Learning code - My first week.
Tags: beginners, learning, codenewbie, webdev
Published: 2020-09-29 05:40:29

I find myself at attempt number (insert number here) in "trying to learn how to code". However, this might be my first actual "learning code". I would like to share a bit more about how this learning process evolves with time.

So today I would like to start with an overview of my first week, from the first drafts of my plan to the current state of things.

I'm not new to HTML and CSS as at this point. I learned a couple of things years ago, nothing that you could make something useful out of it. Still, I could recognize some parts of the structure of a website. When it came to Javascript or other programming languages I had no idea what was going on.

##My background

A while ago (around 7 years ago) I used to tinker around with 3d printers and was a regular attendant to a 3d printing meetup. The location was a coworking space where some of the dev's running the space loved Ruby on Rails, so I also attended those events from time to time. Tried to learn that, gave up in days. 

They also did some python talks. Tried to learn that, gave up in a couple of weeks. 

Ended up in another space where they did Javascript meetups. Got interested, gave up before I even started. 

##Fast-forward to the present

Due to COVID-19, my school closed for around 4 months at the end of March. Shortly after the Japanese government asked to get into lock-down so I had a lot of free time. After having read all the books I had in my room I decided to give coding another chance. So I decided to give a try to Python and Javascript, at the same time. What a mistake.

With the lesson learned, I gave up and instead started refreshing my HTML and CSS, just that, nothing more. What a difference! I could retain way better information, could spend more time coding. Eventually, school resumed and between that and my part-time job I didn't have free time to keep learning or go to the next step. But what is the next step?

##Choosing a path

I found myself wondering again between Ruby on Rails, Python and Javascript. I know the best option is to only choose one to focus on. Well, I don't have money to spend in very large or expensive courses, that's another limitation that I had to face.

The most decisive one was of another nature, my laptop. I currently use a Chromebook. Why? well, it cost me ~120€ second hand around 4 years ago if not mistaken. It's the most basic of the basic laptop you can get. And it did what I needed it to do until now. Check email, youtube and the news.

This Chromebook does not have the option to run Linux applications on it so that limited my options quite a lot on what I could do with it. At least to my knowledge and regarding the Python and Ruby on Rails languages. 

I needed something simple, I just wanted to learn, and the end of semester vacations started in two weeks. And then I found [Scrimba] (https://scrimba.com/). Where the video itself is a code editor, so I could do everything in one single place. I can stop at any time and tinker around with what the teacher is doing on the editor and when I press play everything resets and everything gets to how it was. 

At the same time, I found a very interesting video series by [Colt Stelee] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF_Xl5TOGlY&list=PLblA84xge2_xNtaFnZhefjFbnDrpySKD3) which caught to my eye. I enjoy the way he teaches some concepts and it's very easy to follow.

After finishing the final tests on Wednesday last week I signed up and enrolled for the front end developers path on Scrimba. Have been going through it since then together with the videos of Colt. So I have been doing mainly HTML, CSS and Javascript. And I will see other stuff like react, APIs, etc... later on.

With this set, I have been able to check all the boxes of my requirements.

*Not spending too much, at least until I can afford to.
*Keep using my old laptop.
*Retaining the information better. 
*Enjoying the process

##So far, so good
Since that day as I'm on vacation, I have been able to put around 4-5 hours every day on learning. And having tons of fun! Of course, some things don't work, that take you 40 minutes to find a solution for and doesn't work. 

And then you found that method you did not see and made it work wonderfully. But, I had never thought coding could be so much fun.

##Lessons learned

Since I decided to give it my best shot, and at the same time limit as much as possible the scope of things to learn. I learn more, faster and better. So here is my tip for others that like me are on their first steps or want to get started. Take one thing at a time, master one thing. 

Enjoy the learning process and explain it to others! Reinforce your knowledge by sharing it and don't get angry if it doesn't work. Learn how to search for help more effectively on the forums. There are plenty of people that have had the same frustrations before and have shared solutions.

##Where I stand now
So Far I have learned basic HTML, basic CSS and basic Javascript. 

I have learned attributes, classes, IDs, anchors, lists, basic layout, flexbox. Also, variables, loops, arrays, objects, logic and I'm mostly done with functions and methods. 

Some of the projects taught me how simple interaction with the website can be and at the same time how rewarding my learning process is. And how much of importance those interactions are when browsing through a website.

Next step is to get even more deeply in some new concepts and build my first project from the ground up. I will write another post in around maybe a week sharing the process. I would like to use these series of posts to think about what I have learned to code but also, maybe more importantly, what have I learned from coding.