Maybe you tried learning some javascript, but you got bored and quit. Its not that you don't know it, its just that you don't see how the information applies.
I know that feeling. I spent a semester on theoretical exercises with C, but everything was so mind-numbing - I didn't understand how it was relevant.
It wasn't until 3 years after my first programming class with C++ that it finally clicked for me how you build apps.
It was my senior year of college, and I knew I needed to prepare for job hunting after graduation. So I joined a hackathon sponsored by NYC to promote their Open Data initiative when I decided - "F** it. Its now or never".
I spent 50+ hours on this project, and it just got a few views, but it felt awesome to have something to submit. I felt like a real developer once I published the app on the App Store.
That led to me getting my first freelance gig making an app and a web portal for a nutritionist, and then for a speech pathologist, which eventually led to me getting my first job as a dev!
But it doesn't have to be that slow and dramatic for you. There's a way to focus your learning only on the bits that you need at the time that you need them.
Take a look at the Table of Contents below....
Chapter 1 - Prototyping and planning your project
- Defining your idea
- Going from low-fidelity to high-fidelity prototypes
- Planning your development work
Chapter 2 - Creating a walking skeleton
- Working with javascript or python
- How to make your app look nice even if you can’t design
- Make it work with mock data
Chapter 3 - Hosting your application
- Using modern tools to help you go from 0 - 60 on your projects
- What goes in a pipeline?
Chapter 4 - Authentication & Authorization
- What does it mean for a user to “sign in”
- Letting users sign in with social media logins
- Creating admin vs non-admin powers
Chapter 5 - Storing data
- Breaking down your data
- How to choose what type of database you need
- Creating & managing an API for your database
Chapter 6 - How do you know if it works
- Getting metrics on your front-end and back-end performance
- Is your product working vs is the code working?
Chapter 7 - Securing your data and your software
- Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to user data
- Protecting yours users privacy
- Leveraging cloud & open-source tooling to audit your applications so you know what to look for