Hello there, friend! I’ve had to come back to this several times to complete it. I’m learning web development and blogging about it. I just finding out that good blog posts have around 2500 words! Motivated and inspired, it’s time to aggressively move towards my goals. Instead of confining my time for learning and working to five hours in the late morning and early afternoon, I’m removing the cap. I’m hoping I’ll reap the benefits of this, and will consider it an investment if I don’t immediately.
I found some new material in the responsive web development section of freeCodeCamp, and decided to do it. There were a few tasks here and there I needed to complete, and then one entire module — drawing a cat head using CSS. I completed this relatively quickly, and returned to my JS work.
My next project is creating a palindrome checker. I’ve worked out a lot of what I think is needed for it, but implementing it is still tough. It’s a struggle to do some of the early tasks. More intensity and clarity would be nice. Hopefully I can find those soon (tomorrow would be nice) because I really need to keep making progress.
Increasing reading time is also a major goal, and priority. If I can read more, I will gain valuable insights I wouldn’t otherwise. It’s another opportunity to learn, and to learn important perspectives. I’m excited to have a new book coming, and to finish up the novel I’m currently reading. I was able to get a web development book for a bargain price, and I can’t wait to start going through it and improving my skills.
Excitement
This domain and the blog I’m building excites me. It gives me motivation to continue my learning journey, and allows me to fantasize about the future. Opportunities for growth will present themselves. I’m looking to build my professional portfolio and network. I’m going to share this blog primarily on X to start, and later, once I’ve gained an audience, expose it to some more people in my inner circle.
While building this I’d also like to: continue reaching out for freelance opportunities, obtain a GitHub certification (after I finally get through the one I’m currently working on), and familiarize myself with and use Figma to prototype and design projects. With these skills I should be able to easily get some jobs, and add to my portfolio. I’m having fun on X now connecting with other people interested in web development. It’s exciting to know that one day I could be working on a project with one of these people.
I’m aiming for a Flesch-Kincaid score of at least 75 before publishing any content using this tool. This will ensure my content is accessible, and easy to read. I’ll also be adding an image every 500 words or so to keep things fresh and engage the reader. This will undoubtedly be a bit of a struggle at first — on first run through I’m finding it difficult to get above 65. However, with time and more practice I have faith that I’ll improve.
I’m using an SEO plugin to inform my headlines for my blog posts now. I just spent a while testing out different headlines — it was difficult to score above 70, but I was finally able to achieve a score of 73. I’ll probably come back to this later — a score of 80 would be nice.
My history in learning web development
Since this post is about learning web development, let me talk about my history with it for a bit. The idea of getting into web development occurred to me in 2017 when I realized there was large job growth projected in the field. I had recently transitioned careers, and was struggling to find my place in the job world. Bouncing around through a couple jobs, gaining no real traction or success provided little satisfaction. I yearned for something of my own. Something that could provide me flexibility financially and physically was sorely needed. I wanted to be in control of what I worked on and when I did it.
I started learning web development in the latter months of 2017. At first, I studied documentation available through Mozilla — they have a lot of good resources available. I worked through these tutorials, and this was my main form of learning for about seven months. It was lacking something though, and this was implementation. Without implementation and actual action, I was finding it difficult to learn.
In 2018 started building my own site, and struggled along for a while with it. I started using freeCodeCamp because I found it more interactive and easier to learn. This sped up my progress as a developer somewhat, but life got in the way, and I needed to get a job to pay the bills. I found it difficult to do substantial work on projects, though I would at times, and still worked on my skills. While I was a Lifeguard at the Y, I would use the Codecademy app on my break to keep my knowledge of JavaScript fresh. It was enough to keep a seed planted in my mind. I was always going to come back to coding.
More recently in learning web development
After some time, I was able to get my first website live in 2021. I had a little extra time because of the pandemic — I may have been laid-off at the time. It was a fun yet exhausting comprehensive process that required endless patience, and exacting attention to details. I remember one of my first projects, a website for my friend, had a stray bracket in the code that was showing up on the page, and it drove me crazy because I couldn’t find it in the code. It was a relief when I finally did, but took me quite a while! I still have an Instagram post for evidence.
I’m still attempting to gain some footing in the freelance world. I recently completed my first job, however, and though it wasn’t related to web development, it at least got me started and a nice five star review. The urgency I am applying to this aspect of my life at this point in time will hopefully tip the scales, and result in me finally landing some clients. I recently had a close call with employment — sending proposals for data conversion and data entry positions. I didn’t hear back, however. Alas, I am doomed to work on my own things for now. Hopefully I can build them up to a point that will impress would-be clients, or potential employers.
What I’m doing today
I need to get back to the palindrome project and try to finish it up. I also need to buy some more connects and send out proposals for jobs. This means I will be very busy today, which is why I’m rapidly trying to finish this post up now. I’m optimistic that with time this length of blog post will become normal for me to write.
On my journey to become a web developer I started with HTML. This what makes up the foundation of webpages today. In the early days of the web HTML was the primary language, accounting for nearly all of the code written on any given webpage — everything was done with it. Today, we have Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to style our webpages, and frameworks like Bootstrap that utilize it by applying class names to our HTML. Lastly (for the front-end) we have JavaScript, which provides functionality to our webpages and the ability to interactively adapt pages.
To go along with these technologies I’ve also learned how to use some jQuery — a JavaScript library that makes coding a little more concise. Because I wanted to add back-end functionality to my sites I’ve begun to experiment with PHP. So far, I’ve only created a contact form that will send me an email when completed, but it has provided me some quality entertainment.
If you want to get started learning web development you just need a few things: a computer, a decent internet connection, a positive attitude, and some type of code editor. If you’re trying to run PHP you’ll need to run your own web server. I’ve used a number of code editors over the years: notepad, notepad+, brackets, atom, and now visual studio code. I would recommend VS Code currently.
The harsh reality
To become a professional in the field is harder than ever, so it is important to be efficient in learning web development. For myself, I know that I simply haven’t put in enough time to be at the level needed to be a successful professional. This is why I’m putting more time in than ever. Doing this is the first step towards success for me, and something that I look forward to doing consistently while expressing that here.
In learning web development you come across a number of obstacles. They are possible to overcome. If you focus and use everything you’ve learned you just may do that. I’ve had a few transcendental moments like this before, and boy does it feel good. It’s just about as much excitement as I can take!
Part of the fun is pushing yourself to that limit — past your comfort zone. If you can do this often, then you can improve. I’m going to practice this today, and try to take on challenges head-on today. With a little bit more enthusiasm and a lot of persistence I should be able to accomplish my goals.
Working on this project has me slightly behind schedule on my certification, so I’ll have to work hard in the coming days to stay on schedule. The sooner I can finish this up the better because I have a lot of other things I can do. The range of possibilities is actually pretty big. I can work on projects, attempt to collaborate with someone, or work towards another certification. I need to learn prototyping and do that GitHub certification, then I’ll be ready to take on some jobs. In the mean time, I’ll be sending out proposals for more jobs anyway.
That’s all for now
I didn’t make it to 2500 words, but maybe that’s something I can work up to. This is still the longest post I’ve ever written, I think. Hopefully I’ll get better and better with practice here, and have plenty of material if I keep learning at a high rate.
I’m excited to continue posting here, and to unveil this blog once my X account hits 50 followers, which will be soon. I’m hoping I’ll be able to find some people that I can work together with, and build cool stuff. In learning web development it’s important to stay motivated, and one of the best ways to do that is to track the progress of your peers. I’m looking forward to seeing my new friends grow, and to progress alongside them as well.
Learning web development isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it doesn’t have to be absolutely desolate. There are lots of connections to be made, and friendly people who make it more fun. Building a project is thrilling. Building something that works, and can be used by others, is extremely gratifying.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I’d hazard to guess that you came here from X, as that’s where I’m sharing this. I was going to put a feedback form on the home page, but form services for WP are apparently very expensive. You can follow my progress there. I’ll also be posting here frequently, so come back if you’re looking for some casual reading.
Until next time,
Warren
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