Hey guys, a small introduction, I am a newbie that has decided to learn code and has been learning for 2-3 weeks now and needs some advice if possible. ))
After looking online and seeing many positive reviews and stories on this forum about freecodecamp, I decided to give it a try. However, I am a little confused regarding the way to learn coding. Firstly from my newb observation, as I went through the tutorials of freecodecamp I realised that freecodecamp teaches people how to “copy” code and not teach the core principles. (Maybe thats what a CS degree does?) So I am really confused on how a newb like me should learn how to code?
That being said, people on that forum said they completed the certificates on there and got a job…which kind of confuses me, do companies just want Junior Web Developers to know how to “copy” code and not the core principles? This is really hard to explain, I am probably explaining what I mean really wrong, but just need some opinions on this.
When I was learning, I found that actually writing code from scratch and having to think through what I needed to write, how I needed to write it, and the actually write it was really helpful.
I would suggest doing some https://www.codecademy.com/ exercises to get some XP under your belt. The nice thing about those activities is that they provide you some short text to read then you actually start writing code.
Pretty much any beginner level resources that you find are going to start with a period of “Here’s a piece of syntax. Here’s what it does. Now put it in the provided code in the right way to see it work.” This is about getting you familiar with the language of programming as well as comfortable with just interacting with code. Practicing your ABC’s and learning to read one word at a time are the first steps in writing a novel. Learning a language isn’t the hard part of learning to program. Using the tools provided by a language to solve a problem is what is hard. If you look further ahead on the Free Code Camp map you’ll see that once the introduction to JavaScript is over, there is a pretty sharp drop in the hand-holding. You will be tasked with solving increasingly complex problems with fewer and fewer hints and you will be assigned projects that will require you to spend hours on your own researching and tinkering. This is where the real learning happens.
I disagree completely. If you are just copying code I would stop immediately. If anything FreeCodeCamp expects you to look up the docs and do your own research like almost every programmer does when they have an issue they don’t understand.
Companies do not want any Junior Web Developers whose only strength is copying code. FreeCodeCamp provides challenges and projects for the most part. If you’re only a couple of weeks in I dont know if you’ve gotten to the challenges or the projects but the beginning of the curriculum is just to introduce you to the topic.
Self-teaching takes a lot of discipline and if you want a deep core understanding you have to go find it and read it for yourself. There are a ton of resources online. Google, Reddit, CodeAcademy the list really goes go on and on. FreeCodeCamp isn’t about computer science, it’s about pointing people in the right direction if learning web development is something they want to pursue. That’s the point of building the projects and completing the challenges.
One tool, I have found which can sometimes eat up a lot of time, but in the end turns out beneficial is Lynda.com. For those of you who dont know about it, it is a training site associated with Linkedin.
Now before you start telling me, “Grr! It costs money! I dont want to pay for things”, let’s cool our jets and read on.
I urge you to do a couple things, one is to run down to the city/state library. Get you a library card,(Wait, I’m not finished.) find a friend/relative/associate that has one. Usually the library will be associated with Lynda and you can get on for free through the group/company login portal.
After that, you can learn all you want, about whatever you want. I’m getting my butt kicked with some of this Data Vis stuff, and go figure, Lynda has plenty of courses on it.
FreeCodeCamp is awesome, but if you have trouble sometimes like I do, every little bit helps.
Just a thought I’ve been thinking of sharing with the community for a while