Udacity Nanodegree Front-End Web Developer: Final ThoughtsGaini ZhulamanovaBlockedUnblockFollowFollowingJan 13Time for a confession.
I haven’t been consistent in blogging, because I had to be consistent in other activities.
Since my last report I:learned front-end web development almost every day ????????dealt with coding challenges ????lost a couple of nerve cells ????gained a ton of insights and found excellent sources ????had a steep learning curve ????found a great web dev community ????started to contribute to this community ????.
Learning Every DayLast time I said I would learn only three times a week ????.
It turned out I was wrong.
Of course, it is possible, to learn at your own pace, but when I was learning programming three times a week I felt I was lagging behind.
Luckily, I stumbled upon a challenge #301DaysOfCode through Twitter and decided to commit to it.
The goal behind it is to learn the web dev every day at least 3 minutes and 1 second.
I thought I could definitely do that.
And I ended up learning almost every day not only 3 minutes, but more than an hour.
A little trick worked and did its magic.
Coding ChallengesWhen I look at the projects I accomplished during the Udacity Nanodegree, I still can’t believe that these projects are made by me.
Probably I was infected with the imposter syndrome through Twitter.
But the fact is I did finish the Nanodegree (I doubted it many times) and passed all the challenges: Responsive Website, Memory Game, Classic Arcade Game, Feed Reader Testing, and Restaurant Review App.
You can check these projects on my GitHub profile.
My favorite project was the Memory Game.
I invested several weeks in this challenge and realized that developers needed an immense amount of patience and self-control when chasing after some bugs.
And when you find a little bug you should decide how to react and be kind to yourself.
In my case, most of the mistakes were not about some difficult concepts or functions, but it was either a typo or a semicolon ????♀️.
A Steep Learning CurveWhen I started the Nanodegree I was not a beginner, but I was not yet an intermediate student.
Due to FreeCodeCamp, Google Udacity Challenge and other sources, I was somewhere in-between.
The Nanodegree gave me more than just knowledge and programming skills in Front-End Web Development.
I gained a different mindset.
A mindset of how to approach and solve problems.
This experience is invaluable.
I am sure I could get this mindset through other courses.
But in the Nanodegree program due to deadlines, you have to get disciplined to submit everything on time and that is why the learning process accelerates.
Web Dev CommunityI actually thought Twitter was a boring channel.
Until I discovered the web dev community.
I met great people whose posts and likes had been motivating me every day.
I was amazed (and am still amazed) that so many people around the world were so passionate about learning and programming.
This Twitter community is now my Instagram.
Due to this channel, I discovered other great sources like Frontend Masters which is now my current learning platform.
Another positive experience that happened to me is being able to contribute to one of the communities.
Now I am part of the team of a new community called devNewbie and I contribute to the growth of the Twitter channel.
I am very honored and happy to make my small contribution and be among interesting and motivated people.
The main communication takes place in a Discord channel which is open for everyone who is learning programming languages.
So, feel free to join!Udacity team also motivates its students.
There is a built-in calendar that encourages you to stick to your study plan.
Calendar for a study plan Udacity offers its studentsAnd the students get nice reminders and encouragement via e-mail.
I found it very kind of Udacity to keep a dialog with us.
I got a feeling that someone actually did care about my progress.
And sometimes these small gestures are enough to pull yourself together and keep working.
Example how Udacity encourages its studentsComing back to the Udacity Front-End Web Developer Nanodegree, can I recommend it?Definitely, I can!.I recommend it to everyone who already has an intermediate level and has tried to build some apps.
And the Nanodegree can be your next big step towards your goal.
It expanded my horizon and I developed many relevant skills which I can also apply in my non-dev job.
The teachers are the industry experts and you get the cutting-edge knowledge.
You will learn not only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
But the whole spectrum of everything that you would most probably need as a front-end web developer.
For example, working with a terminal and relevant front-end applications, debugging, service worker, web accessibility, conversion-optimized web forms (my favorite part!), and client-server communication.
Considering the dynamic in the web dev industry, it is overwhelming for self-taught people to figure out what they have to learn besides the programming languages.
That was my main reason for signing up for the program.
It was a good kick-off.
But before you decide for the program, I recommend checking some free courses to see if a didactic method suits you.
Some of the free courses are part of the program.
And other parts are designed in a similar fashion.
Udacity recommends the program to the students with an intermediate level.
And I agree with it.
Perhaps, I should have even waited a little bit and sign up later.
But on the other hand, my example shows that it is possible to finish it even with a slightly non-intermediate level.
If you are a beginner, I recommend starting either with free courses of Udacity and learn through other great sources like FreeCodeCamp, Codeacademy, Udemy, YouTube tutorials, etc.
At some point, the projects of the Nanodegree get very challenging.
And if you are a beginner, you might be overwhelmed and demotivated or even worse — to think that the web dev is not for you.
And that notion might be not true.
This was my learning experience.
I hope, my short report will be useful for someone who is considering the Front-End Nanodegree of Udacity.
Feel free to contact me for further questions.
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash.