Salut👋

Firstly, I would love to welcome you to a new year. I don't know if you are excited but i definitely am. I am very positive about 2021. I couldn't ask for a better time to release this article because you or someone you know might be struggling with tutorial hell/building projects.

I am going to walk you through 5 steps on how to build projects and grow your confidence while doing so.

The steps listed here have greatly worked for me, from doing rubbish to being confident with javascript(to an extent🙄). I have built 5 little to medium JS projects without following a tutorial. Might not seem cool to you but it means alot to me(learning to celebrate small wins😇).

INTRODUCTION

Are you aspiring to become a frontend/backend developer? Do you want to have confidence in yourself? Then you should start building a portfolio right away!

Whether you are new to programming or already an experienced developer. In this industry, continuous learning and building projects is compulsory if you want to stand out and keep up with the rapid changes.

This is a no nonsense guide geared towards absolute beginners and intermediates that still haven't found their footing. That’s why we’re not going to be discussing on WHAT to build but HOW to build.

Is it 100% foulproof?? I don't know, I can't say.

Would it help you and give you an edge in this industry? I totally believe so if you are willing to put in the work and effort.

For the sake of this article i want to assume that you have a project in mind and you want to build along with your favorite YouTuber right? OK allons-y!

Step 1

Watch the video

Calm down i know it seems vague. I will explain.

When i say watch the video, I strictly mean watch the creator build the project from the beginning to the end WITHOUT coding along.

I want this to be a substitute for your Netflix, we can call ours programmingFlix(that doesn't sound cool in anyway😂)well this time it won't be all fun and laughter. You're going to be doing something for me while watching the video.

• Take out your note pad and write out concepts/syntax used in the video that you didn't understand. Don't assume you know it. PLEASE write it down.

See as example below 👇

Step 2:

Read on those "foreign syntax".

At this point, i want to believe that you have watched the video from beginning to the end and you have also written down everything you didn't understand or syntaxes that seemed new to you.

Now you are going to read up on each and everyone of them. One by one. If you don't know where to read up don't worry i have an article on free web developer learning resources.

Step 3

Watch the video AGAIN

I know at this point monotony and boredom starts to creep in. Even for me doing this step 3 can seem stressful but please don't think of skipping it. Do you know why?

You aren't just going to be watching it the same way you did the first time. This time around you have a sound understanding of every syntax and concept used.

This step 3 is like a confidence booster for you. At this point you would be able to explain every single line of code. Why this was used instead of that. You probably would even see a better approach compared to the one used by the tutor. Qui sait?🤷(who knows).

Step 4

Drum rolls please....🥁🥁🥁

Building the project!

I am sure you would be dying to get to this part. Don't worry with time the first three steps can be modified by you.

At a point you could be looking up on the explanation of the syntax as you're watching the video. That is step 1 and 2 together.

After this step(building the project) your confidence level increases. Apart from having a project to add to your portfolio, you understand every single thing. How cool is that?? Pretty cool if you ask me.

Step 5

Practice Practice Practice

You wouldn't want to just relax after building the project. Nothing beats practice.

For example let's say you built a to-do app so when I say practice, i don't mean you should keep building a to-do app over and over again.

I see people giving this advice and to me it doesn't make sense. This time try to add a little feature on your own. The first to-do app i made was a basic one without being able to delete an individual to-do. I challenged myself to add a trash can that onclick of the trash can it deletes that individual to-do. Very simple and it increases your confidence level.

At a higher point you wouldn't even need any tutorial video to build LITTLE projects anymore. If I can do it, you can do it too.

But please don't over estimate your level of experience(it can hurt your confidence level really bad). It's not because you built a to-do app then you would rush to build whatsapp😂. I know we all want to build that "Next big thing" but just calm down and take one step at a time while increasing the difficulty of the project with each step.

Wrap up

Building projects and understanding what you are doing can be the gateway to what we all desire as developers/programmers. The steps mentioned above can get stressful but with time it gets better.

Someone asked me on twitter how much would it cost him to learn how to code. Guess what I told him. Simply time and dedication. If you put in the work and effort the result should show.

A dev on twitter @usmahm got a job as a frontend developer because someone saw his "low budget" YouTube app. wow! For the record the app is really nice. That's another motivation for me to keep building projects.

@Favourite would say don't just follow tutorials but actually make sure you grasp the concepts and take a break to understand what you are following.

I would love to know your experience with the steps listed above. Do well to tell me on twitter @d_realmaster or the comment section below. Don't forget to like and share(you wouldn't know who you are helping).

As usual I'm always rooting for you if nobody believes in you just know that i do. 💓&💡