When I follow along with tutorials I feel I know exactly what to do, but as soon as I try to build my own projects I get stuck.
Hey! I'm Kyle Cook. You may know me as Web Dev Simplified, but not too long ago I was the person saying everything above. I watched hundreds, maybe even thousands, of JavaScript tutorials, but I still struggled to make even the most basic projects on my own. Just looking at a blank text editor filled me with fear.
I just assumed that programming wasn't for me. It seemed like everyone else knew exactly what to do while I was stuck Googling even the most basic problems. It wasn't until much later that I realized the problem wasn't me, but instead was how I was trying to learn.
I realized that the tutorials and courses I was watching weren't teaching me the concepts I needed in order to become a JavaScript developer. On top of that, the way I was practicing JavaScript was terrible and caused me more harm than good.
Luckily, I stumbled upon the perfect learning technique that allowed me to learn JavaScript and build any project I could dream of.
By far the biggest thing that helped me learn JavaScript was realizing that learning JavaScript is just like learning a foreign language.
There are two parts to learning a foreign language. The words of the language and the grammar of the language. Without a strong understanding of both the words and the grammar of a language you are unable to express yourself in that language. Even if you knew every word in a foreign language it would be useless unless you also understood how to use grammar to connect those words.
This is obvious, but what most people don't realize is this applies to programming languages as well.
Learning JavaScript is no different than learning a foreign language.
In JavaScript there are two parts as well. The syntax/concepts and the ability to connect those concepts together. The syntax and individual concepts of JavaScript are like the words of a foreign language. It doesn't matter how many JavaScript concepts you know, if you can't connect them you can't create JavaScript programs. This connection of concepts is like the grammar of a foreign language.
Once I realized this I immediately saw why I was struggling so much. I spent a ton of time reading documentation and learning JavaScript concepts, but I never practiced connecting them properly. This meant I knew all the concepts of JavaScript, but had no way to connect them and thus I could not create JavaScript programs.
I needed to change the way I used projects to learn.
Learning JavaScript can be daunting. Fortunately, Kyle is an amazing teacher. Not only will you learn JavaScript, but also how to think like a developer.
Have you ever noticed how when you ask someone how to learn JavaScript they always tell you to build projects, but no matter how much you try to build a project you always fail. This really discouraged me when I was learning since no matter how many times I tried to create a project I always got stuck.
If projects are the best way to learn then why don't they work for me?
The reason for this is because I was using projects the wrong way, and unfortunately nearly every JavaScript course also uses projects the wrong way.
Projects in other JavaScript courses follow one of two patterns. They either are a complete tutorial where the teacher tells you how to build the entire project, or they are a project assigned to the student to complete with no guidance or direction. Both of these techniques are terrible for learning.
The first example of a teacher-led tutorial is the equivalent of a teacher writing out a paper for you and you just copying down the paper word for word expecting to learn how the grammar works. This is a pretty ridiculous way to learn a foreign language and is also equally ridiculous for learning JavaScript.
Teacher-led tutorials must be used sparingly to explain the connection of smaller concepts before diving into a fully-fledged project.
The second example of a student building a project from scratch is obviously problematic since learning how to do that is the reason you are in the course to begin with. This would be like joining a foreign language class and on the first day the teacher tells you to write an entire book in that foreign language. This will never work.
Instead, these student projects need to be crafted in such a way that concepts are slowly combined together one at a time.
This is where JavaScript Simplified is different. This course teaches you concepts one at a time. Then I show you how to combine a small number of concepts before giving you exercises focused around combining those few concepts together. This is repeated until you are able to build larger and larger projects with more complex concepts completely on your own.
This is how learning a foreign language works. You first learn a few easy words. Then you combine those words together into pairs. Eventually, you will start forming sentences with those words and those sentences will soon become paragraphs, pages, and finally a complete book.
JavaScript Simplified is concise, to the point, and full of fun projects which constantly had me putting together what I had learned in challenging ways.
Originally when I was creating this course I was planning to just explain all the complex topics of JavaScript. As I was building the course, though, I decided to also explain how to connect all these JavaScript concepts in a way no other course has before.
This has resulted in a massive amount of content with the sole purpose of making you into the best JavaScript developer possible.
A complete video course with over 13 hours of content spread across 74 videos and 10 modules.
This course covers every single important JavaScript concept that you need to understand in order to become a JavaScript developer and it shows you how to connect them.
This can take you from literally no programming experience all the way to a proficient JavaScript developer. Even if you already have JavaScript knowledge, this course is perfect for helping you connect all the pieces together.
While 13 hours may not seem like a lot if you are used to long Udemy courses, I can assure you this course is packed with information. Each minute is as condensed as possible with knowledge, projects, and exercises which means not a single second of your time with the course is wasted.
Also, if you plan to get through this course in only 13 hours, good luck. With all the projects and exercises in this course it will easily take you over a month to get through everything, and that is if you work on the course every single day!
View Video ListOnce you become a proficient JavaScript developer then it is time to start diving into the advanced JavaScript ecosystem.
This course will take you from junior to mid-level developer with just under 14 hours of content spread across 65 videos and 9 modules.
This course covers not only advanced JavaScript features, but more importantly covers concepts like security, testing, and how to write clean code.
The skills in this course will set you apart from all other job applicants as most developers never learn any of these concepts until after landing their first job. I personally didn't even know what 90% of the concepts in this course were when I landed my first job and was forced to learn them on the job.
I can only imagine how much easier it would have been to land my first job if I knew these skills before applying.
View Video ListLearning how to connect JavaScript concepts is the only way to become a JavaScript developer and one of the best ways to do that is through projects.
JavaScript Simplified includes tons of projects of various difficulty and scale which are perfectly crafted to help you slowly build up your JavaScript skills without overwhelming you.
There are never more than a few concepts introduced at a time in between projects. This ensures you are able to fully comprehend each concept and how to connect it to other concepts.
This course also includes 6 large bonus projects that combine together all the concepts in this course. These projects are perfect for practicing your JavaScript skills and are also great additions to your resume. Best of all, these projects are crafted with specific ways you can build upon them which will help further deepen your project building skills.
View Bonus Projects ListThis is where JavaScript Simplified really shines.
In order to learn JavaScript you must practice a lot! That is why in JavaScript Simplified there are tons of exercises throughout nearly every video in the course.
Not a single concept is introduced without specific exercises also being introduced with it. These exercises vary drastically in scale, from simple commands to full projects, but they all serve the same purpose. Teaching you how to connect JavaScript concepts.
These exercises are what separate JavaScript Simplified from other JavaScript courses and ensures that you learn not only JavaScript, but also how to think like a developer.
When you get stuck, sometimes the best help is simply another person. This is why I have a private Discord community specifically for the members of JavaScript Simplified.
In this community you can ask other course members as well as me any of your JavaScript questions, and since the community is fairly active you will almost always get a quick response.
Nothing beats one-on-one communication with another person.
Landing your first job as a web developer is really hard and being self-taught doesn't make it any easier. That is why I interviewed incredible developers like Danny Thompson, and Eddie Jaoude to figure out how they landed their first developer jobs.
These talks cover so many different tips and tricks that you can use to get yourself into more interviews and successfully ace those interviews. The topics we cover will truly change the way you look at applying for jobs.
View Interview ListOne of the hardest parts of learning JavaScript is understanding how the code works and seeing any mistakes you make. Text editors are great at helping you with this, but they are not ideal. This is where Quokka.js comes in.
Quokka.js is a developer productivity tool specifically built for JavaScript that shows you exactly what is happening in the code at each line. It also has robust error reporting that makes learning JavaScript quicker and easier.
Learn More About Quokka.jsKyle's content goes beyond the average in both quality and depth. With his dedication to excellence, there's no better option when it comes to learning web development.
Although I have a fundamental understanding of JavaScript, I learned a lot from the advanced sections of this course. Honestly, it's the most comprehensive JavaScript course I've ever seen.
I have been a full stack web developer since 2015 and I love JavaScript, but it wasn't always like that. I went through a four-year Computer Engineering program and learned nothing about web development, so I spent countless nights studying on my own and building fun projects in JavaScript. Eventually I was able to learn enough JavaScript to comfortably build any project I could think of and now my passion is sharing that knowledge with you.
Since I learned programming both on my own and in college I am able to leverage my formal education as well as my experience as a self-taught developer to create the most comprehensive and easy to understand courses available. I also run the YouTube channel Web Dev Simplified with over 1 million subscribers.