Just over a year ago I first started learning to code at home, in my spare time*. Two months ago I started a full-stack web developer bootcamp course. Two weeks ago we started the 'backend' module.
Backend basics
Starting that 'backend' module was like moving up to 'big school' when you're eleven years old. You suddenly go from feeling like you know what you're doing to being the new kid who doesn't know a thing.
'Server' 'HTTP requests' 'APIs' 'REST APIs' 'RESTful APIs' 'protocol' 'web application' 'client-side' 'server-side' 'relational databases' 'SQL' 'MySQL' 'NoSQL' 'TCP' 'JSON' 'Docker' 'Express' 'Postman' 'Sequelize' 'Asynchronous' 'localhost' 'ports' 'IP address' 'runtime' 'process' 'environment' 'heap' 'call stack' - these are all terms I have come across (for the most part) for the first time since starting this module. I don't have a clue what most of them actually mean and yet every new article I read throws them around with abandon and I find myself, not for the first time, wishing I had a computer science degree, rather than one about dead British kings and queens. Often, you have to know what one term means to understand the next. Will I ever get to grips with this?!
Time for a bit of a reality check before throwing in the towel and deciding to forge a career building static websites (another new term I learnt this week) using only HTML and CSS and a bit of vanilla JavaScript...time to remind myself that just over a year ago, I didn't know what 'developer' 'coding' 'HTML' 'CSS' or 'JavaScript' meant either. I even kept a list of new words that I came across during those first few weeks as I worked through beginner tutorials on freeCodeCamp and Codecademy. On that list are things like 'loop' 'console' 'object' 'method' 'data types' 'function' and 'array'. I look forward to fast-forwarding a year when I can explain what a RESTful API is without batting an eyelid (please do give it your best shot in the comments, I still have no idea).
More reading or 'fingers on the keyboard'
At this point, faced with a whole load of things I don't know, I find myself wondering whether the best approach is to read more articles, watch more tutorial videos, look up some blogs to see if anyone can explain these things to me, or whether a better approach is to (ahem) JFDI...get some fingers on the keyboard and play around with these tools, write some code and learn by doing. My usual approach is definitely the former, but for now I am going to give the latter a try. First on the list, the Express 'Getting started' tutorial. Wish me luck!
*of which there is not much when you have two kids under 2!