The Full-Stack Engineer Course
Hey everyone!
This is a quick update on where I am on my programming journey. I mentioned before that I've flirted with code in the past but have never gotten far. I've done Youtube tutorials, paid for courses, and have done sites like Team Treehouse and FreeCodeCamp. I've covered the basics of HTML and CSS more times than I can count and have attempted to learn JavaScript a few times. There was even a time where I was learning Python and Ruby. I'll admit it, I've been all over the place!
Well now I'm back at it again... I've decided to take another crack at web development. This time my tool of choice is Codecademy Pro. I'm tackling their Full-Stack Engineer career path. Let me just say that this is a chunky boy! It has 44 modules with 145 lessons and 85 mini projects with some portfolio pieces too! It claims to cover all the necessities to start my career as a software engineer. Things like: vanilla JavaScript, text editors, Git and GitHub, HTML, CSS, how to bring a site online, interactive JS and the DOM (always confused the heck out of me), making a site responsive and accessible, TDD, Async and HTTP requests, web apps, React, Redux, Node/Express.js, SQL, PostgreSQL, security, technical interview tips, linear/complex data structures, and algorithms. Whew!
I really like how not only are they teaching the technologies I need to know to have a successful career, but also how to put it all together!
A full-stack engineer can get a project done from start to finish. This Career Path will start with the front-end, move on to the back-end, then teach you how to connect the two.
I'm currently about 12% through the course and claims seem to be about a 4 month average completion time. We're learning JavaScript first, which is where I've traditionally dropped off of the web dev train. Something about JS doesn't seem to click with me... maybe it's imposter syndrome, maybe I'm forcing it. It's probably both.
I've gotten up to functions. Everything is going smooth so far, and I've even been able to get myself out of a few errors! I have to take the baby steps as a win. I'm getting it this time (so far). I was able to conceive an idea then implement it into code without help from Codecademy! It was a small if-else statement, but it's a really big deal to me. Motivation is high, and as I have a few days off from work, you know I'm going to pump this out.
I'm almost done with JavaScript Syntax Part 1 which covers: variables, data types, conditionals, and functions. It's all basic stuff as the name implies, but it's the farthest I've ever gotten. I'm really determined to make it through this course no matter how long it takes! I'll update again soon with more thoughts and feelings as I get further into the course.
Until then, peace! ✌️