tips for learning a new coding language

Hi friends,

As I slowly but steadily move through the Responsive Web Design course on freeCodeCamp, I notice myself feeling like I'm not doing enough to take in the information.

With the way the course is set up, there is a lot of hand holding. There is also a lot of information being thrown at you at every step, literally. Each time I submit my code, there is a new concept, element, attribute, whatever to be aware of.

The student in me thinks that I should be memorizing or at least writing down every little thing. That I need to create a study guide of some sort so that I can be prepared for some hypothetical test.

The issue with this logic is that there is no test. Besides, if there is one, it will always be open note, open resource.

I think when learning something new, it's easy to fall back into the mindset we carried when we were students. The approach we take towards learning is test-oriented. A test was the only way to show that we actually learned something so it makes sense as to why we might fall back into this habit.

Luckily for me (hopefully you too), I am out of school and I can take a much more realistic approach to learning a new skill.

Here are some helpful tips when it comes to learning a new skill as an adult out of school:

You are not taking a test -- don't be afraid to look at your notes or search the internet for an explanation. Don't worry it's not cheating.

Take your time -- the good news is that there is no deadline, but that could also be bad news. Take the time to set your own schedule that works for you to make continuous progress

Share your work -- Being a beginner can sometimes make it hard to integrate your self in developer communities. Everyone is always sharing something so cool and you are just now getting the basics. Share it anyway. Be proud of your work and acknowledge how far you've come sine you started.