more than playing around with coding, for $150 a month?
April 19, 2015 7:40 AM   Subscribe

I am playing around with small ways to make a file database accessible to a group without using Box or Dropbox. I have been looking at various ways to learn coding html, css, and JavaScript at home for a couple hours each night and would like to hear about study plans self-learners have stuck with to develop apps and websites in three to four months. Any advice?

I have a friend who went through a boot camp who is encouraging me with how he has gotten started. I do know I can probably only do training for two or three hours per night, up to seven nights a week.


I have seen how Meteor works and impressed with trying it, but I realize knowing html and css are really important. I would like to find a training where I do all three languages at once. I saw a video with a text editor but it did not name it. I am thinking of using MeteorPad and wondering if anyone has used it or could direct me to something similar which also is linked to a progressive online training platform?

I don't mind paying for a good, engaging training program online. I can invest in this but cannot afford going to boot camp.
posted by parmanparman to Computers & Internet (7 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Follow the "Learn Javascript Properly" curriculum linked from /r/learnjavascript. The only expense is a copy of Professional Javascript for Web Developers. The curriculum starts with some basic HTML and CSS. Many supplementary resources are available at the subreddit, which also has an active IRC channel.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:21 AM on April 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


How far into learning html, CSS and Javascript are you? If you are starting out new(ish) Code Academy does all three. But it might not go as complex as you want.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:27 AM on April 19, 2015


Response by poster: Free training has limitations. I tried CodeAcademy and still have an account there but did not feel excited about studying there, just to get ribbons and medals. I really feel like I need a platform where I could go over the same material in at least two different ways in the training.
posted by parmanparman at 9:19 AM on April 19, 2015


The best way to learn to code is to just do it. Go though the tutorials and whatnot to get the basic concepts (variables, conditionals, loops, ways of representing data), then just build something. You want to build a database app -- just do it! Use all books, internet tutorials, stack overflow, etc and muddle through it. Read other people's code and examples. Your first attempt will be horrible and have bugs, but thats ok! After you've done it once, throw it away and do it again. By the third time you might have something you're kinda sorta ok with, or you might not. Keep going. As anybody who codes for a living and i guarantee you if they're any good at all they've thrown away 10-100x the amount of code they've kept.
posted by cgg at 9:33 AM on April 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Check out General Assembly's Dash. It's free, and I thought it was pretty slick.

Otherwise, Udacity's responsive web design course is good, but it doesn't cover JavaScript, and I found their JavaScript course to be not so great. You can also take Udacity's courses for free (some have a $200 a month option that gets you a tutor).

(I didn't like Code Academy, fwiw)
posted by another zebra at 10:16 AM on April 19, 2015


Best answer: A friend has good things to say for teamtreehouse.com.

I agree with cgg that working on your own project is one of the best ways to learn, but a more structured course can be a good start. In this line of work every new project is different enough that there will always be something new to struggle with so I'd say get used to the feeling!

I've been working with meteor lately and have been impressed with the ease in which you can get things going so definitely consider it for your project.
posted by meta87 at 10:20 AM on April 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


The best way to learn to code is to just do it.

QFT. I would just pick an app and a framework and try to get something working. A frequent example for training purposes is a To Do list, where users can enter a list of tasks and check them off. Once you get it working in the browser, you could add user accounts, authentication, and saving the list on the server.
posted by Aizkolari at 10:42 AM on April 20, 2015


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