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How to stay focused πŸ” as a self taught Frontend Web Developer πŸ’»

Chris Hansen on July 29, 2021

Staying focused is one of the hardest tasks when pursuing a new hobby, goal or project. Trying to break a bad habit? I'm sure you've been there. Tr...
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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy πŸŽ–οΈ • Edited

If you're having trouble staying focused or sticking at it, you probably shouldn't be doing it. It should be enjoyable, interesting, and something you want to do. If you don't feel this way, why bother?

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milanmalik profile image
milan-malik • Edited

This is a false fact. Even when you enjoy it, sometimes it can get frustrating. Some people have trouble focusing. And it has nothing to do with "what they enjoy". Sometimes when programming stresses you out, you should take a break.

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Agreed @iamprogramming !! Sometimes taking a step back to recalibrate is healthy, and even efficient. You can absolutely still be motivated while doing so. Thanks for sharing πŸ‘

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brianbadway profile image
brianbadway(he/his)

I agree. It is frustrating at first but If you gave up on everything that was frustrating; you'd probably accomplish very little in life.

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

My aim is to help boost a beginners confidence, while also providing some insightful tips πŸ‘Œ

As much as I appreciate your thought on this, I can think of some worldly renown people, who at some point faced road blocks.

You can love what you do, and have a passion for it, but taking on a new career or hobby can have it's obstacles.

I'm sure passionate entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, software engineers, web developers, etc, have all faced similar problems, or at least eventually. How about an author suffering from writers block?

Learning web development, especially on the self teaching path, is daunting. There's no one to watch over your shoulder, grading your work, or gauging your progress. The tech moves fast, and sometimes it can feel like your chasing. I love it, I aim to learn every day, and to apply what I learn. However self doubt can sometimes hijack your headspace. If these tips can help even one beginner developer stop debating on what framework to learn, or escape tutorial hell, I'm stoked 🀘

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy πŸŽ–οΈ

I don't think it's daunting at all - and not having someone looking over your shoulder is a plus! You're free to make mistakes, learn the way you want to, and follow the paths that interest you instead of the ones you're told you should be following. The whole thing should be an adventure - a voyage of discovery driven by curiosity, interest and excitement.

I'm a 100% self taught programmer and have no formal qualifications. I started programming at the age of 7 back in 1983 and have always found it interesting and sought to teach myself in my own way and at my own pace. Any 'roadblocks' are never roadblocks at all if you have the right mindset - just more challenges that will help you improve

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kilcodes profile image
KILowrey

We can't all be neurotypical, Jon.
It's great that you found a path and strategy that works for you. But you aren't a blueprint. Some people have anxiety, ADHD, etc. that makes it hard to start or stay focused. I don't really see how you're initial comment or this one is helpful to anyone. Remember, THINK before you speak :)

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dev8877 profile image
Dev8877 • Edited

That's an extremely narrow mindset. I'm currently self teaching. I love it but I get distracted. I like riding and working on my bike, I like watching interesting shows, I work 12+ hours a day and have kids and a million other hobbies. Yes I'm trying to build my career but I also keep making mistakes that sidetrack me and I lose interest because I'm not actually LEARNING anything.. just kinda watching or reading. So I take myself back to where I started and I find that almost boring because I already know it but I know it's not concrete yet.

I don't wanna miss anything and I'm not immature enough to believe I will remember it all but like this article says, I WILL master the basics, problem is sometimes the basics can become repetitive and feel boring while learning them. It's when I put them into practice is when I feel my passion burn again.

I'm not trying to jump down your throat, but to someone coming to this article looking for some sort of validation to pursue their career in development that sees this it could detour them away from wanting to do it because they saw an experienced developer say "if you don't love it all the time then it's not for you"...

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Travis Simpson

If I were to take your advice and said "why bother" any time I struggle to stay focused and stick to it, I would have never pushed my own comfort levels and pushed for better careers, or maintained any sort of job, or finished any school, or learned any new hobby, or wrote any blog post, or travelled, or met great people, or have done anything outside of wake up, have coffee, play a video game and go to sleep.

I would venture to say this is quite in line with the toxic mentality of the need to be obsessed with what you do. I struggle to focus in various areas of my life. I'm not self-diagnosing any particular reason why, and have not gone to a doctor to understand why yet, but even things I truly enjoy and love doing come with their distractions. Motivation and interest are fleeting for many. Most aren't at a place to live off doing what they want to do. Software development, for some, is just another tool to get a job done, and is a solid skill to keep in your belt. I'm happy for you never having had to face the struggle of staying focused or staying on track, but as in the developer world of "It works on my machine so IDK why prod is broken. Must be your machine" mental fallacy, "I enjoy it and have no trouble focusing, so it should be the same for you" doesn't fly. Congratulations on being an outlier that I truly wish I could be a part of.

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kartikeyrai profile image
Kartikey Rai

You still wanna make sure if you're unfocused by laziness or because you hate it

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Absolutely. A lot of us self taught developers have jobs or other side gigs going on while trying to learn web development. So I wouldn't say have difficulty focusing means a lack of motivation. Being able to focus and stay on track, is what will make you a better web developer πŸ‘Œ

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy πŸŽ–οΈ

Laziness would imply that doing it is something you feel you have to do, and you would rather be doing something else

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tubrogoth profile image
Turbo Goth

Why bother? Because it pays my bills. I wouldn't be making websites just for fun, but it pays well so I want to be good at it.
I think our industry puts too much emphasis on 'passion'.

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Emeka Orji

Thanks @hyggedev This is needed. And yes @jonrandy you could love something so much and yet have trouble staying focused. There are upcoming Devs out there who have this problem because of how busy today's world is, and because you didn't not face this problem while coming up doesn't actually mean it doesn't exist.

I love webdev, but the workload of Schooling and my current job almost give me little to no time to code, develop my skills,

So this article is mainly a time management resource and it is highly needed!

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Hey there @emekaorji ! I totally agree πŸ‘ Time managing our lives to learn web development on the self-teaching path is no easy task. We need to determine what to learn with the time we have set aside. And your'e still in school while working!? Mad respect D: Thanks your positive feedback! It means a ton ✌️

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mitaosi profile image
Qing(Jim) Lin

" Create a clone of the project you just did, but do it from scratch. " Is it ok to keep glencing at the previous project while build my first new project? For instance, to check out the architecture of components, re-use and re-build some components, functions from the previous project.

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Hey thanks for dropping by! πŸ‘ In my opinion, yes! I have on numerous occasions brought up a previous project on Vim and to get familiar with the file structure and design patterns. I have even brought up projects from a long time ago wether mine or from another resource, because it had a great helper function that can easily be reused. So I definitely I don't see any harm in that. At the very least, you are no longer concentrating on the tutorial while simultaneously trying to keep up. Now you have the time to break down the code in chunks, write the code and try your best to understand what is happening and why. You shouldn't force yourself to be "stuck." If you can't figure something out, I say take a look. If you are not in school attempting a computer science degree, the web and it's free and paid resources is your learning material after all. Just be careful with the never ending tutorials. But it seems like you are already on the right track D: #happycoding ✌️

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mitaosi profile image
Qing(Jim) Lin

Thanks for your reply,Chris! I am not new to programming, previously i just finished my CS degree and i am the type of student who family with theory、Algorithm and Data-Structure but lacking of project experience, In another words: I used to build some functions, single component/class/file,but have little to zero idea about how to put them together when start a new project from scratch. This is why i need to keep looking on the project i "built" along with these tutorials or some open source projects. By looking at them,i could figure out what kind of components and functions consist of a system.
My concern was: Should i build everything on my own from scratch, without "mocking" or "borrowing" these existing code. you answered my question well, thanks a lot! :-)

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

πŸ‘‹ For sure, glad to hear it! For example, I sometimes like to get inspired by great design on sites like Dribble, then I'll completely change the theme of it and gear it more towards some that interests me. I'll challenge myself to use my preferred framework, React in this case, to code it from scratch. You dig deep and learn even more D: Those are usually the projects I am the most thorough on too! πŸ‘

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Junior Lukusa

Thank you so much for sharing all this. I'm pretty sure that, I'll gain efficiency by following the promodoro technique.

I used to stay watching videos and taking note for about 3h every night. And sometime, I wanted to give up because I felt like I was not really understanding, as if I was just keeping a written version of what I was watching.

Now I know what to do. Thank a lot for all.

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

I really appreciate you sharing that with me! Everyone is in a unique situation in their web dev learning journey. I'm glad platforms like this exist for us developers to share our experiences! ✌️

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latenightsnacc

Thank you for this. Google recommended this at the right time because I really thought it was just me experiencing all these while everyone else was just focused and growing quickly. I've never interacted with any post in my life as much as I did with this one πŸ˜† it's just so relatable. Thank you author

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Thank you for sharing this with me! Honestly, my goal was to help anyone one even in the slightest. So I'm very appreciative that I have gotten so much feedback. This post has single handedly motivated me to keep writing. I just hope I can continue to write, share my experiences and motivate devs entering the space! Thanks again, happy coding! ✌️

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mightytechno profile image
Mighty

Another thing keep the phone away while working πŸ˜„

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Bonus tip! No doubt πŸ’―πŸ”₯

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Sakshi Tannirwar

I am fresher and also started learning web development .
For interview what I have to do as frontend developer .
Can I prepare it by myself or can I go through with any coaching institute of latest technology

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

You could definitely practice. One recourse is safely recommend is freecodecamp.com. They have a section mean to prepare you for I interviews! Also, if you have a portfolio, and applied to a job with said portfolio, never list any technical skills you are not willing to discuss in detail. πŸ‘‹βœŒοΈ

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keeran_raaj profile image
Raj Kiran Chaudhary

Great suggestions. I have found myself applying Pomodoro technique a lot and found my productivity has transcended. Thanks a lot

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Oh for sure! Same here. It helps me learn difficult topics more effectively as well. I tried using a Pomodoro clock while learning Redux, and it helped me a ton! Thanks for sharing your thoughts βœŒοΈπŸ™Œ

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nazarsecrets profile image
SVR

You got me at "get away from the tutorial hell". It is real. It's a spiral staircase and I can't help but fall in that loop. This was helpful and relatable! Thank you.

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

πŸ‘‹ We've all been there! It's when we learn to avoid that trap does the real learning begin! πŸ’―πŸ”₯✌️

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kylegichez profile image
Gichure Maina

Thankyou so much for the awakening information for maximum productivity.

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Thank you! πŸ‘ The Pomodoro technique alone has made me so much more efficient!

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kenethsimon profile image
kennyLFC

Earn the basics , build couple self projects then engage to real world projects find even a junior role to start with

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Absolutely πŸ’― That is the ideal approach. I am just now begining to share my projects with the world, not just a link to my portfolio!

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Taryn McMillan

This is a great article! I'm an overthinker and sometimes that can impede my focus. So these tips are very helpful. :)

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Thank you 🀘 I can absolutely relate! We gotta kick that to the curb ✌️

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VoNo1412

I can do it! tks

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

You definitely can πŸ”₯πŸ’―βœŒοΈ

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devdgehog profile image
devdgehog • Edited

I'll try the Pomodoro Technique. With remote work I developed the wrong habit of not taking breaks at all. Thanks for sharing the idea.

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Oh yeah, you're definitely in a prime situation to test it out! I really hope it benefits your new work-from-home lifestyle. ✌️

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opeolluwa profile image
ADEOYE ADEFEMI OPEOLUWA

thank uou

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Thank you! And thanks for dropping by ✌️

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meo3w profile image
Phil Hasenkamp

Great advice! Thank you for sharing!

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Glad to πŸ’― I'm so stoked! Thanks for reading ✌️

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Franklyn-dotcom

I love this! thanks for sharing this and you also gave me an idea of building a new project :).

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Thank you for sharing! πŸ™Œ I'm stoked I was able to spark some inspiration! πŸ’‘πŸ’―

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wizzy-design

Thanks alot.... Really great points

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

🀘 Thank you for stopping by! ✌️

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brianbadway profile image
brianbadway(he/his)

Very true! I wish I read this a year ago. Thanks for this piece!

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Thanks for dropping by and sharing!! Hope it offered somethin` πŸ’―

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Rohit gour

Thanks, these tips are quite useful. πŸ˜ƒπŸš€

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Glad I can help even in the slightest! ✌️

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riddvanjs

Great article! I'm a self taught developer and I was in tutorial hell and I managed to get out it. Many things you say I can relate too!

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hyggedev profile image
Chris Hansen

Thanks for sharing! πŸ‘ I'm glad I can relate to so many people! I've gotten such a positive response and I'm stoked to keep sharing my thoughts and my learning journey as well. #happycoding ✌️