My first week of learning JavaScript
Tags: codenewbie, webdev, beginners, javascript
Published: 2020-08-09 18:11:33


Hello World! I am a 30-Year-Old civil/construction engineer, learning to code for the first time. I share my journey and learning here.

## Sections
* [The Journey is Underrated](#the journey is underrated)
* [Why you ought to write more](#why should you write)
* [People are noticing your work](#people)
* [Trolls are going to find you](#trolls will find you sooner)
* [Learning in Public](#learn)
* [An effective way to share your code](#how)
* [Why you ought to tune in to podcasts](#why)

### The Journey is Underrated <a name="the journey is underrated"></a> 
> “The joy of reaching the destination is momentary, the real fun is in the journey”.

I was delighted after getting my first certification from freeCodeCamp, but I knew that this happiness like all the happiness in life, this too will fade away in a day or two if not earlier, So on that very day I get my certification, I took up Javascript.

![The Journey GIF](https://media.giphy.com/media/xjIsb648nX0pw8kdBd/giphy.gif)


### Why you ought to write more <a name="why should you write"></a> 
Around the same time my friend and mentor, Jai, introduced me to Dev.to, He encouraged me to write my story here. At first, I was a bit apprehensive about writing a post here, I thought who would want to read a story of a code newbie here but I went for it anyway and opened up my heart in my post and posted a week ago. I didn’t expect that my post would get such a good reception. I would also urge you all to write about your journey, It will help a lot of people who are just starting or who are just a month or two behind you in learning. If you are making any mistake the more experienced devs can correct you and guide you & on the top of it, writing has tons of benefits. And yes to be able to communicate clearly is a very important skill for a coder.

![Picture of someone writing](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/la46bnsl54yjqqae6fat.jpg)

### People are noticing your work <a name="people"></a> 
I was posting my journey on twitter since my first day of coding, One of my friends, Shreyans who is a Full Stack Javascript Developer, would like my tweet once in a while, apparently, he has been following my tweets and one day commented on one of my tweets, I was delighted to read his comment, Nothing matches a genuine appreciation from a friend.

![Tweet Screenshot where Shreyans writes "Hey Naresh! Have been following your tweets & found them super interesting given the fact I felt the same a few years ago." & I reply "Thank you Shreyans !!
Means a lot, It also assures me that I'm not on the right path 
Grinning face"](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/pez1jflphbrjug040blw.PNG)


### Trolls are going to find you <a name="trolls will find you sooner"></a> 
The following morning when I woke up, there was this notification about a comment on Twitter. That was my first encounter with a troll on twitter. As you move ahead in your journey you’ll begin seeing an ever-increasing number of comments from people saying inflammatory and offensive things but you shouldn’t let your journey effect from this because Trolls often don’t believe a word they write but say it anyway just to piss off anyone

![Tweet screenshot of a person commenting"That sounds more like an attempt to create a viral post for some bullshit "code school" than someone actually describing their process of learning how to program", to which I replied "I haven't achieved anything yet, No Job, No side projects. How do you think my article about my  journey would promote some code school   
But I hope I could do something worthwhile with my learning & would love to promote 
@freeCodeCamp
 for the great work it is doing Winking face"](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/jamhexglpfonznbgwl43.PNG)

### Learning in Public <a name="learn"></a> 

After finishing my first certification, I also publicly committed myself to make a personal portfolio website in a month’s time because in all my Responsive Web Design Projects I didn’t put much effort into the presentation of the webpages and I focussed principally on understanding the user stories and applying my learning to pass the tests. So I knew that I could do better & make a more presentable website and a Personal portfolio would serve both the purposes of applying your learning as well as showcasing your projects to the world.

![Screenshot of my tweet saying 
"In all of my projects, I didn't put much effort into the presentation of the webpage, I just tried to understand the user stories and applying my learning to pass the tests. So now I'm publicly committing to make a presentable personal Portfolio by 27th Aug'20. #100DaysofCode](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/l7cq7grjb4b71eb1rios.PNG)

### An effective way to share your code <a name="how"></a> 
I found Javascript more difficult than HTML & CSS but my understanding of the language improved as I spent more time on it. I also started to share my code in my tweets using [carbon.now.sh](https://carbon.now.sh/), I found this really effective because you can sum up your learning of the day in one or more codes, which help you revise your learning at the end of your coding. 

![Code written in carbon.now.sh](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/c8conzuodfra8bzguopv.png)

### Why you ought to tune in to podcasts <a name="why"></a> 
I had also started listening to tech podcasts but finding the one which was easier for a newbie to understand was a task but as they say “Those who seek shall find”. 

I found some excellent podcasts, out of them I really liked this one. [In this podcast](https://freecodecamp.libsyn.com/ep-25-im-56-and-learning-to-code-heres-an-epic-beat-down-of-my-critical-inner-self), Abbey Rennemeyer reads out an article about a 56-year-old guy explaining why learning to code would be the best decision for him even at this age and he does give good reasoning. Like posts here on DEV, podcasts would also make you feel that you are not alone in the journey and how other people have achieved great things. You can learn from their journey, get inspired & achieve your goals too.

### Join the discussion

I would love to get some feedback here.

*   How was your first week of learning Javascript?
*   How do you deal with trolls?
*   Do you have some good podcasts recommendations?
*   Do you have a suggestion / or a recommendation I should follow?