I built my blog with MERN (MongoDB, Express, React.js, and Node.js) stack. It's for my portfolio. I didn't build any full-stack project before. In the process of building this project, I've learned a lot.
In this post, I'll share 5 lessons I learned while building this project.
Note: I'm just a beginner. These tips are just my experiences.
lesson 1: Plan Before starting.
When starting a project be it a full-stack or just frontend make sure to plan. Because that will save you a ton of time. List out all the features your application will have.
In my case creating a new post, editing, deleting posts, commenting on posts, etc. Also, the user logs in and registers.
lesson 2: Take a course
Take a similar course as your project if possible.
If you are starting out, try to find a similar project course on Udemy or YouTube. It doesn't have to be 100% the same as your project. If your project is CRUD find a CRUD course. That will help you save a lot of hours of frustration.
lesson 3: Ask for help
Ask for help. When you are stuck, don't know what to do. Reach out to people. Ask for help. There are a lot of discord servers, programmers hanging around. Also, you can Dm people on Twitter programmer are happy to help you
lesson 4: Don't rush
Don't try to code the whole project at once, cause that won't happen. Someday an error will pop up that will take hours to solve.
Break the project into smaller chunks and tackle one chunk at a time.
Try to use tools like Notion or Trello. Those are great tools to track a project.
lesson 5: Google It
When you got an error, just google it. Don't hesitate. googling will help you save a lot of time.
I remember one error that cost me my whole day. I was trying to figure it out on my own. Then I googled it fixed it in a few minutes.
lesson 6: Take a break
Take a break. While coding it's a lot hard to leave an error without fixing it. But it's unproductive.
I remember one day couldn't fix an error. Then I stayed till 2 am. Then I left and got some sleep. The next morning like magic I fixed that bug. Do you know what that bug was?
I put == instead of = when assigning a variable. 😂
Conclusion
That's it for today. If you want to read articles like this make sure to follow me on Twitter @coderamrin
Thanks for reading.
Top comments (4)
thanks for your post, I thought that programming it isnt mine, but you gave me hope. Thanks one more
wow, i feel that way 90% of the time. so don't worry we all feel that way.
You Got This :)
Thank you for posting this, all these lessons are extremely useful for beginners. And number 6 can often be the case for middle or even senior devs :)
yeah that true.
Thanks for the nice words :)