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Oct 26, 2023 Self-Taught Dev 8 min read

How I Taught Myself Full-Stack Dev in 12 Months.

"The biggest hurdle isn't learning the syntax; it's learning how to learn when there is no curriculum."

Phase 1: The Foundation

I started where everyone else does: HTML and CSS. But instead of just watching videos, I built three clones of my favorite landing pages. This taught me more about the Box Model and Flexbox than any course ever could.

Phase 2: The JavaScript Struggle

JavaScript was the "brick wall." To overcome it, I stopped following tutorials and started building a simple Calculator. When it broke (and it broke often), I spent hours in the console debugging. This is where the real learning happens.

Pro Tip:

Don't get stuck in tutorial hell. Build one project for every three tutorials you watch. The struggle of fixing a bug is worth ten hours of watching someone else code.

Summary

Becoming a developer is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistency—even just 30 minutes a day—is the secret ingredient to success.

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