About two weeks ago, I decided I wanted to learn JavaScript from scratch. Along with this decision came the idea of creating a blog to track my progress, which brings me right here. The idea is mainly to write down my goals, track my progress, and share my story in the hopes that it may push someone over the fence to do the same.
Who am I?
A brief background on me so I don’t appear as some technical genius in the hopes that you can read this and think “I can do this too!!!”. I do not have a computer science background. I work a typical nine to five corporate job which does not involve any type of coding. I am in my mid-twenties and know my way around the internet in the sense that I was able to set up this account and write my first blog. That and Microsoft Office products is pretty much the extent of my technical capabilities.
Why JavaScript? Why even learn to code?
I think I am going to write a larger post about my background and my ideas and what really has brought me to this point. But to sum it up so I do not ramble for several paragraphs…I have had this change of thinking recently. I want to learn a valuable skill that can be a hobby but also has the potential to be a side hustle in the future. I picked JavaScript after watching some YouTube videos and talking to a friend in the industry. JavaScript is the language that is used to develop web applications (I feel like this sentence is one that an experience programmer would scoff at, not sure though). JavaScript coincides with front end development. With a creative knack as well as being the guy with ridiculous application ideas, I am hoping I can bring something to life through this journey.
Goals
I have been a big goal-oriented guy in the past couple months (this has honestly changed my life for the better, will be doing a separate post about this too) so I want to set some goals for this project…
Goal 1 — Learn JavaScript (so obvious, it should not even be a goal)
I want JavaScript to be a skill I can carry around with me. This is totally a stretch but I see all this content about people learning JavaScript and it becoming their new career. That seems incredible to me, you can learn something online and the next thing you know you are paying your bills with that knowledge.
Goal 2 — Create something new
I want to create something completely new. Something (an app, a website maybe) that I can point to and say “Hey, I made this”. That would give me sense of accomplishment (serotonin explosion).
Goal 3 — Earn $1.00 from something I create
I am hoping this last goal is the one that keeps my motivation. Kind of coincides (wow I used this word twice) with my sense of accomplishment comment above. Also, we have all seen those classic internet entrenprenuers who say things like “if you can make $100 dollars, you can make $1,000”. Sure I might be mocking those people with that sentence but I do believe it is true. We will see.
My toolkit for learning
I am fortunate enough to be able to hop into this full steam ahead including the upfront cost. Cost aside, I hope to keep it relatively cheap so that anyone that bestows their eyes on this corner of the internet does not have to sell their kidney to get going.
I did not have a laptop or computer to get started on. I read a handful of articles on budget laptops. After a bit of reading I decided on this one:
I got it for $549. As far as I can tell, pretty decent price for what you get.
Here it is on my table to subside any fears you may have about this article being written by ChatGPT (seperate post coming about that…holy cannoli is that cool):
I am typing on this bad boy now and I love it. It is small and feels well built. I am not going to dive into anything crazy because I am not a tech guru. But so far, I would recommend it.
In addition to the laptop, I just bought the class below on Udemy.
Learn Modern Javascript (Build and Test Apps) — Full Course | Udemy
Those are my two purchases so far bringing us to just under $600.
What’s next?
I am hoping to keep posting about my journey. No promises on how frequent. I am going to dive into the class online and maybe some additional content elsewhere. I will talk to you soon!
If you are reading this because you want to learn JavaScript…start now.
Thanks for reading my first post. Shoot me a follow or DM or something (not sure the capabilities of this website) if you have any questions.
Follow me on twitter Medium Jevin (@medjev) / Twitter. I hope to get active there and get some solid coding resources together.
