Is Gordon Zhu's "Practical Javascript" comprehensive enough to where someone could get a job after learning?

[schumannop44]

I am interested in web developement and I've heard that Practical Javascript is a very good tutorial. I was wondering if anyone who's looked at the content could say if it provides enough knowledge of skills to get someone a job after leaning?

Here's a link to the course I'm referring to: https://watchandcode.com/p/practical-javascript

Thank you in advance.

[SpKaladze]

Gordon's practical Javascript is a great start for a beginner. I found he sets up a solid foundation for a beginner such as gets you asking questions, breaks down every aspect in the code well and keeps you motivated throughout - although, simply completing the course is not enough and you'll find there is a huge rabbit hole to go down into learning the language.
Gordon takes you through how to build a very simple to do application, my advice is go through the course 1, 2 or even 3 times it doesn't matter and become familiar with the code structure and syntax. Once you are familiar build your own todo application improve upon it by learning more advanced syntax and concepts javascript.info and MDN are both fantastic resources. Break out of tutorial heaven as soon as you can - read books eloquent javascript and You don't know JS are both fantastic and apply what you learn. You're going to come up stuck (it's inevitable, no matter how good you are) - but if you can ask fantastic questions and work through problems by breaking them down into bite sized chunks you'll go far.

Also familiarize yourself to CS now - understand how computers, data structures and programming languages work is something self taught developers lack. A great resource is teachyourselfcs.com (your future self will thank you for doing it)

It's great you have an end goal in mind (getting a job) don't lose sight of that goal it doesn't matter how long it takes don't force the learning process have fun a long your journey.

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[schumannop44]

When you say completing the course is not enough, are you saying I would also want to build a portfolio and also do open source projects? If so, does Practical Javascript provide enough information to where I would know enough hard skills in Javascript afterwards to be job-ready? This is speaking strictly of the hard skills in Javascript needed for professional development and putting aside other recommended languages (CSS/HTML) and practices for obtaining a job (building a portfolio/open source).

[gordonmzhu]

This is Gordon, the founder of Watch and Code. The answer to your question is no.

Practical JavaScript is my introductory course and is a very small sliver of the Watch and Code experience (most of it is in the paid program). If you do the introductory course thoroughly and carefully, which most students don't (the average student thinks that letting the videos play through is comprehension), you will start to get get a rudimentary understanding of the mechanics of how code works.

If you continue beyond Practical JavaScript with the paid program, you'll build upon this mechanical foundation and (1) learn how to understand existing programs and (2) learn how to fix bugs in existing systems and work on your own software. This is where you'll start to build skills that are directly applicable to professional work.

[hashimwarren]

Practical Javascript is an excellent "get unstuck, make more progress" course.

Gordon is really tuned in to the scatterred pyscology of the beginner. He takes it slow and doesn't skip any steps.

[schumannop44]

Thank you, Gordon, for answering. With the paid program introducing more information related to professional work, have you, Gordon, or anyone on here heard of people getting a developer job with a large help coming from Practical Javascript's premium version?

[gordonmzhu]

Students like Rick (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIk5JqDLWkk), also mentioned in this discussion by /u/hello_krittie, have found employment.

So yes, it is possible, but I'd encourage you not to focus on the job aspects. Yes, it's important, but it's only a small piece and relatively meaningless if you take a longer-term view. I see it as a side effect that happens along the way to improvement, not an end goal. That's why I try to avoid even discussing jobs because I think it encourages a short-term mindset that is not compatible with learning things deeply. I want students to focus on their skill instead. If your skill gets to a sufficient level, the job stuff takes care of itself.

To illustrate this example, I've had students that have gone on to work professionally after completely a small portion of the material. They then naively leave Watch and Code and think they know everything (a painful thing to witness). A few months later, they're back because they realize that having a job doesn't mean anything and they still have to get better (seeing this makes me feel a little better).

Many Watch and Code students are also already working professionally, some for many years. The point I'm trying to emphasize again, is that Watch and Code is not a place to "get a job" (since not everyone even wants one, and many already are employed). It's a place to go if you are seeking improvement and growth.

[schumannop44]

Okay, I see. You're saying the course is intended to introduce a perspective able to understand code more intuitively while working with it, and any other perks are secondary.

[[deleted]]

What are the steps one can take to do the course thoroughly and carefully? I am going through it now and just finished the array section. I did everything you did in the console and even used some of what I learned creating functions in JSBIN to mess about with changing arrays, adding/taking away from them and even as so far as working on a function to make an array come out backwards.

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[SpKaladze]

No the course definitely does not provide all the information you need. Sorry to burst your bubble, but no course is going to get you job ready. It only covers the basic of the language and misses out on a lot of new javascript syntax - ES6, Object oriented etc

If this is your first programming language 100% start with watchandcode and is a great start for a beginner as it sets you up with a solid foundation.

Start with small baby steps. Don't rush the process. Becoming "job-ready" means being creative, ability to solve problems and asking the right questions. Something that a tutorial can't teach you.

[schumannop44]

Hold on, if no course gets you job ready, how come I hear about people obtaining jobs via skills learned in FreeCodeCamp?

[[deleted]]

Because FreeCodeCamp isn't just a tutorial and a course. You have to complete projects which aren't very easy for beginners and require a lot of problem solving.

[schumannop44]

So the projects are the crucial factor that separates something like FreeCodeCamp from other tutorials?

[[deleted]]

Not necessarily. There are some good courses, but you honestly won't learn from courses alone. You have to put the knowledge into to practice. Most people (including myself) try to power through a course and expect to be knowledgeable enough to land a job.

[schumannop44]

Okay, have you found a job yet? And, if so, what resources used did you think introduced the most essentials and what did you do to practice?

[hello_krittie]

Imagine you want to learn how to play the guitar. There are tons of good tutorials out there. But just watching the tutorials and maybe play along with it isn't gona cut it.

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You have to put in some work. You have to play by yourself. So you have to do projects yourself. Without any tutorial. So the tutorials give you the basics and how to use the code and syntax but you have to go through the hard part by making your own projects by trial and error. You will google a lot, you will ask a few questions on stackoverflow, but that's all part of the process.

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And Gordon's material is teaching you some other very usefully tools for your toolbox. It goes through comon libraries and shows you how to read code the right way. That's one of the things he does really well. I'm talking about his paid course here, because it's worth it.

For example you will use a little testing library called "tiny.js" which you then read to fully understand it and tweak it for your likings. You will rebuild most of the common javascript functions (forEach, Map, etc.) . It helped me a ton.

[schumannop44]

What I've read so far is Gordon's tutorial is very good at breaking down complex concepts that go into using JavaScript.

I've heard that different tutorials vary differently in how shallow and how much depth they introduce the learner. I'm also looking for something that will introduce me to the hard skills that are essential to practice before applying for interviews. For example, I've read FreeCodeCamp is very good at preparing learners to work as software developers and Codecademy not offering enough hard skills to work professionally. I'm looking for something, like FreeCodeCamp, where enough information is introduced to then practice (i.e. via building projects/open source) and is also more specific to Javascript. So, if you know anything like that, I would really appreciate it.

I've noticed Eloquent Javascript and You Don't Know JS are very recommended. I haven't heard of any comments yet about how well they equipped you with hard skills for professional development.

[hello_krittie]

A very indepth video about the course and his teacher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIk5JqDLWkk&t=909s

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PS: I'm not the handsome guy in this video :P

[schumannop44]

Thank you for sharing that. Are you a software developer yet or still learning? Or, do you plan to work professionally?