Be a master at one thing or a noob at everything?
Tags: javascript, learning, personaldevelopment
Published: 2020-09-10 15:40:59

I am a Javascript developer. I want to share with you my story how I began my developer journey with learning every programming language I heard until I chose a language to focus on and tried to master it. 

When I began learning web development, I spent time looking for every programming language that I was suggested and learning them. I had believed that if I learned all of them, I would become a master of programming and have a high salary job. So that, I go to sites like FreeCodeCamp, Codecademy, Udemy to learn code. I learned Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, Javascript, HTML and CSS. I tried to learn concepts such as data type, variable and function and do as many assignment as I can. After 6 month, I figured out that there was no progress and all I learned was the same in languages. 

I continued this situation until I had an internship opportunity at a tech company. I thought I could learn more. The first day I went to the company, I saw people were using awesome tools like React, React Native, Elixir. I asked my colleagues what framework and library they were using and tried to learn all of them. But I joined a PHP project. My programming skill improved a lot and was assigned another PHP project. I also had a chance to use Elixir and React for my company's product.

At the time, I didn't know what personal project was and its benefits. I knew about it after I read articles on Medium. I created some simple React applications following tutorials. But I realized the tutorials was the same and only taught basic concepts. I wanted to dive deeper. I began learning Nodejs and Vuejs. I created my personal website using Vuepress. From here, I focused on mainly Javascript and Nodejs.

After I leaved the old company and joined a new one, I was a front-end developer. It is an outsourcing company. I used React for my work. When I didn't have project to work, my project manager told me that the company didn't have any Nodejs or Javascript project to work. He recommended me to learn Java or Ruby because there were some client's projects using these languages. I declined and told him I only used Javascript. Then he recommended learning React Native to develop mobile application, I declined too because I wanted focus on web development.

I always wanted to learn more about Javascript and related topics of web development. I continued creating personal projects but I didn't learn much because of my full-time job. I heard that sharing is another way to learn. I also wanted to create a Youtube channel and write blog about programming to share with other developers. But the problem is that I didn't have enough time. Luckily, the COVID-19 pandemic came. I decided to quit my job. Now I create projects and programming tutorials full-time on my [Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXykqt3V2-9bYXKWZRcH0rA) and [blog](https://phongduong.dev/). (I will explain why COVID-19 pandemic is a luck to me in [another post](https://dev.to/phongduong/covid-19-is-the-greatest-thing-happened-to-me-in-2020-2c15)).

At the moment, I am happy with my decision and continue learning to master Javascript and web development. I create whatever I want and learn new things. I share everything I learned while building projects with people. 

You can check out my [Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXykqt3V2-9bYXKWZRcH0rA) and [blog](https://phongduong.dev/)