There are a variety of challenges a person faces when they are becoming a web developer. I am no different and have faced many and will continue to face more (Ruby on Rails is on the horizon). I am going to share a few in this blog post and what I did to overcome them in hopes it can help others.

JavaScript- It started off nice and slow and then suddenly BAM! You want a what a what to do a what? I haven’t done an algorithm since college, people. I had so many frustrating moments and yes some tears learning this (and am still definitely learning). What helped me? I spent extra time and went back to the basics seeking out a variety of resources since each one is a little different in how they explain things. I practiced those for a while, then relooked at the next step in the journey with a stronger basis and did a little better. I continued that cycle making sure I had the basic down before moving on because despite what I thought the first time it won’t make more sense later if you just plow through.

Manipulating the DOM with JavaScript/jQuery- Besides the whole just learning how to do it. Dual screens and very careful naming conventions are your friend. That seems basic but your brain starts to fry flipping between screens on your laptop and trying to remember what was connected to what element. It doesn’t help the learning process at all.

AngularJS- I actually had a quick affinity for this framework. However, its modular nature means there are a lot of separate things connecting to each other and how you connect and use them is critical to success. My solution was drawing it out. I had piece of paper and wrote everything out and drew arrows on what connected to what. This was really great for me to cement what I was learning, and find my gaps, as well as a nice reference down the road when you have had a long day and your brain is foggy.

I hope this helps someone in their learning process. Happy coding!