Frontend seems to be easy until you start learning it. This feeling took me a year to get this conclusion, after the Master of Web Development and Graphic Design I did from December (2013) to May (2014) in Trazos where I had no idea how to guide my way in this long effor of learning frontend Web Development, digging up many websites to learn lot of new technologies and more I’ve discovered one important fact: “learn new topics every day and maintain to date” is the best way in the road to success.
Once I ended the Master at Trazos I had the feeling of not knowing anything, but now, a year and a half I’ve been learning lot of new things. Searching new material, listening new things, going to new events and starting personal projects is the way to grow as a competent professional in this industry because of the changing enviroment where we are.
The hardest part to learn new topics is to foce myself to search new topics every day, to read most of the interesting articles I find on Twitter, RSS and Newsletters. Every day like many people on the Internet once I’m ready I open my email (only twice a day) and read the Newsletters that have come to my Inbox and look for new tutorials, web design topics and frontend development articles, then I check my RSS App until I start working or doing whatever I have to do this morning. If the day is a working day I commonly check my Twitter’s timeline to search for new articles, read a frontend book or listen a podcasts on my way to work.
Saving all the things that I find on Twitter, RSS, Newsletters (Web links) I use the Pocket App to keep this and read them later.
Sometimes there are interesting events in Madrid, where I live now where you can hang out with new people and you can chat with friends in a more relaxed way of things that you extremely like. You can check Meetup and Betabeers communities to find new events to attend, they are awesome!
Searching for new articles and reading them takes me 3-4 hours a day only if I don’t go to work and 5-6 hours if the day is a working day because then I also listen to podcast, read a book or go new evetns to take advantage of the trip. So as you can see trying to be better every day is a hard but exciting thing.
Keep thinking that this have no value if you don’t practice or make new personal projects. I write down all my ideas such as small projects to test new technologies, frameworks of libraries I’ve learnt during the week.
Now I’m comfortable knowing what I want and where I want to go.
This is all for now, I hope you find it interesting and useful to you.
