The Beginning of my Journey
Tags: webdev, beginners
Published: 2020-07-12 17:00:51

I am good at procrastinating. It's always too easy to find something else to do, productive or not. The fact that I'm also an avid gamer doesn't help either. But, I did get there eventually.

My journey started when I tried to learn HTML and CSS through [W3schools](https://www.w3schools.com/). But I quickly learned this was not a great place to start early on when learning the ropes. What I needed was a tutorial, a course. I needed somebody to talk me through it and explain what it was and what was going on. I eventually discovered [Traversy Media](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC29ju8bIPH5as8OGnQzwJyA). His YouTube channel was a massive step in the right direction for me.

{% youtube UB1O30fR-EE %}
{% youtube yfoY53QXEnI %}

The above crash courses available for free on Brad's YouTube channel allowed me to dip my toes into the water of Front-End web development giving an idea of what it's like and whether I would enjoy it. Which I did!

Luckily, his [Modern HTML & CSS From The Beginning (Including Sass)] (https://www.udemy.com/course/modern-html-css-from-the-beginning/) was heavily discounted at the time. This was when I really started learning and I was loving it too!

I was learning the basics and applying what I had learned in several projects that Brad would explain with great knowledge and passion. However, I did realise through Brad and avid reading on Twitter and the Dev.to that courses were merely the tip of the iceberg. Something to bear in mind!

The greatest way to truly learn and consolidate the knowledge I was gaining was to apply it in my projects. Make mistakes, screw stuff up and have no idea what was going on.

Once I had completed Brad's course on HTML and CSS I wanted to repeat this experience to fill in any gaps and to just try and consolidate what I had learned as well as complete some more projects without as much help. This is where [freeCodeCamp] (www.freecodecamp.org) comes in.

As well as revisiting what I had previously learned, I completed five new projects which allowed me to harness various skills I had learned. In producing a survey form I was creating labels and inputs. Creating a Personal Portfolio web page I was using Flexbox to make up a projects section. Through trial and error, I was discovering what does and doesn't work.

After having completed the Responsive Web Design course on FCC I expanded on and changed the Personal Portfolio project with my own branding, made it fully responsive, added a form and my own logo/branding. It's now hosted on Netlify. You can check it out [here!] (https://christopher-douglas.dev/)

So, what am I working on now? I'm currently building a website to add to my portfolio which is for a Builder and Decorator. You can check that one out [here.] (https://angry-panini-187d6f.netlify.app/) For that project I'm currently using HTML and CSS, after recently completing a Sass crash course by Traversy Media I hope to eventually integrate it into the Galaxy site as well as my portfolio.

I've also recently started the Traversy Media course 'Modern JavaScript From The Beginning'.

>"The most effective way to do it, is to do it." - Amelia Earhart