March 2023 will be my second full-fledged month in learning Web Development, and I’m excited for it. As I mentioned in my previous post, it’s the time when I’ll start learning JavaScript, one of the most used programming languages for Web Development. The main one for Front-End, and a very popular one for Back-End (others being PHP, Python or Ruby).

I’m already expecting it to be much more challenging than HTML and CSS, but as I’ve got some experience in programming (interned as a Software Developer in Renault back in 2015, a while ago but still got some remains), and I already learnt Python, C and C++, it’s the syntax that will take some time.

The curriculum

The world of JavaScript is very, incredibly vast, and it’ll probably take me some months to get to the bottom of it. It’s both used in Front-End and Back-End.

So this month will be all about fundamentals. There will be some design remaining, but the core focus of this month is JS.

Monthly goals

I’ve yet to describe the whole curriculum in my planner, but I believe I’ll complete the first 5 JavaScript sections in the Udemy course, until the JS Object Literals. But my goal is to reach the Newer JavaScript features section, which is 10 sections away from where I’m now. Realistic? I don’t know but I’ll see how my progress goes throughout the month.

I set a goal of finishing the JavaScript Basics chapter from the Odin Project, as there are 3 really interesting projects that I want to complete, and I want to take enough time to really understand JS, and not rushing through it. I think this chapter will be very thorough with a lot of assignments, and I feel like I’ll understand a lot when I’m done with it.

And finally, I’ll go through this project once again, albeit from a different source, the Landing Page Project on FreeCodeCamp. I’ve yet to finish the Responsive Web Design course, but it’s thorough and, despite having a lot of hand-holding, I still learn a lot.

So to recap:

  1. At least reach JavaScript Object Literals section on Udemy. Ultimate goal: Newer JavaScript features section.
  2. Complete the JavaScript Basics chapter on The Odin Project: with 3 projects on it, this is a great learning opportunity.
  3. Get through the Landing Page Project on FreeCodeCamp. Ideally complete the whole Responsive Web Design course but it’s fine if I don’t.

Weekly goals

Weekly goals are, in my view, as important as monthly goals, as we can keep track of progress without micro-managing. So here are the weeks that I consider for this month:

  • Week 6 (02.27 to 03.05):
    • Finish the Balance sheet project on FreeCodeCamp.
    • Get to the JavaScript Developer Tools chapter on The Odin Project.
    • Complete JavaScript Basics on Udemy.
  • Week 7 (03.06 to 03.12): Step up a notch by:
    • Completing the Technical Documentation Page project on FreeCodeCamp.
    • Get to the Node.js chapter on The Odin Project.
    • Finish JavaScript Strings + start JavaScript Decision Making on Udemy.
  • Week 8 (03.13 to 03.19): This week will be tough to evaluate because I’ve got something very important coming up in my personal life. Setting aside time to learn will be difficult. So I haven’t set any goal for that particular week.
  • Week 9 (03.20 to 03.26):
    • Finish the Landing Page project on FreeCodeCamp.
    • Complete the JavaScript Basics chapter on The Odin Project with the Calculator project.
    • Finish the JavaScript Object Literals section on Udemy.
  • Week 10 (03.27 to 04.02):
    • Complete the Responsive Web Design course on FreeCodeCamp by completing the Personal Portfolio Webpage project.
    • Finish The Back End section on Odin Project.
    • Get to section 20: Introducing Functions on Udemy.

As always I try to keep my goals realistic, and stay flexible if I can’t manage to complete all goals on time. I can move them around or reschedule. Making progress is more important than strictly completing goals for the sake of completing them.

At least now I have a detailed timeline of how my progress can look like this upcoming month.

I keep saying it: I’m looking forward to getting into JavaScript and make web pages more interactive.

I still have to take the Coursera course into account too, so that I can also have a feeling of accomplishment. I learnt a lot already and there’s still some stuff that I probably don’t know that will be taught in this final week of the course.

A lot to deal with, but it’s a path that I chose, and as long as I’m persevering, I’m good. See you in the next post.