My (almost) self-taught journey to code
Tags: beginners, javascript, career, webdev
Published: 2021-01-28 07:21:28

<h4><strong>Introduction</strong></h4>
I wasn't happy at my job. In September of 2020, I decided that I needed to make a change. After 5 years of working as an electrical engineer I bit the bullet and left my job to pursue coding. This is my journey. I hope that my journey can be used as a guide for anyone that wants to take on a similar path. It's never too late to learn how to code! 

In the past 4.5 months, I have learned so much. It makes me so happy to share this experience with the world. It also acts as a reminder for how far I've come and to not be too hard on myself when I feel like I'm not progressing fast enough. I hope people will find this useful. If it is - feel free to come a long on the journey by giving a follow!

<h4><strong>September 2020</strong></h4>
<i>9/8/20:</i>
I start my Python class and my SQL class at Bunker Hill Community College.

I learned a lot from these classes but it's definitely not required. Actually, I recommend new coders to AVOID taking classes (unless it's low cost). Make sure to check back in for a future blog post where I go into detail on my experience and when structured classes are worth it!

<i>9/18/20:</i>
I start a Udemy course. The Complete Web Developer in 2020: Zero to Mastery by Andrei Neagoie. I highly recommend this course for any beginner interested in the world of web development. This course goes over everything: how the web works, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, databases, http requests and more. It also talks about coding environments. At this point I start using VSCode. To this day VSCode is still my favorite code editor.

I'll go into detail on my experience and if this course is right for you in a future blog post.

<h4><strong>October 2020</strong></h4>
<i>10/5/20 - 10/9/20:</i>
I participate in live webinars for Springboards conference "RISE". Springboard is a coding boot camp and RISE is their annual conference that discusses the software engineering and data science industries. At this point I was still trying to see if a boot camp was right for me. 

<h4><strong>November 2020</strong></h4>
<i>11/6/20-11/8/20:</i>
I participate in Liquid Hacks. This is my first "test" to see what I have learned. I tried building a website called "a team liquid story". Honestly it was supposed to be extremely simple. I fail at completing the project by the deadline and I end up not submitting. Even though I wasn't able to complete a project. I don't regret participating. It showed me how much I still didn't know.

<i>11/30/20:</i>
Back to The Complete Web Developer by Andrei Neagoie. At this point I did every exercise up to the React section. I felt like I needed to focus on the fundamentals. I "finished" the course by watching the rest of the videos. Finishing the course without completing the exercises helped me learn broad pictures of what other tools are used and how they are used. It gave me a good idea of what to expect in the future so that I wouldn't be completely lost.

I start grinding FreeCodeCamp - Javascript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification.

<h4><strong>December 2020</strong></h4>
<i>12/1/20:</i>
I complete my semester project for my Python class. A program that takes a summoner name from the game League of Legends and outputs the user's match history and charts the frequency of each champion played. The program is coded in Python using Jupyter notebook.

<i>12/16/20:</i>
I finish FreeCodeCamp - Javascript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification

<i>12/16/20 - 12/24/20:</i>
I start learning React by working through the tutorial in the official docs. I can't find quality material on how to learn React until 12/28/20.

<i>12/18/20<i/>
My Python and SQL classes end

<i>12/28/20 - 1/20/21:</i>
I start going through Pure React by Dave Ceddia. This was easily one of my best coding investments. I highly recommend this book for anyone that knows HTML/CSS/JavaScript and wants to jump into React. React is a framework that has many many many tools. It can be very overwhelming to figure out where to start. Pure React is a book that teaches... well.... pure React. All of the extra tools can be learned later.

<h4><strong>January 2021</strong></h4>
<i>1/20/21 - 1/22/21:</i>
I finish going through Pure React. At this point I feel comfortable and I decide that I am ready to build a web app from "scratch". Scratch is in quotes because I actually decide to build a Discord clone in React. I decide to build a Discord clone because building an actual app from scratch would involve designing UI/UX which is not the current goal. I want to test my developer knowledge.

I start off by prototyping the frontend.

<i>1/22/21-1/26/21:</i>
Frontend prototype is complete. I start thinking about the backend. After some research, I end up going with Firebase. I have some familiarity with databases from my SQL class and The Complete Web Developer course but Firestore is a noSQL database so there is a a bit of a learning curve. I end up buying Fireship's course Firestore Data Modeling Master Course. This course is perfect for someone that has some database knowledge because it's short and sweet. It covers everything you need to know quickly. It shouldn't be used as your first course in databases.

I have some familiarity from fetching data from my Python project where I fetched data from Riot Games API. I build my first feature that combines both frontend and backend: a side bar that fetches real time data and outputs the community name and avatar links as a list.

<i>1/27/21:</i>
This brings me to dev community and my first post. I've learned a lot... enough to where I felt like I needed to share my experience.

<h4><strong>updates coming...</strong></h4>

|Money spent so far                              |          |
|------------------------------------------------|---------:|
|<strong>Worth it</strong>                       |          |
|The Complete Web Developer by Andrei Neagoie    |    $13.99|
|Pure React by Dave Ceddia                       |    $59.00|
|Fireship's Firestore Data Modeling Course       |    $19.00|
|                                         Total: |    $91.99|
|<strong>Not worth it</strong>                   |          |
|Python at Bunker Hill Community College         |  $1248.00|
|SQL at Bunker Hill Community College            |  $1248.00|
|                                         Total: |  $2496.00|