Learning styles & resources (and slight rant)

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Hi all,

I’ve gotten a little discouraged recently by the curriculum change (even though I do appreciate the effort to update things and continually improve content, etc). I’ve found myself getting confused trying to continue where I left off, because maybe I now have knowledge gaps on new things that were added? So I get frustrated at reading stuff and then going, “Wait, what does that even mean?” And then I can’t do the problem much less understand what it’s even asking for. Too much jargon thrown in at once? idk.

But the other thing is, I’m starting to think that maybe FCC’s curriculum path is maybe not the best resource for my learning style?? It’s been okay for the simpler stuff, but once things get more complicated logic-wise, I feel like it might be better for me to have someone explain it to me, instead of reading it (ie. video format or podcasts). I’ve also read the first 2 books of YDKJS but some of the stuff definitely went over my head. I like learning new concepts, but I appreciate hearing the logic explained rather than reading it.

Currently going through (auditing) a Python course through Coursera which I find to be a great format, it’s just very basic and spends time explaining logic concepts that I’ve already learned through javascript. I do really like the teacher’s spoken explanations though!
Coursera/MOOCs are nice, but I also would have to sift through all the courses, some of which might not turn out to be appropriate for my level. Same issue with sifting through Youtube videos. Because the other problem is, sometimes people say “Yeah watch this video, it’s okay for beginners” but it’s not really. like, it’s a problem of not going through a real curriculum, which is what I appreciate FCC for.

I’ve glanced at Codecademy b/c it has courses w/ videos but it seems like it’s not reaaallyy free, and then I see Treehouse too, which seems promising, though of course that’s also paid.

Does anyone know of other resources that do not rely too heavily on reading?

Thoughts?

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I was on track right up til I got to your question… You’re not going to get away from having to read…reading the documentation, reading code, reading what everything means is a big part of it. Many people love videos and that really helps solidify concepts being able to hear someone explain it to them, but it helps to understand what you read when you come across it.

For the rest of what you wrote though, FCC definitely does not guide you in a step by step “do this, now do that, now its done” kind of way…it gives you some really basic concepts to point you in the right direction to do your research and then totally expects you to find resources, whatever that may be according to your learning style, to figure out how to then come back and solve the problem on your own.

I find it to be a really awesome way to keep me on track in my learning process…without it, I was just kind of blindly trying to figure out what to learn next with no real rhyme or reason. It was hard for me to create my own plan when I didnt know what I was doing. So yeah, if I came across something super challenging, I stepped away from FCC and delved into learning more about it, be it another course, books, documentation, etc then came back to FCC to try my hand at it again.

CodeCademy was one of my favorite resources…the courses themselves are free, just that the final projects and exams are not. Those are definitely of the hold your hand and practically solve the problem for you type, but it does help me get a good grasp of the concept of what Im trying to figure out so that I can come back to FCC and apply that to the problem Im trying to solve.

YDKJS is super hard to read though, that is for sure. I had no idea what I was reading while reading it, which made it painful to get through, but Im glad I did, because when I came across certain terms and concepts, it wasnt the first time Id ever heard of it…everything was familiar to me which really helped when it came time to digging deeper.

I also really like the edX courses, not a fan of videos, but for some reason, these dont annoy me. I also read a ton of blogs, I found blogs by students learning a topic to be especially awesome, because as new learners, they would break down how they finally grasped a concept that was difficult for them to understand. So yeah, I just searched my butt off and just started to collect my own list of people who seemed to explain things in a way that would help me get it…so that when I come across another issue, Id head there first to see if they have anything on that topic too.

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I might be able to suggest some online courses if you mentioned where you are on the FCC curriculum—which topic(s) are you wanting to learn?

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ooh cool, would you mind sharing any student blogs that you found useful? I feel like that would be helpful for me too.

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I think I should strengthen Javascript with other resources (got through basic algorithm scripting and then the brief JSON/Ajax section in the old curriculum).
and I was also going through React

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I supplement what I do at FCC with StackSkills. You can get some good prices on their courses at places like Boing Boing…lots of pay what you want options and such.

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If you’re not yet familiar with ES6/ES2015 and OOP (Object-Oriented Programming), you should learn that before going into React.

Anyway, below are some courses that I’d recommend. Since you probably don’t have time to do them all, I’d recommend starting with the Code School ones on Pluralsight through the 10-day trial (it’s possible to finish all 4 within that time), then doing the ones on SitePoint (you can use their 14-day trial or just pay $9 for one month, which will give you time to do more courses), and then doing the ones on Lynda. And then buying all of those Udemy courses soon so you can do them at your leisure afterwards.

Pluralsight (previously on Code School) ($29/mo, but has a 10-day trial; you might be able to find a 3-month trial through Google)
https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/code-school-javascript-road-trip-part-1
https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/code-school-javascript-road-trip-part-2
https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/code-school-javascript-road-trip-part-3
https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/code-school-powering-up-with-react

SitePoint ($9/mo, the first link directly below goes to a 14-day trial)

Lynda ($29/mo + 30 day trial, you might be able to get a free subscription through your local public library in the US)

https://www.lynda.com/JavaScript-tutorials/ES6-Right-Parts/604265-2.html

Udemy ($9.99 when on sale, which is right now as of this post!)
https://www.udemy.com/the-web-developer-bootcamp/
https://www.udemy.com/git-a-web-developer-job-mastering-the-modern-workflow/
https://www.udemy.com/understand-javascript/
https://www.udemy.com/modern-javascript/

edX ($0, free) (can’t speak to the quality of these courses though, as I haven’t taken them)

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-nodejs

Udacity ($0, free) (individual courses on Udacity are always free, only their nanodegrees cost money) (can’t speak to the quality of these courses though, as I haven’t taken them)

https://www.udacity.com/course/object-oriented-javascript--ud015

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Thank you so much for the time you put into conglomerating this. This is really helpful!

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Not a prob! I have a ton of notes, so gimme some time and I’ll go through what I have to see which student blogs Ive saved :slight_smile: