How to avoid tutorial hell and follow a comfortable self-made path

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

How to avoid tutorial hell and follow a comfortable self-made path

Have you ever watched many tutorials in JavaScript and said yes, I got this? Then you can't even write a single line of code the next minute. Well… I have been there and I would love to help you get out of it. I started coding around 2017, due to a problem I encountered on my laptop which I majorly used to play games (although my interest in games was the major game-changer, yes pun intended). Over the years, I actually stopped in between because of lots of work and studies. Around 2020, I had all the time to learn how to code, I had already learned game development and I was getting interested in Web development. so I picked up this new skill. But it was hard. I watched my way to coding, sadly it didn't work partly because I was eager to learn everything fast. So how did I avoid this never-ending loop of the tutorial storm and never get the work done?

1. Build a self-made roadmap based on the area you want to get better at. I was miserable because I had loads of time and some resources but little or no output. I figured I needed a guiding light, so I set out in the search of consistency and a well-defined path. I found it in good roadmaps in diagrams I sketched based on my deep research on the internet. I was able to get the steps and pros and cons of the path I walked. I used roadmap. sh to fully accomplish this.

  1. Take knowledge in chunks and bits? The human brain is like a box- when it's full, you can't place any more items inside. Learning new skills comes with consistency and patience (emphasis on patience). as a beginner you really want to get to the top fast because you have a goal to attain either financially, skill-wise, or as a soft-skill laurel. You don't have to rush your progress. Learn in bits. for example, if you are learning JavaScript it's advisable to learn variables and data types in-depth before proceeding to the next stage. so, you see the best way to learn is to practice what you have learned in chunks

3. Be what you learn! Learning is fun when you make it you! to fully understand a topic, subject, or course you would have to submerge yourself into the waters of the latter, there are many ways to do this - listening to a podcast about your field, watching field-relatable contents about what you are learning, and read articles or blogs about it, etc. the only way to get better at what you are learning is to fully submerge yourself into it, with time you would see the effects.

  1. Read articles and books As mentioned in no 3. reading helps a lot because it stimulates imaginative thinking and a more theoretical approach to solving a problem. I would advise after taking a tutorial you should read about that course, subject or topic. for example, after taking a video course on JavaScript on Arrays, you should read an article or a book about arrays to get a broader light on it. this helped me a lot.

These few steps taken into serious consideration would create a smoother path to learning anything even the most advanced courses. I applied this self-made principle while learning Web development and it worked well, although it's up to you to add to this list because our problems vary.