Here is why you find yourself stuck in tutorials, explained in 144 words.
Tutorials often instruct you to follow blindly without explaining the fundamentals.
It's like learning to drive only by following instructions without knowing the rules of the road.
What you truly need is to comprehend what, how, and why you're building, just as you need to understand traffic signals, road signs, and basic driving rules to drive safely and independently.
For instance, a tutorial on REST API should not only teach you the basics but also clarify the reasons behind certain actions. You should learn how to use HTTP verbs and status codes, grasp how to optimize and secure APIs—these are critical aspects for all APIs.
This knowledge is transferable; You'll be capable of building robust REST APIs, whether using Node, PHP, .NET Core, or other technologies.
Security and performance are crucial considerations in web development, offering you insights that extend beyond REST APIs.
This is how you break free from tutorial hell!
Your plan to avoid tutorial hell
Let's revisit the REST API topic. Once you grasp GET, POST, and PUT verbs, you can explore more, like PATCH and DELETE, by researching on your own. This ability comes from understanding the fundamentals of why those verbs are needed.
Similarly, once you grasp the purposes behind using 200, 201, and 404 HTTP error codes, you can independently explore their documentation for additional codes like 400, 401, 403, and 5xx errors, gaining a clear understanding of when to apply them. Further tutorials will become unnecessary.
The key is to move beyond tutorials and continue with self-directed learning to enhance
problem-solving skills.
But it does not end here. It's important to learn how to write reusable and scalable code, which is essential for developing robust projects and making you an attractive candidate for hiring.
Additionally, gaining knowledge of DevOps basics is crucial for a comprehensive skill set.
A good tutorial is the one that gives you a clear direction moving forward.
Create small applications that are fully functional and ready for real-world use. It needs to be small to finish quickly and enjoy the progress because you need to stay motivated. Yeah, dopamine is important!
Understand concepts and patterns that are fundamental to web development and can be transferred from one app to another. You will find answers but also discover more questions. It's how the learning process should be. You will gain a clear understanding of what you still need to master and why it's necessary - It's your learning path.
Learn how to build fast and secure applications.
Discover how to make your app scalable by learning software architecture patterns and choosing the one you need for your app.
Test your app because software quality is important for business to deliver great user experience to their customers. Discover how to conduct tests on your app, employing unit tests, E2E testing, or API testing based on the app's features.
Deploy your app to the world. It's crucial to gain valuable DevOps skills, such as setting up CI/CD - an integral component of modern software delivery and monitoring tools, allowing you to keep a close eye on your app's performance.
Replicate the process with another project. Here, you'll delve into new concepts while applying your existing knowledge. This experience highlights how effortlessly you can transfer the skills gained from building one app to a new app, as long as you grasp the underlying concepts.
In short, your goal is to become a well-rounded developer, and you achieve that by following the process above.
Embrace the opportunity
to truly learn!
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Hello, I'm Sandor. I'm currently working as the Head of Platform and Infrastructure, where I combine my programming skills with DevOps.
Sharing my wisdom and experiences is totally my thing, and you can feel the vibes in the epic tutorials I craft.