I am struggling to make progress learning front end technologies while having a full time job. Although I can work couple of hours after work and on weekends I am not satisfied with the progress I make.
Would love to hear your opinion and experiences on ditching the full time job and focus only on web development.
Any tips, thoughts, stories would be very appreciated.
Top comments (9)
I'm a strong proponent of "don't quit your day job".
Build a routine and plan the time. Your job shouldn't have you working 24/7.
Set aside a routine to spend time on the weekends or evenings, or whatever your schedule allows.
But put it in a calendar and stick to it. Treat it like a job, but keep the one that pays your rent.
Yeah,I don't want to quit but I have a feeling that my pace is slow and technologies updates and changes daily and that I can't keep up. Ditching most activities to learn is scary but It seems it's the sacrifice I need to make.
Putting learning in schedule as if it is a real job is great tip.
I will try to make something like that and see how it goes.
Thanks!
If you're trying to learn, you should be focusing on the concepts more than on any specific technologies.
What that means: focus on learning the different pieces of web development. If front end, that would be single page apps vs multi page, basic logical patterns, integrating with apis, etc.
What you shouldn't be doing is trying to "learn react". The knowledge you acquire should be as transferable as possible if you're worried about timing. If you understand the concepts, you can switch from react, to angular, to something else without breaking a sweat.
If you start with react or angular, then it becomes much harder to do anything else if those products end.
Don't you, guys, think that trying to find this happy balance between working full-time and learning detracts you? You cannot focus fully on your learning as you have these minor challenges and problems that slow down your learning..
Depends on what the rest of your schedule looks like.
But $$$ is more important than not being distracted.
I teach introduction workshops for people looking at starting to explore development, and it's pretty amazing what people can learn in 6 hours a week for just a few weeks.
It will definitely take longer. But you'll be able to pay rent and eat.
What things at your daily job prevent you from learning new things? Is there a routine? As for me, the best option to learn any technology is to use it in practice.
The job and everyday travelling takes in total about 9 hours, sometimes 10 and the job itself is very exhausting, both mentally and physically. Although I do have some time to learn I do not have enough energy and focus to make it productive in the measure I would like to be.
If my job is quite routine, I would consider changing the job. If circumstances aren't so favorable, then it makes sense to plan a time properly, so I could do work at a daily job and some work on self-learning at home.
It's effortless to say, but it's complicated to cope with. As I can exhaust myself to burnout.
Hi Sophia!
Great resource to help with this kinds of situations. For sure I will take a deeper look.
Thanks for your response.