In the short time that I’ve gone through CF, I’ve learned how to create my own portfolio website and an e-commerce website from scratch using multiple programming languages, frameworks, and libraries. Maybe you’re just starting the journey and downloading Sublime Text for the first time ever or maybe you’re on exercise 58 and thinking, “When is this exercise going to end??” Wherever you are in the course, I wanted to share some insights with you that I’ve gleaned in my time at CF that I hope will help you now and in the future.

“Have a plan of action.”



This was my approach for every lesson:

1. Read the "Learning Goals" at the top
2. Skim the exercise, focusing on the section titles
3. Read the "Task" section once
4. Go back and complete the lesson

In the beginning, this was hard to do because of an overwhelming anxiety that I didn’t understand half the words in the “Learning Goals” and the “Task” section. I thought to myself, “There’s no way I’m going to know how to do that.”

But this approach got easier to do as the exercises went by and I built up confidence that I’ve gotten through it before and I could do it again. On a road trip, you save gas when you know where you’re heading. Even though you might not understand a single word on the initial skimming, your brain still processes the words and makes them familiar to you.

“It’s all in the details.”



There are two moments when you have to be particularly diligent in completing the exercises. The first time is in reading the directions/instructions on how to complete a certain action. Misinterpret or skip a line of instruction and you can find yourself heading down a slippery slope of compounding mistakes.

The other time is in actually writing the code. “Read twice, write once” applies here. Syntax errors (missing brackets, semicolons, a <div>, ‘end’, etc.) can waste an unbelievable amount of time as you rack your brain to find the holy grail of a solution when the answer was the simple absence of a closing bracket.

One more note on reading and details: Some of the lessons require you to read documentation (installation guides, ‘readme’ files, ‘how-to’ guides, usage examples, etc.) to do some of the exercises. Some are better written and more detailed than others. Nevertheless, always pay attention to the provided instructions - “read twice, install/implement once”. Some of the coding doesn’t always make sense initially, but keep at it. Coding isn’t like learning a new language, but it is like learning a new dialect. You just have to repeatedly expose yourself to the terminology and it’ll become a natural part of your vocabulary.</p></section>

“I’m going to throw my computer across the room.”



By the end of the course, I realized I had probably spent an equal (if not more) amount of time figuring out why a certain piece of code wouldn’t work in my application as I did writing actual code.

But don’t let the frustrations and hopelessness get the best of you – there’s always an answer to your problem, you just have to find it. I will try to list the process that I used to resolve most of my problems (and leave out the bouts of computer-screen-punching stress that occurred in between) – significant steps are in bold:

1. Problem? Uh-oh. Take a deep breath.
2. Look for any syntax errors.
3. Re-read directions/instructions.
4. Run the code again.
5. Accept Einstein’s definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
6. Remove the added code and reload your website to see if it runs the same as before you added the new coding (to make sure there weren’t any accidental inserts or deletions elsewhere)
7. Look for any error messages in the logs, output, console, view, etc.
8. Ask yourself, “What am I trying to do?”
9. On each piece of added code, ask yourself, “How does this piece of code add to what I’m trying to do?”
10. Ask yourself, “Does this piece of code do what it’s supposed to be doing?” (congratulations, you’re debugging!)
11. Take to Google and search using any error messages or “how do you do this” or “this isn’t working”.
12. Talk to your mentor.

Something to consider: If all else fails, take a short break and step away from your computer. Your brain is still working in the background and stepping away can bring a new perspective or understanding to the problem.

Keep in mind that the solutions and tutorials you find online (like on Stack Overflow) won’t always have the exact answer you need. Try to read the solutions and think about how and why that’s the solution, instead of “what do I type?” More often than not, the solutions will introduce new concepts or be very complex – but don’t shy away, Google the new terms and continue expanding your knowledge base.

I purposely put talking to your mentor as the last step in this process because it’s really easy to just open up that direct message on Slack and ask away. But I truly believe you will get a lot more out of this course if you resist that initial desire and instead, try to resolve the problem using critical-thinking skills. Don’t get me wrong – mentorship is one of the highlights of CF and the Slack community is great. But don’t sell yourself short and take the time to give yourself the opportunity to struggle and strive to learn – just reach out before you get to the computer-screen-punching point of no return.

“My Final Thoughts.”

I didn’t know what to expect when I first started at CF. Throughout the course, there were rough patches where I thought to myself, “I can’t do this. I’m not cut out for coding.” At times, it felt like my knowledge base was a fragile house of cards that crumbled every time under the pressure of irreconcilable margins/padding to the dreaded ‘undefined method for nil:NilClass” error. But I fought through the deepest moments of hopelessness and I was able to successfully complete every task in every exercise.

I never had a twitter account, but I was recommended to get one by my mentor. My first twitter post was a quote by Leonard Nimoy that I expressed through a ruby method (I know, major nerd move on so many levels). He said, “Logic is the beginning of wisdom.” Programming is all about applying logic and I truly believe that as CF students learning to code, we’re not just more intelligent, but we are all wiser people for it. Good luck everyone!