Forem: Ryan

My journey through React

Ryan — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:09:26 +0000

Being new to development I spent a lot of my initial days trying to map out my plan for learning. This included the basics but I also kept seeing a lot of information about learning a JavaScript framework. How to choose one left me a bit perplexed as it seemed to be based mainly on what companies I might want to work for or what projects I was involved with at the time. I resolved therefore to approach my development learning solely by concentrating on learning vanilla JavaScript.

As you can probably tell by the title of this post I am now learning React. I got involved, although only briefly, with a project being built using React. I was working on developing code in React with next to no knowledge about how React works or even the main purpose of using this framework. That being said I began reading as much as I could and started building my own SPA using React.

The goal of this post is to be the beginning of my documentation of my journey in learning React. I am sure there will be posts documenting both successes and failures. Hopefully these will give me a good way to track my progress.

This first post I'll concentrate on perhaps one of the most difficult aspects I've come across to date, namely trying to learn React using functional components and hooks when so many of the tutorials out there are based on class based components. I realize the official documentation talks about class based components still being used throughout the dev world, particularly in legacy apps. However, as a new developer I've been trying to keep myself from burning out, getting stuck in tutorial hell, etc. With that in mind I felt that learning both class based components and hooks would tax me a bit and lead to frustration so I decided to concentrate on building my entire project using functional components and hooks.

The first one I really grasped properly was useState(), which seems at first glance to be really simple. However, I spent a lot of time trying to get my project to recognize my changes to the state of an item, and am still in fact trying to grasp changing the state of one sibling based on the value of another sibling. This is not documented well, at least in my searching, when using hooks rather than this.state. I have, however, successfully done this once, so I consider that a win. I was able to manipulate the value of sibling 'B' based on the value of sibling 'A' with a fairly simple if/else statement in a useEffect() hook. Now to repeat this in a more complex manner...

So many things to learn...

Ryan — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:35:23 +0000

The path to web development seems to have a lot of steps. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bootstrap, Tailwind, not to mention getting into the back-end programming and languages.

It's very easy to end up in the rabbit hole of learning. I initially started out trying to absorb everything I could about every language I could find. This quickly became overwhelming and caused a brief moment of panic. Will I be able to do this? If so, when?

Once that panic subsided I set out to find a clear path through the haze. I've never been one to want to put the time in early, always instead preferring getting to the "good stuff". But I've seen that concentrating on HTML/CSS initially will help in the long run. My goal has since shifted slightly, focusing on becoming very proficient in these two languages. I know JavaScript will need to be added as well but it feels like having a solid foundation in HTML/CSS now will make learning the other aspects that much easier.

And then I read about CSS preprocessors, frameworks and utility classes. Just when I was starting to get a feel for CSS I see so many other ways to write my styles. Those will come eventually as well, I'm sure, but trying to keep myself calm and moving forward has become the new goal.

For others out there starting this journey too - don't panic! Everyone moves at a different pace and will find their own best way forward!

The Path to Being a Developer

Ryan — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 13:51:27 +0000

I’m sure many others have thought, “Maybe web development” when they are looking for a new career. I know I’m not the first, and likely not the first dealing with this decision in my late 30s. So even though many have dealt with this every situation is truly unique. Sharing the journey is a great way to put my own fears, anxieties and concerns out there even if all it does is clear my mind.

My first foray into web development started about 5 years ago. My wife was in school to become a graphic designer and she suggested I take a look at development. I was not happy with my job at the time and was looking for something else within my company. I dipped my toe into development, quickly realizing I had an aptitude for this work. However, I had a job offer within my company to take a new, exciting position in Colorado, a place my wife and I had been looking to move to for years.

We took the new job and spent the next 4 years traveling the country for my work. We got to go to some great places. Lassen Volcanic National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Seattle, Salt Lake City. It’s a big list (that comes with spending 160-200 nights per year in hotels) and was a great time in our lives. This year my company went through a series of mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations that resulted in my job being eliminated. I am taking this opportunity to get back into web development and looking at making a completely different career choice.

Not knowing where my future leads has been scary but also exhilarating. For the first time in a long time I feel like I can do anything. I have many concerns – will I have to move, how do I reconcile 13+ years of non-tech work experience into my resume to get my first web development job, will I remember the things I need to when it comes to coding, etc. But through all of that I’ve found a sense of enjoyment in coding that was not present in my prior career. I’ve seen a greater sense of community as well.

To date I have a minimal portfolio and know there’s a long road ahead of me. But there are so many promising aspects of my future that I can’t help but be encouraged. So many people are out there writing about how to start in this line of work, where to get experience, and just sharing their own thoughts that I feel confident I’ll be able to soon say I have a job as a web developer.