What resources should every beginner have? FCC doesn't seem to give you an idea on where to start researching or even what to research

Don’t get me wrong, I like FCC so far, but when I got to the first projects, before I took a look at the example project, I was under the impression they wanted us to make a project based on what we learned so far. However, upon looking at the example projects, you see that they use so much more to make it than they taught. I do like how they force you to do the research on your own, but it’s frustrating because they leave you with no resources or no idea on where to even start researching.

I’ve been doing as much research as I possibly can, and when I start to build confidence, I see a project that someone else did that uses code that I haven’t seen yet and makes me realize i probably spent the last couple days researching the wrong things.

I’m not asking for hand-outs, but something as simple as “it would be a good start to starting researching blah, blah, and blah” or even leave a link or two would be very helpful. I don’t want to copy code, I want to learn it.

So now that I’m done complaining, What are some great resources that every beginner should have? What are some good topics to start researching?

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Hello, there are lots of threads like yours on the forum: this one is very similar.

Have you also looked at @P1xt 's guides ? They’re invaluable :slight_smile:

* Guide: get Job Ready
* Guide: Web Development with COmputer Science foundations

And if TL;DR: You Don’t Know Javascript ( free on Github), the Net Ninja playlists, courses on Udemy and Udacity, …

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See, the thing is that there really isn’t a set of resources. In the old days you would buy a reference book and keep it on your desk, but now Google is faster and provides better information.

Generally, my process is roughly:

  • Google
  • Click on anything that looks live official documentation first
  • Google again with more specific terms from the documentation
  • Skim a few top results
  • Reword Google search as needed
  • Repeat

One amazing resource you have is the community. If you’re having trouble getting started with the first broad-level of research you can ask the forum or chat room. If someone is able to understand what you’re asking for, they’re likely to throw out a quick starting point like “check out flexbox”. You can also come to us with specific questions when the resources you find don’t make sense to you. If someone is able to help, they’re usually happy to do so.

Don’t worry about this bit. If someone is using a different technology or technique, that just means they went a different direction with it. They might already have had experience and were sticking with what they know, or their interests and/or priorities in the project might have just led them down a different path.

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Curious, it says to do that list in order, but I don’t see the front end certification on the list. Are they saying that we should skip it and move on to the list?

which guide are you referring to? The Get Job Ready?

PS: This is copy paste from @P1xt 's thread - it’s just that I remember those questions had been answered at the time:

This, that I’ve laid out, prepares you for frontend work. Especially if you read all the way through my post, backtrack a bit and hit some of the FCC frontend projects when you need a breather from the items on this list (like I mentioned in the original post) and hit the “on fire” list for any additional projects which catch your eye to boost your portfolio.

And about starting Front-End cert or the guide:

You’ll have to decide for yourself what’s best for you. Were it my goal to be job ready for a junior frontend developer role, I’d focus on this guide, paying special attention to the “extras” section towards the bottom of it that has extra activities for when you need a productive break that includes popping back into FCC to do the other projects. Just go down the list in the guide, working through each item, in order, if you need a break from one, hit the extras list then go back to the main list.

In the end though, it’s your life, your education, and your time. Decide for yourself. All I can tell you unequivocally is that this guide will prepare you better for a junior developer role than the FCC frontend cert alone. Well, that and you don’t have to do the frontend cert before starting this :wink: And, this guide isn’t easy, be prepared to work hard … like you would for anything worth doing.

PPS: It doesn’t really say “skip it” - but rather: don’t be satisfied with that alone :slight_smile:

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Beat me to it! I’m going through @P1xt’s Web Development with Computer Science foundations guide, and I personally think it’s the way to go to complement FCC. Plus, everything in the guide is totally free! Yes, I agree FCC by itself isn’t enough. I think it’s because it’s project-oriented, so they probably expect you to be studying on your own anyways.

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Thanks for the info, and again, you’re awesome for making this guide!

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