What Next?

Well would you look at that? You have made it all the way. So what next?

You have followed the documentation carefully. But what now?

You've watched coding tutorials and built the projects in the videos, but you feel like you're not progressing. So what now?

I'll tell you what next.

Build projects

The only way to improve after all this is to build projects. Build as many projects as possible. Build webiste clones. Build single components. Build a profile image component. Build a form component. Build an app that uses an API. Build a calendar. Build a navbar. Build a sidebar. Build a dashboard. Build YouTube. Build Instagram. Build Twitter. Build Pinterest. Build anything and everything you can.

There are many websites that offer challenges that you can attempt such as:

Among others.

Why?

Because it is only when you build things that you will really get to understand how a language works. It is only when you a build a project like a website clone that you will learn how to work with complex layouts.

It is only when you build many forms that you will understand how to work with user input and add relevant form validation.

Therefore, build as many projects as you can.

"But my projects are terrible..."

It's okay. See the Boeing 747 that is called "The Queen of The Skies"? Or the Airbus A380 that is just a marvel? Well, they all started with the Wright brothers building a plane made of wood. Now we have ones made of aluminum that can fly around the world at 40,000 feet, and they are considered the safest way to travel.

Granted that airplanes have had 120 years to improve, the point in the analogy is that you have a lot of room for improvement. So make sure you keep taking up all that room.

Just like with the way airplanes began integrating increasing components together, you can build little projects such as a navigation bar and a profile component, and then in another project, build and integrate them together.

That's how you improve.

Contribute to open source projects

A good open source project that I love is TailwindCSS. Their documentation website is amazing, but since it's written by human beings, it is prone to grammar and spelling errors. I once caught such an error in their documentation and made a pull request to get it changed...and it was! That feeling is amazing, that even though you don't have as many years in programming as others, you can still make meaningful contributions to the space.

Learn CSS and JavaScript

Learning just HTML is not enough to build stunning and interactive web pages. You need to learn CSS and JavaScript as well. The good thing is, we have documentation on that as well, so be sure to check them out.

It's okay to forget the syntax and to Google

When you forget how to do something in code, it's okay to Google, or to ask questions. It's part of learning. Learning how to Google is actually considered a skill that developers should have!

Build on projects that you watch in Tutorials

When you build a project in a coding tutorial, don't just leave it at that. For example, if you build a one page website in a tutorial, then on your own time, add another page on that website. By doing so, you will have learned how to create a multi-page website already.

If you build a UI form in the coding tutorial, add form validation for when the form is submitted. Doing that teaches you how to check user inputs, and regex (which I hate).

Conclusion

This website is completely free and does not make any money, but not everything needed to run the website is free: such as domain registration. If you're in a position to, please consider making a donation to help support the website.

Thank you.

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