting , you have that many more years to your advantage… I 'm 41 and started coding at 40. I still struggle, but I’ve noticed every month I know a little more. Positive mentality…
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All I want to say is thank you for posting this. I’m in a similar place right now and feeling like I’m taking one step forward and two steps back. Some encouraging responses here.
Hi, I really feel you all.
I was getting high and low with the JavaScript challenges, some needed a hint but mostly I could understand what I was doing.
But around seventy-something percent of the curriculum came the record collection challenge. I spent several nights, one of them 5 hours straight, and could come to a solution of my own thanks to a hint of a fellow camper.
The next challenge was easily solved but I’m wondering whether I’m really stupid or I’m just not paying enough attention to details.
I have a personality disorder and sometimes is really hard for me to concentrate. I’m 46.
Do you think some day I’ll be able to make a living with this or am I wasting my time?
I try hard, I don’t mind spending hours to solve a problem but in real life I will probably not have days or even hours to finish a work task.
I’m giving it all, but is that enough?
that’s the first challenge asking you to put together different concepts on your own, to make a logic effort. You will have similar experiences with other challenges.
you can write the algorithm before writing the code, using pseudo-code or just plain words, make sure you write something that you then try, pen and paper, follow the exact instructions yoh have written and that you get reliably for each input the expected output. Then make someone else do the same… you can also share your pseudocode here on the forum, for feedback before proceeding. if it works you can convert it to a programming language.
learning to program is hard. people are not payed lots of money to do easy things.
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@ILM Thank you. All I wanted to know it was whether it was me or it was normal that this was so difficult.
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What’s the name of the book you’re reading?
When I made this post, I was reading JavaScript and Jquery, by Jon Duckett. I only read the first half — about JS — because I’m still trying to get a good grasp on the base language.
I recommend the book as a great starting place. It made the topics in the FCC exercises much clearer.
I recently purchased Eloquent JavaScript by Marijn Haverbeke. It’s a much “heftier” read than Duckett’s book, but I’m finding it’s exercises doable (though challenging), thanks to my progress on FCC and the first book I read.
Happy to report I’m making good progress in JS land since first making this post.
While you are correct it is challenging…I personally need to remember to follow my gut. Just came across an exercise that I just about had solved on my own…but started doubting myself so I chose to get a hint only to find out my thought process was in the right direction.
Keep at it, I’ve been having a good bit of fun learning this language.
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@heikja You’re totally right! It happened to me a couple of times. Self-doubt is awful, I agree with that.
What unnerves me more is that you doubt a good shot at something just because there was an error in another part of the code so you start doubting what was right.
I second you mate.
Thanks for encouraging me to follow!
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For myself being fairly new to this language in general…if I can just get through the first section that’s 111 exercises or whatever the actual number is, then going through it a second time I don’t think I’ll be doubting myself nearly as much.
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I’m going to start from zero. I hope this makes sense.
Good luck! The first 40 or so were fairly easy for me to comprehend but as they’ve gone on I’ve had to start referring to books and asking others for help.
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Good luck you too and thanks. I had no problem up to the first integrator exercise. Let’s see.
im in the same boat as you … finished html/css… but JS somewhere in the middle i decided to start all over again …but im starting to get grasp on it now … seems like its not something to be fully comprehended just by one sitting …have to go back and fourth over and over again .
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Hey people I started again.
But this time I’m gonna approach things differently.
I’m gonna get deeper than this. In the second lesson I think they name eight data types. So I googled them. Thing is, there’s an excellent website called javascript.info that goes deeper in some concepts but still remains clear in what respects to explaining and teaching.
So I’ll go on with fCC to guide me through an organized curriculum but check the details in this site. Maybe you already know about it but in case you don’t, well here it is.
Good luck and happy coding.
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What helped me alot was watch Caleb Curry JS tutorial on youtube . It’s 9 hours , but it made a big difference. I’m not there yet, but it does gets better.
& I had to go back & forth between FCC and youtube tutorials , reading kindle books, just practicing random exercises (https://www.w3resource.com/javascript-exercises/javascript-basic-exercises.php) and it’s much better now
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I’ve been taking my time intentionally with JavaScript. Those that try to fly through this just to show a certificate…I doubt they actually absorbed the material.
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I’ve been trying to find a use to that which is explained. No use came to mind except repeating iterations. But I’m gonna move on. Are you subscribed to Code Pen Spark? It’s a place where people share (elected by someone I suppose) their creations in html, css and js. And most importantly, their code. It’s a good way of finding real world applications to the code.
Believe me when I’m telling I’m becoming real serious with this and stop fooling around.
The fastest (and in fact the only) way to learn JavaScript is by building your own projects. Nothing fancy, keep it simple so you’ll stay motivated. Go through some challenges and then modify them. Expand them. The challenge wants you to create a random number generator? Go ahead and make your own virtual dice. Just a div with some dot-divs in it and a button. If the button is clicked, it’ll generate a number between 1 and 6, and the div will show the respective amount of dots. You’ll also learn a lot about HTML and CSS in the process, and how it all works together.
Watching tutorials, reading other’s code and completing challenges that are already completely layed out doesn’t hurt of course, but the more of these little projects you make for yourself, the more you’ll learn and - more importantly - the more confident you’ll be in trying bigger project ideas. You’ll learn how to debug. How to read docs. How to get the information you need to complete a particular task of your choice. Just try it. It’ll become an addiction soon to build those little projects and you’ll proceed so much faster.
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Thank you. Excellent.