Starting your Web Development Journey

It is not always easy to start out something new or I should say, it’s never easy to finally kick-start your journey in a new field or domain.

We have so many good and reliable websites, tutorials, books, platforms (and hundred other things) to learn web or application development but why is it that people keep searching for the same things again and again. Why can’t people be just satisfied with the material that they have. This is was the case with me too and I’ll tell you how and why that occurs.

Hmmm. this is good too…. oh look, that is nice.

What we are suffering from is “Information Overload”.

Nearly every individual suffers from this phenomenon at one point or another. It can’t be handled okay!?

What I was like…

I am an aspiring Digital Marketer with interest in On-Page SEO, Google Analytics and Mobile Sites. Any guy in this field would know the amount of courses, tools and videos that we have at our disposal. It is overwhelming for sure.

A few years back, I had a hard disk full of such courses and e-books too. And you wanna know the fun point?

I hadn’t read quite some of them. But I still kept looking for new books and courses.. anything I could grab and land my hand on. (though I read a lot)

What did I realize?

This went on for quite some time though or I should say years. I wasn’t even aware of this condition before I read about it in one of the courses. It was stated there,

Rather than spending money on a new course, spend some time implementing the information given in this one instead. You’ll learn far more than any other course out there.

The point is to gain knowledge, not information.

It hit me. I suddenly realized the time which I could have put in, working every given strategy out before going out on a search for the next big thing. It is called Shiny Object Syndrome.

Great. These two phenomena. I am suffering from these?

Yep. If you keep searching for new products, courses, tools, e-books, tutorial without taking major actions, then you are suffering from S.O.S my friend. It is not always buying or searching for new resources.

If you feel unsatisfied with the existing resources and learning material, or often feel switching to different tools, platforms regularly.. this might be a signal too.

Alright. What do I need to do?

Nothing.

Nothing much to be exact. You just have to focus on one thing.

Rather than being distracted by new technologies or offerings, you should start improving your skills on one topic or in one domain and then decide whether it could be useful for you or not. Instead of hoping on different things continuously, you can start learning from a particular resource and complete it honestly.

It will not only make you knowledgeable in that area but you can have a clear understanding of what to do next or not. You can decide a course of action from there itself.

and Web Development?

As you might want to learn more about a particular language or framework AND the chances are that you are already enrolled or signed up for a course, you can continue with that first and then decide what will be good for you.

For someone who is just starting out, I would highly recommend FreeCodeCamp. It is because confidence is the first thing that you need when you are learning something new. And on FreeCodeCamp, you see a basic app, building right in front of you and that too with your own code. No joking. When I saw the power of code, it was just overwhelming (It is still).

That kept me going and I’m learning JavaScript now. I also solve algorithmic questions on HackerRank by using JavaScript as the language. I just love doing it as I’m able to learn more this way. I am hoping to become a Full-Stack JavaScript Developer so I’m working towards it.

So just keep going and keep yourself engaged. Try one thing out. If it interests you, keep learning and never give up. If it does not, then keep looking. There are a lot of languages, frameworks and tools waiting for you!

I write at JS Boi. Do come by and have a look!