Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Learning coding
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 9,937 PointsStuck and frustrated. How to effectively progress from here?
Since the last two months I am learning to code by myself at treehouse. At the beginning I could easily apply the basic things from html and css. I still understand the tutorials but having more difficulty with applying what I have learned.
I can apply what I have learned in the treehouse assignments, but it's getting harder to apply it on my own project. My codes keep comming up with unexpected things. Now it starts to happen that I can't apply what I have learned in my own project so I will just go on to another tutorial to keep on moving. Only then I learn thing that are like a puzzle that I can't get together.
This is starting to demotivate and frustrate me, but I realize it's part of the learning curve. What is the best way to go through this, because I am not going to stop coding.
4 Answers
Aurelian Spodarec
10,801 PointsSo what's the problem? I can help you with this, as I sit in this my self. If you want. I could, or might guide you, on what you do, but I would need to know what you know, and more..
You should give more info on what you study, know in general.
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 PointsHi there.
What you're describing to me is my daily struggle. Just the other day I was commending the teachers (rightly so) for what they do in helping us with our little victories in our learning path. But after a little victory seemingly comes many falls to our confidence, and you know what? That is part of the journey too.
It may come as a cheat to say this though, but you don't need to learn everything at once. There comes a time when you just need to move on and keep applying things to a project as you go.
Keep a note of what aspects of HTML and CSS you're struggling with and look things up. When you get onto web development and programming, you'll be doing that often. It's okay. You're not expected to memorise every class, every method and every event out there. Just keep coding and practising and hopefully things will start to click. :-)
Learning coding
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 9,937 PointsI am still coding ;) Just took an easier approach this week to keep challenging myself in learning coding.
Aurelian Spodarec
10,801 PointsJust to add :D the struggle is going to be 100% there, you are here to solve the problem. I understand, and I know this for a fact, that when you start, everything is going to be 100% harder, but you will get better at it.
To the moment on where you can build any website you can, but the struggle is still there, you will do it effectively, but it's still there.
I'm making my portfolio for two days now, and i just did header and men, that took me like whole day to figure out what I want to do, and I did soo many miastakes! I though I can't do this and I shoudn't apply for job because I woudn't hire someone like me, but now, I'm doing just fine.. I figured out what I wanted, and I realized that this is just the process.
No matter how veteran you are, (i suppose), the struggle is still there. lol
Just push it.
In life, everything is going to be demotivating and you will lose passion, the true magic happens when you push throw it.
Let's face, it eveyrthing will get broing. So you don't switch... but stay at this boring, crappy phase, eventually you will be better.
Look at specialist, they are great at what they do because they go throw these phases, that many are not willing to do.
It's going to be demotivating, tough, life. It's up to you, you can do it, or you can't.
I tell you, you can do it, do more sites, in fact, make simple sites.
I started with practicing different kind of headers. Then i added dropdown for mobile etc..
Now I do the same, I just do pure JS and try to do some fancy things with it.
You need to take steps.
ANd in programming or in coding, you somewhat jump in the middle. You don't know the future nor the past, so you need to figure out things.
Hope this helps.
Learning coding
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 9,937 PointsIt's good to hear your experiences, like figuring out the header. I am often busy trying to solve something in a navbar, or columns and it can take hours. Than I find information everywhere and can only connect a few dots. On the forum I heard others until now only about figuring out problems up to an hour or so. So I thought I was taking way to long.
I am working on this coding thing for a bit more than two months (in total about 220 hours) and thought that I should be able to build a website now. There are paid courses out there that claim to teach to make websites in about three weeks. That's almost half the time I invested now. So that crumbled on my motivation as well, although I think I can code, but sometimes I think how everyone here got there.
And yes, I also thought how an employer is ever going to hire me, although that's not a direct goal. Thanks for telling about how your process is learning to code is evolving. And now I realize that maybe I should have more patience.
Aurelian Spodarec
10,801 PointsMen :D I sit in this for 3.5years, and I just began to 'seriously' learn.
The begining is the tough one. You don't know what you are doing and what this is. I started, or did every programming language out there. Ruby, ROR, PHP, Python, JS, OBJ-C, C, C++, Swift everything..
Now I focus on web, front-end, which is HTML/CSS, Sass and JS, meanwhile git, soon grunt/gulp etc...
Though I didn't know how to learn.
And you need to think long term. Did you ever saw a person that got ripped in 3weeks? That's impossible. Same with mental stuff. You can learn this minimum, but bare minimum in 3months, maybe 6, bare minimum. I think I'm learning this now 3month, (on a serious note) and I did a lot of reading, a lot! 8hours just reading.. meanhile practicing.
In two weeks i got throw the front-end track ehre at TTH, and did about 5websites with different headers etc.. and I used the code that was in TTH for reference so it's clean.
Etc..
In fact, it's porbably something like, 80% thinking, and 20% coding for me. Implementing code is easy, it's how you do it, and the way you do it.
It's hard, of course, but on the other hand the more you repeat the same thing, the easier it gets.
I would suggest breaking things up.
Focus on one thing, be it header(navigation).
Now, I'm happy to see how you did it, and I could re-view it to my abilities. Then give you some tips on what you could do, and so on.
And please, don't go the easy route :D you're never going to learn anything that way. I can write you the first header i did.. over 100times.. if you wake me up at midnight. Such a waste of time.
The main goal of this is to understand how the 'code' works. You don't want to know or remember how this is done, but understand the code on how you can achieve what you are doing.
That's the primary thing. I don't even know all CSS properties etc.. nor I have a massive experience, but I understand it enough, and I got the big picture, on what it can do, and with the logic, I can build something that I don't know how it's build.
Now, that's just HTML and CSS, it's another thing with progrmming language, but still kinda the same. As of this moment.
Keep practicing.
I made about 50folders, to understand how I can structure my architecture etc.. and I still find things challenging.
The more you do this, the better you will get at this, but it's still challening.
My website Is challening now. A whole new level for me, takes me two days now, but it's worth it, i feel im messy again, but that's good, I'm growing. Adding new things and adpoting.
HOpe this helps :)
Learning coding
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 9,937 PointsHi Aurelian, thanks for sharing your mistakes so I can save time by preventing them. I think it's a good idea to only focus on coding headers. I will start with that today. And if you want to review my work at some point that would really be great!