When starting your web dev journey it can be hard. Actually no, not that it can be, it pretty much will be hard. When learning something new there is a learning curve and you buck up into trouble. Here are some things I wish I knew to make that journey a little less bumpy.
It's a marathon not a sprint
You cannot learn everything in one go, or in a week, not even a month. So cramming is not going to make you a better developer, it most probably will just fluster you and what you learnt won’t even stick. So take your time, practice it all, but hold onto the essentials, the rest you can look up when needed.
Don’t be afraid to call on your bestfriend
There will be times when you're stuck and you're kicking yourself thinking why don't I know this? I should be able to work this out. I did, but then I realised there was this awesome tool called Google, when learning to code google is your best friend and using Google doesn’t mean you’re cheating or mean you don't know what you're doing. You’re not a machine you’re not expected to remember everything - that’s why machines have been created for us to use. Call on your best friend whether that be google, stackoverflow, MDN etc. They're essential tools that are free to use when learning to be a developer and even when you’re working as a developer.
Code code code
Once you’ve learnt something, test it out. Make something with it and once you've done that do it again, and again, and again in different ways. Experiment with it, understand how and why it works. The more you practice something the more it becomes permanent and hard wired in your brain.
Teach
Try to pass on the knowledge of what you’ve just learnt to someone else. Trust me it works wonders, you tap into your memory of the concept and then find a way to relay it to someone so they are able to digest it. While doing so you realise how much information you actually retained on the subject. You also get the joy of helping someone or annoying someone with your ramblings of code. Either way you learnt something new. Celebrate, you can go onto the next concept.
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