Why I Stopped Watching YouTube Tutorials

Grant Ralls — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 03:17:11 +0000

TLDR: It's not that long but OK. I got tired of outdated information. Also, searching through docs is faster for me than watching a video.

Intro

I've been writing code for 8 years now. A solid 6 out of those 8 years, my primary form of learning anything new was YouTube tutorials. If there wasn't a tutorial on YouTube for a thing, I didn't learn it. I got my start making Minecraft mods with Java, video games with C# and Unity, iOS apps with Objective-C (Before Swift was released), Android apps with Java, and finally static websites. I've done a lot of things but the problem is I didn't actually learn anything. I just wasted a lot of time copying the code line for line from some random YouTube video.

What's the problem?

How do I determine whether something was a good use of my "learning" time or not? Back then, I would say that whenever I am "making" something, that is a productive use of time spent learning. I soon found out I was very wrong. I would copy and paste the code, then have no idea that the content creator was using an out of date method. Maybe the content creator didn't really explain the concept well enough. Worst of all, maybe the content creator was straight up wrong! What if I need to go back to reference something? What is faster, typing a keyword into the search bar of the documentation, or scrubbing through a 2-year-old YouTube video? Let's move on.

The realization

So there I am, bored out of my MIND with programming. I start to think to myself, "Maybe I am not cut out to be a developer. I should change degrees now while it's still early". I quickly realized that I am not bored with programming. I am bored with making boring static websites. I want to learn the epic voice BACK-END!!

The Journey

I know JavaScript, C#, Java, and Python. These are the well-known options for back-end development. I gave Python a go first, with Flask. I learned I hated everything about Flask. Django was a LOT more enjoyable but I still wanted something even better. I was quickly told that if I wanted to go into "enterprise-level" websites I need to learn ASP.NET with C#. So I did, the documentation and learning resources were pretty trash (for ASP.NET). I am reading through docs that have a lot of copying and pasting, which annoyed me. I know JavaScript is what the "hip kids" are using. If you read my last post you will know that I ABSOLUTELY
HATE... Love checking out the new tech.

"Grant, you shouldn't just hop on bandwagons. Learn tech that you believe in!"

I KNOW! It's just new tech is so cool and shiny! I install NPM (that looks odd in all caps) and "npm i express" and off I go! The docs, *sniff* beautiful. They are easy to use when I just need something to work. The docs also provide a deeper level of explanation when I want to understand something. The community of JavaScript Back-end developers is very active online. I love everything about it and NPM. Finally, my first success with using docs as my primary source of learning.

Conclusion

What did I learn and what do I want to tell you? I learned that docs are not any more help than a video if they are not made well. Two big requirements that I want from docs is a "getting started" section, a deeper explanation of what is happening, and what are the best practices. To the Developer that is just like me... Just give it a shot. You might end up liking it at the end! I hope I convinced y'all to try something new. Y'all take it easy out there! :D

Scared of Learning AWS?

Grant Ralls — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 04:07:51 +0000

Introduction

"So what I need you to do is set up the FileMaker database with an EC2 instance on AWS."

Huh? I just got comfortable with accepting data using FileMaker's Data API and now you want me to MIGRATE A DATABASE to a service I've just now heard of? Ladies and Gents, strap in because I am about to take you on a wild ride on my day of 3 weeks ago!

What is AWS?

For those unfamiliar with AWS, I'm about to open a whole can of worms for you. I like to compare AWS to Adobe Creative Cloud. Both are amazing because they can do basically everything in their respective fields. Both are terrible because they do EVERYTHING IN THEIR RESPECTIVE FIELDS!

"Grant that doesn't make sense."

Fine, let me explain. Imagine you just want to make a video slow mo. Cool, you boot up Adobe Premiere and if you have no idea what you are doing it could be a 45-minute endeavor of clicking through menus, scrolling through forums, and watching tutorials at 1.25 speed cause the person TALKS TOO SLOW! I JUST WANT TO MAKE THIS VIDEO SLOW-MO!!! ...Same deal with AWS. If you don't know what creative cloud is, then that's awkward. What's even more awkward is I successfully migrated the database to an EC2 instance before I even knew WHAT an EC2 instance was! How did I do it? I followed the instructions on the FileMaker website like it was the BIBLE.

Why should I care?

For the longest time, I ran through those cute little YouTube tutorials. Doing my own thing, I'm comfortable. Safe from the scary world of server management, best practices, figuring stuff out on my own. I had no reason to care about AWS, devops, or backend. Like it or not, chances are if you are a web developer, your code will end up sitting on some cloud machine. It would be smart to learn how it works. Maybe you don't have to know it EXTREMELY well, but just to have an idea is good. Eat your apples, it's good for you.

Side Note: Let it be known that while I only mention basic AWS stuff, the AWS rabbit hole goes deep. There are a lot of services and a lot of things you can do with AWS!

Time to Learn!

Alright, we made it through the first section and only almost lost our cool. That's pretty crazy, but the really crazy part is that I'm getting the hang of AWS and I actually love it! I don't want to act like I am some AWS pro, I'm very early in my path to mastery. I just want to use this website to write a post to the person who was me a month ago. All this cloud mumbo jumbo that I didn't get. AWS and cloud computing doesn't have to be so scary. In fact, once you get over the initial learning hump, the speed at which you learn will get a lot faster. Watch, AWS at it's barest bones is an EC2 instance (which is just a Linux machine that you can set to be accessible by the internet), and S3 buckets which you can think of like a Dropbox folder. WELCOME TO AWS! Below I've put together a list of content that should help you get into AWS. It's a mix of official and non-official content so be aware that they may be out of date. I know that AWS documentation can be scary but in the end, it will be the most efficient way to go. So as soon as you are feeling comfortable, hop in those docs!

Broad Introduction to AWS

Introduction to EC2s

Introduction to S3

Andrew Brown's Introduction to Deploying an AWS Web App (Free for a limited time)

01:48

🎉 Published My First AWS Udemy Course And I Want You To Have It For Free!

Andrew Brown 🇨🇦 ・ Apr 6 '19

#personalnews #aws #rails #beginners

Conclusion

I hope if you have never looked into cloud computing that you at least glimpsed at those videos and the dev.to post. I have been having an immense amount of fun learning about the possibilities of AWS and I hope I've convinced you to give it a shot. To those out there way smarter than me, if you have found any factual errors or a better way to explain something. Please let me know in a comment! Y'all take it easy out there! :D

DEV Community: Grant Ralls

Why I Stopped Watching YouTube Tutorials

Intro

What's the problem?

The realization

The Journey

Conclusion

Scared of Learning AWS?

Introduction

What is AWS?

Why should I care?

Time to Learn!

Broad Introduction to AWS

Introduction to EC2s

Introduction to S3

Andrew Brown's Introduction to Deploying an AWS Web App (Free for a limited time)

🎉 Published My First AWS Udemy Course And I Want You To Have It For Free!

Andrew Brown 🇨🇦 ・ Apr 6 '19

Conclusion