Last year, I started FreeCodeCamp, a free online coding “bootcamp” that provides lessons and exercises. It’s great because it’s project based and none of the projects are walk throughs.
Walk throughs are good but I feel like you don’t get as much out it compared to figuring stuff on your own to build something. I believe that the failures you encounter while working through a project helps solidifies and embeds the knowledge deep in your brain. This is why when I was doing JavaScript30 when I first started blogging, I was trying to build the apps on my own first.
Anyway, I was on a roll for a couple of months. I was breezing through the exercises. Then, THE WIKIPEDIA APP! This intimidated me and impostor syndrome set in. I felt like I couldn’t tackle this problem. So, I told myself that I was going to take a break.
That break lasted for 4 months.
Today, I opened up that project page. I looked WIKIPEDIA in the eye and said – “You’re mine!”
I was surprised. This app that I was afraid to build only took me about an hour. Of course, learning straight for the past couple of months helped but I was still googling stuff. I still needed to find out what I needed to find out.
This experience helped me in two ways, and, I guess, this is the moral of the story that I hope could inspire you to take action.
- Our biggest fears may actually just be small
- Just fail – the more you fail, the more you succeed
For that last though, although it took me only an hour to build this app, I had a lot of failures. I had to try a bunch of stuff before I made it work. I took some quick breaks here and there to prevent myself from punching my screen. But, the failures helped me learn and succeed.
I know you’ve been dying to see it. 😆 So, here’s the app.
