Flatiron Phase 1 Module
Hey everyone! My name is Tyler and this blog is going to give you some insight on my emotional journey of learning to write code!
First off… If anyone has ever told you that learning to code is easy, ignore that entire statement! It has been four weeks since starting this course and I have already experienced more frustration than I have in my 25 years of being alive haha. That being said, I am having the most fun I have ever had learning a new skill! Our first module was learning JavaScript. Having gone through JavaScript during the phase zero module, I figured that phase one would be a breeze… I couldn’t have been more wrong. Everything that I thought I knew had either changed over night or I needed A LOT more review. Hint: it wasn’t the first option.
To be completely honest with you, with some help from my supportive classmates and trusty friend Google, I started to get back into the swing of things pretty quickly and complete a majority of our assignments with minimal struggle! As I submitted lab after lab, I was feeling pretty good about my understanding of the different methods and creating functions, how they all worked and even when and how to invoke them. Then, project week decided to show up…
I was off to a great start getting the basic structure of my HTML in place… Or so I thought. I can’t tell you how long after that point I stared at the same HTML and blank JavaScript file. You know when you are trying to write a paper in English class and you get writers block? It is similar to coders block except with writers block you can write something on the page and make it fit into your essay or story. When you get coders block and start typing out some code to get things moving a long, your computer sends back this little thing called an ERROR, basically telling you to “try again”. Imagine for a second your paper telling you to “try again” every time you wrote a sentence and the paper didn’t like it because it didn’t work with your essay… VERY FRUSTRATING!
After hours, no, DAYS of searching syntax and different methods to make my app function the way I wanted it to, things started happening that weren’t errors! If you think you have felt overwhelming joy at some point in your life, try creating even a simple app from scratch after four weeks of learning to code and then come talk to me. I can’t begin to explain the level of enthusiasm that forcefully takes over when those errors become a functional app!
Even given the amount of anger, stress, and disappointment that came along with this first four weeks of learning to code, the feeling I got when my project finally came together and I gained a better understanding of how all of this code functions made me realize that deciding to change my career path and learn this new skill was the best decision I could have ever made.
P.S. Thank you so much to all of my classmates and our amazing cohort lead Nick L. for the support and encouragement these past four weeks!
