I don’t know where to start so I’ll just jump right into it. Two weeks ago, I was saying: “I want to become a good frontend developper and web designer”, “Summer 2019, I will start freelancing or I will get a job as a frontend developper and or a web designer” and just about one week ago… ALMOST ALL OF MY MOTIVATION IS GONE, the only piece of motivation that I still have is for maths class thankfully.
It is so sad, discouraging and annoying to lose motivation like that it happened twice before to me and made lose VERY BIG in terms of motivation and time because when that happened I “surrendered” learning CSS for a few months then I came back to it with motivation but eventually it repeats…, yes I’m still at CSS. I’d like to become good at it or even master it before moving onto JavaScript.
Now, my big question that I’m sure I am not the only one wondering about or the only one that has wondered about (because this time I don’t want to just surrender CSS and waste time, I want to keep working towards achieving my goals, but perhaps I should take a break, not a fan of that because I would probably feel guilty if it is too long, how do I fix that motivational problem? I thought I was good because of the passion that drove and I’m sure still drives me for web design &frontend web development .
From the time that I spent thinking about this, I think this is due to multiple things:
There is a lot to learn
I am learning web design and frontend at the same time which might be alot
I don’t really know where to start regarding web design or even design in general
Outside of coding, I am in grade 12 hoping to get to university and therefore there is the “pressure” of doing good and getting accepted but I doubt it is a factor of my demotivation
EDIT:
Perhaps, I have been focused on money, making money hopefully throught my passion for coding, and that is maybe demotivating due to the pile to learn !
Also, my life is repetitive but I’ll have to get over that I guess like everyone ^^.
I have been in the same position as you before, I think it happens to everyone who is trying to master a new skill. What helped me get motivation was working on small projects that contain some kind of challenge (try to make a responsive website). Working on projects will give you some excitement which will lead to motivation to keep learning.
I see the way you wroked makes sense, but in my case, what could I do? Like suppose, that challenge wouldn’t be enough for me, no bragging intended! I am not that good either XD!
You need to not worry about any self-imposed deadline. You need to take the time to learn. Find a project you want to try, and keep workign on them until you get them to work.
If small projects aren’t a challenge, which I highly doubt less than a week in, then try for bigger ones.
Hi Tech, you know what? CSS is difficult!
It looks so simple but it isn’t. That cascade is complex and there are so many things you can do with CSS, it’s hard to take it all in. It took me a long time to get used to that programming language. I lost motivation a couple of times. But I got there in the end. And now I love it.
Best advise I can give you is to keep going and do a bit of coding each day, even if it’s just for half an hour. The very early hours are often the best because your mind is still empty and fresh after a night’s sleep.
It doesn’t matter how long it’ll take you. You’ll get there. If you have a passion for coding, you are going to be good at it. Especially at your young age.
You could start looking in other places as well. I started coding at Codecademy, then I came here, liked it a lot, but also found it too difficult, took some lessons on Udacity (nice video’s there) and went to Treehouse. Treehouse is the place where I learned the most, but it’s not for free. Now I’m back here and I love it. I’m going trough the lessons at top speed and I’m working on my projects to earn a certification.
It helped me to look at code from different angles, with different ways of teaching. And that made the repetition of the lessons bearable as well. Without that repetition it just won’t stick in my head, but I hate that type of learning. So I found a way around it and now I don’t need the repetition as much as I used to.
Never trust motivation, it works at the beginning and then…
Do you still want to do it?
Build the habit to code every day, for a minimum amount of time (whatever works for you, even just 10 minutes), you can do more if you feel like it, but just do that minimum time every day. Even if you don’t have the motivation to do it, do it anyway.
Join the #100DaysOfCode challenge, if it can help with accountability
I will check out Udacity and then Treehouse, you convinced me to check Treehouse despite the money. I’ll have to find that money but you seem to not regret so it will be worthit. So if I understand what people are trying to tell me and you too it would be to just keep going until the motivation comes back and I keep getting better and better right?
Yes, you’ll keep getting better. And Treehouse has a free trial.
Another possibility would be the CS50 course on edX. The video’s are on FCC as well, but it’s a whole course from Harvard and not just video’s. On edX you are able to get a certification, but without that you can study there for free.
I think what you say makes sense, but it is a little disturbing to me that my passion fades and comes back like that :’(. Althought I do think that I stlil want to do it :). I’ll code everyday .
So if I understand correctly your message, motivation isn’t the way to go about learning a new skill because like someone else said learning a new skill can be intimitading and discouraging, therefore I should just force myself to go if I am certain that I want it and when I’ll get good I’ll have that feeling of happiness provided by coding like Joke mentionned?
Learning a new skill can be boring, can be discouraging, intimidating, overwhelming, frustrating, it can not give immediate results…
Motivation is a trap, but if you are able to take that motivation and turn it in a commitment and keep up with that commitment with determination and discipline and grit, you can make it an habit and be able to do a lot of things
So… #100DaysOfCode ? https://www.100daysofcode.com/
After that you can decide that coding is not for you, but meanwhile you will have learned a lot
If you find that video learning is your jam, but you’re not rolling in money, you might want to check out the following resources:
LearnWebCode – https://www.youtube.com/user/LearnWebCode/ – these videos are free and quite informative reasonably paced and tend to use real-life (if a bit contrived) examples.
LayoutLand – https://www.youtube.com/layoutland – These are from Mozilla and the amazing Jen Simmons and through them you can really dig into what CSS layout can mean and do!
Wes Bos – https://wesbos.com/courses/ – Wes is great, a very similar vibe to Scott, his site has a mix of free and paid courses
But like everyone else has said, Being bad at something is the first step to being good at it. I just recently came out of a slump myself and can attest that it does get better. But these early days are hard. They’re just hard. But if you can get through to the other side, it’s good.
I think it’s important to temper your expectations a bit and pace yourself so that you don’t burn out while learning. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. The key to getting good at anything is consistency: do a little each day, and even if you have to skip a day here and there it’s OK as long as you keep going. Make it a routine, a habit.
Also I think it’s a mistake to try to become an expert at CSS before proceeding with JavaScript. It would take years to become an expert, so just relax. I also think learning is more pleasant when you switch focus around a bit, seems to make it more palatable, at least for me. Obviously you shouldn’t try learning everything at once, but 2-3 areas of focus at any one time seems good. Tired of trying to align that stupid div for 2 hours? Take a JavaScript break. Can’t solve that stupid algorithm? Make a pretty footer with CSS. Tired of JS and CSS? Learn about developer workflows; how to use git, npm, etc.
Ok, well ! Thank you thank you thank you! You did open my eyes there. When I think of it, Kevin Powell (Design/Frontend Youtuber) did say in a video that he has been doing CSS FOR 15 YEARS. Like someone else said CSS is difficult, which is okay. And you did just say that it isn’t wise to aim to be an expert before proceeding with JS. So I guess, I will just start JS some time soon! I’ll do my best to do a marathon and not a race so that I can relax.
Ok. So in conclusion, I think I got good lessons from you guys so thanks so much to ALL OF YOU.
I will try, no, suceed in coding everyday, have some patience and not race against time. Also, I’ll accept the difficulty of coding with the goal of making it something easy for me in the future .
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