One Way to Learn JavaScript Deeply
At WordCamp U.S. 2015, Matt Mullenweg set a goal for everyone in the community: Learn JavaScript deeply. But how does one do that?
In this post, I’ll share what’s worked for me in the past six months or so as I’ve dove deeper into JavaScript.
How Do You Learn?
These days, you can go in many directions. From books and blog post tutorials to courses and bootcamps, you have many ways to learn something new. There’s no one right way for everyone. You have to experiment to figure out which method works best for you. Once you figure out which method works, stick with it, and don’t be afraid to mix and match as you go.
For me, working through courses on Code School and reading in-depth blog posts has stuck best. Blog posts have helped the most since I can consider about how the concepts might surface in my own projects.
And speaking of projects, let’s talk about those. After all, you can’t just read and listen to concepts if you want to truly learn something. Here are five things I recommend that have helped me further my skills with JavaScript:
Just Dive In
Just build. At every opportunity I’ve had, I’ve tried to build with vanilla JavaScript if it made sense to do so. Whether that’s fixing bugs in themes on WordPress.com or taking on new work, I’ve looked for ways to touch JavaScript.
Find a mentor. If you really want to learn, you need a teacher. Someone that can take your questions, hear your frustrations and be there to push you. For me, that’s been my colleague at Automattic, Ernesto Mendez. He’s found a way to teach me something almost every day and challenged me in a way I couldn’t have done myself.
Start small. You might be tempted to jump into a big project when going deeper into a topic. I wanted to experiment with building a JavaScript-powered WordPress theme. But the more I researched and looked into it, the more complex it became. That’s not to say building something like that isn’t beneficial, but keeping what you’re working on manageable means you can control the complexity and get to the “Aha” moments faster.
Redo a project or code snippet you know. The best way to learn something new is to focus on it. You can do this by rewriting jQuery plugins and bits of code in vanilla JavaScript. I’ve done it with a JavaScript file on this site, and several other recent projects. It has forced me to see parts of JavaScript I’m unfamiliar with, and as a result, I’ve picked a lot of new knowledge.
Work on something consistently. Benjamin Franklin famously woke early to read and write. He set goals and measured them, always experimenting and dedicating time to those tasks every day. I’ve tried to do the same, finding projects and tinkering a little each day. It’s helped me progress steadily. I break the work up into two periods, one at the beginning, and one at the end of each day. Sometimes, that means I feel like I don’t get very far. Otherwise, the short amounts of time on tasks give me bursts of energy and excitement. It’s a balance.
I hope this helps you take on JavaScript sooner rather than later. WordPress needs you.