🎉 The Bootcamp finally started! | Lau

Before starting, I decided to spend some time revising and getting better at JavaScript, as well as reinforcing what I already knew about HTML and CSS. There are some YouTube tutorials that helped me a lot and that I recommend:

🖥 Midudev Grid: Watch tutorial
🖥 Midudev Flexbox: Watch tutorial
🖥 Midudev Animations: Watch tutorial
📚 FalconMasters JavaScript from scratch: Watch tutorial (very complete, although his tone of voice wore me down a bit, especially with 14 hours of video 😅 – remember I have 3 children, work part time and go to crossfit)
📚 FreeCodeCamp:
🖥 Mouredev by Brais for a JS course: Watch tutorial
⚡ Lots of Code2go shorts to pick up quick tricks (although many of them are advanced and I do not have projects to apply them to yet).

I have also been working with my best friend ChatGPT, asking for guided exercises, discussing the results and practising both with and without Bootstrap. I also did small Frontend Mentor challenges, although I have not uploaded them to GitHub yet (not yet)

💻 First classes of the Bootcamp

So far we have revised HTML and CSS.

What we have covered so far is not new to me thanks to my earlier studying.
The teacher is brilliant and teaches you not to overcomplicate things: for example, for overlays in CSS, instead of ::after pseudo-classes, he uses separate divs with position: absolute/relative and gradients, which is easier to understand and apply.

I am also exploring Notion, which is amazing for organising notes and pasting blocks of code.

The final project of module 1 was to build a landing page with HTML and CSS. I submitted it and I am waiting for feedback.

🚀 Next challenge: JavaScript

This is where the hard part of the Bootcamp begins, with functions, operators, loops and logic exercises.
Personally, I feel like I am studying advanced maths: for example, counting even numbers from 1 to 1000, painting certain values in colours, or breaking out of loops with conditions.

I know it makes practical sense, even if right now it seems abstract: behind these calculations are the processes of a shopping cart, adding up prices, VAT, shipping, and so on.

In the meantime, I keep practising with Frontend Mentor challenges and now I am publishing them, although with a lot of embarrassment 😅.

📊 How I am organising my learning

I have mentally divided the content into parts:

Variables and data types
Operators and basic logic (addition, subtraction, comparison, logical operators)
Interacting with the DOM (when the user clicks something, colours change, a message appears…)

Meanwhile, I keep doing practical exercises on my own, experimenting with Tailwind (I still find it hard 😅) and applying basic JS to mini projects.

💡 Reflection

About the Bootcamp I can say that:

Thinking about building big things overwhelms me a little, but I know it is part of the process.
I have had HR sessions about CVs and LinkedIn, I had my one-to-one and they taught me a huge amount about how to put together a CV properly and make the career change tangible on LinkedIn.
I feel the most abstract part of JS is hard, but the DOM interaction part is more tangible and motivating.

✨ Next steps

Study JavaScript seriously, especially logic, loops and functions.
Do guided exercises and mini projects to consolidate what I know.
Keep publishing Frontend Mentor challenges and practising consistently.

See you in the next post! 💪