I like freeCodeCamp, it’s fantastic project with good comunity, I’ve never seen something like this before.
But…
When I am coding some projects on freeCodeCamp
, I am just saying in my head “I am just working on projects, which successfully finished hundreds of people before me… and most of them better than me”, and usually it’s fun only when I finish the project…
I have just one motivation: 1) Learn something new in programming 2) Get a freeCodeCamp certification
When I am working on my own projects, which nobody did before me, on my own ideas, not ideas of someone else
I just feel like “Oh, I am giving a real value to the world… I am working on something what nobody did before me… oh yeah it’s so amazing”.
I have more motivations: 1) Learn how to code. 2) Realize some of my ideas. 3) Do something first 4) Solve some problem that I or someone else hate (yes, on freeCodeCamp projects I also solve the problems that someone hate, but these problems solved hundreds of people before me, nothing will change in the world if I’ll finish that project…)
I enjoy the process, and it’s fun 80 % of the process, not just when I finish the project, like on freeCodeCamp.
So what to do?
Someone who feels like me?
Should I stop with freeCodeCamp and start learn on myself, and do my own projects, or stay on freeCodeCamp?
What are some + and - ?
Freecodecamp offers three excellent things, in my opinion:
A sensible pathway to learning the myriad things around.
A good range of projects.
A superb community.
Use as much or as little as that as you need. If you have ideas for personal projects and they are just a little beyond your current skills, build those since you’ll be passionate and learn a lot.
I juggle freeCodeCamp projects and personal projects depending on mood
I think both are important. What are your goals? Immediate gratification or building a long term foundation? Working on personal projects is great and can lead to some great self-teaching. The problem with self-teaching is that people tend to focus on what they like and what is comfortable. Having a structured program is good because it forces you to do things that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. I would even go beyond FCC and get some good books, etc.
If I had my say, I’d recommend focusing on the FCC program and put personal projects on a back burner for a bit, maybe not completely ignoring them, but not making them your focus. I’ve found that as I learn more, I’ve been able to envision better coding solutions for my personal projects and I’m glad I didn’t run off half-cocked halfway through my frontend certificate.
Why not work on both? When I get sick of looking at my own projects, I plug away on fcc. When I don’t feel motivated working on fcc or get stuck, then I switch back to my own projects.
Working away on fcc always helps me take something back to my own projects. I’ve been primarily a PHP developer for years, but learning/working in other languages really helps me when I come back to working with PHP. When I was learning Angular earlier this year, I could NOT wrap my head around unit testing. It wasn’t until I read up on PHPUnit, that unit testing finally clicked.
Or switch your mentality: by working on these fcc projects today because I need the practice, tomorrow I can work on my own projects to save the world and be more efficient at doing so!
I have been coding professionally for 20 years. Here’s what i have learned - enjoy the actual process of coding. Push yourself to always write better/cleaner/clearer code. To create simple and clear solutions. Writing code that solves the problem is only the first step - now refactor and make it as simple and clear as possible. This is the skill that is needed - anyone with experience can solve nearly any problem. The difference is in the quality and maintainability of their code. Newbies end up with rube Goldberg solutions, and since the solution seems to work they think they’re done and they move on.
With this mindset, you will see that the “thing” you are coding will become irrelevant. Its like a welder… I dont care what you are welding - i want to see beautiful welds. It can be just a bunch of scrap metal, but people will scoop you up quickif your welds are beautiful (and your personal projects are much more likely to be successful)
i personally think working on your own projects is a great idea … fcc is a path to follow to show you the bigger picture … it dose this by giving projects that lead from one step to the next … but if you have ideas that you can build and learn the things on the fcc path well then thats all that matters … you can always reference fcc to make sure you have covered everything. I would love to be able to come up with my own ideas for things to do … as yet i havent come up with anything … which is so frustrating … closest thing i have done on my own is a project for my boss in a previous job and that was using visual basic in excel … i learned and wrote the code for her excel books to automate it for her. I made it so that each year she just presses one big button and it recreates her excel sheets for the year into a new folder and adds macros to them so that she can do what she needs to do. Previously this work would have taken her a lot of time to do ( well someone else a lot of time to do ) but now can be done in less than a minute at the click of a button. I found you learn a lot and quicker if you have your own idea on what to do … so im hoping soon i will come up with something that id like to do and can work on.
So do both … stay on fcc … work on your projects and showcase them here for all to see
Both. FreeCodeCamp challenges are learning tools to improve your logical thinking and technical implementations.
Developing things that “nobody has ever done before” (<-- to which I’d add “as far as you know”), can be more gratifying, but if you just stick to them you’ll learn a thousand times slower, forever stuck with your current skills and trying to use the same hammer for all problems.
So go ahead. Experiment. Try codepen for making “your” stuff. But don’t feel like it’s a one thing or another kind of deal. Try to face codecamp challenges every day, and try to make some code thingie every day too.
Honestly, starting to work through the projects and exercises on freeCodeCamp helped launch me back into coding regularly. It’s exposed me to ideas I might not have come up with on my own, and has helped me find paths to focus on in my learning journey.
I think what people have expressed in previous answers is spot on: try to do a mix of both!
I’m working through both my personal projects and the freeCodeCamp challenges, all while working a full-time (unrelated) job. It can be a tough balancing act! But in the end, totally worth it.
.
It’s true that freeCodeCamp has a really good comunity 8 replies in 22 hours? Fantastic!.
I picked up most influencing sentences for me (but thank you all! Your time to answer my question really helped me!)
“Use as much or as little as that as you need. If you have ideas for personal projects and they are just a little beyond your current skills, build those since you’ll be passionate and learn a lot.” (by JacksonBates)
The black-side of self-teaching:
“The problem with self-teaching is that people tend to focus on what they like and what is comfortable. Having a structured program is good because it forces you to do things that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.” (by kevinSmith)
“Developing things that “nobody has ever done before”, can be more gratifying, but if you just stick to them you’ll learn a thousand times slower, forever stuck with your current skills and trying to use the same hammer for all problems.” (by facundocorradini)
“Enjoy the actual process of coding. Push yourself to always write better/cleaner/clearer code.” (by Jason_L)
And most of the most influencing quotes for me
“Why not work on both? When I get sick of looking at my own projects, I plug away on fcc. When I don’t feel motivated working on fcc or get stuck, then I switch back to my own projects.” “switch your mentality: by working on these fcc projects today because I need the practice, tomorrow I can work on my own projects to save the world and be more efficient at doing so!” (by sipofwater)
So how I decided?
I’ll change my mindet and stay focused to FCC, because it’s more effective way to learn programming and basic concepts (and don’t stay comfortable)… and by the time, I’ll take a “coding holidays” and work on my own ideas.
8 replies in 22 hours? Fantastic!.