I initially felt like diving right in, building a portfolio, and searching for job offers on my own. Quite enthusiastic of me. However, since it had been quite a while since I last engaged with the topic, I thought it would be wiser and more forward-thinking to pursue further education. The course was “Web Development Expert” at IU in distance learning, full-time. The idea behind it was that it would allow me not only to refresh existing knowledge but also to further educate myself in areas where I had little or no experience, as well as to catch up on things I missed in the meantime—such as responsiveness. Although I had already encountered the topic a bit when I created my personal website on Neocities. I wanted the retro feel of the old web, but without “mobile-hostility” 💥
Overcoming the Theory Challenge
The biggest challenge for me was the theoretical component. I am someone who needs visual input—and I don’t just mean plain text, but images or videos. Or even better: learning by doing. Sometimes, though, you just have to read through things. I sometimes found it hard to stay enthusiastic about reading purely theoretical texts over longer periods and staying focused. I managed this by diligently reading my study materials and also creating my own documents. In them, I documented all study content in their sequence, phrased them in a way that was easier for me to understand, and added examples and images where necessary.
Valuable Resources and Learning Strategies
When it came to Java, the absence of exercises and the type of code examples were problematic for me. So, I set out to find tutorials on YouTube. I found Jonas Keil’s videos very helpful because they were well-explained and easy to understand. Jonas’s guidance made many things make much more sense. Another resource, which came into play towards the end of the course, was the Coder Coder channel. Their tutorials helped me with my practical project, which I had to submit along with a project report to pass. Coder Coder focuses solely on frontend development, and the channel has become one of my favorites for (frontend) web development due to its engaging presentation and the fact that I relate to their background 🙌.
Time Management and Motivation
I tried to start studying every weekday morning at a certain time and stop at a certain time in the late afternoon. This wasn’t always possible as I would have liked because things often don’t go as planned. Then there are always other responsibilities like shopping and cooking. When I invested less time, I made up for it over the weekend. Additionally, I used a small book calendar, a gift from a friend in Japan. I only used this calendar for things related to the course and tried to distribute the modules over the months so that I could have a time advantage. I also planned ahead so that I would have at least one month left at the end dedicated solely to the practical project. Especially with purely theoretical content or topics that are personally less interesting (which happens…), I didn’t always feel highly motivated. I then just gritted my teeth and, if possible, made the topic more enjoyable for me by doing a small practical exercise at the end, such as following a video tutorial or, if there was no suitable tutorial, just watching a video on the topic to lighten the “heaviness” of it.
Milestones and Future Outlook
The practical project will always stand out in my memory. I was looking forward to finally being able to work practically and implement my ideas. Unfortunately, JavaScript was barely covered in the course and played more of a secondary role, but through the modules that covered Java, I learned things that can be applied to JavaScript, such as data types, conditionals, arrays, and object orientation. Additionally, I found the topic of algorithms very interesting and could see myself delving deeper into it in the future.
The Journey Continues
Now, I continue learning on my own. On one hand, through personal projects where I always incorporate at least one challenge for myself. For example, by integrating JavaScript. I hope this will give me a better feel and understanding. I also use the learning app Mimo to learn and understand JavaScript. This journey from art to frontend development is indeed a challenge, but I am excited to see where it will lead me. And I look forward to continuing to share my experiences and progress in this blog.
See you soon! 👩💻✨