Grow With Google Challenge Scholarship - Experiences Learning Online

Today I wrapped up work on my final project for the Grow with Google Challenge Scholarship: Front-End Web Dev course over at Udacity. This course was about 3 months long and consisted of online videos, articles, quizzes, projects, forums, and slack groups  to learn about Front-End Web Development. At the end of 22 lessons I was able to create this simple pixel art maker using HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

Codepen is a great website for easily sharing code.

What It's Like To Learn Online

Learning online can be a challenge, but I felt this course had great ways to overcome the common problems of online courses. In particular, the forums and slack groups of other students were a massive resource whenever I got stuck on a particular problem. I was skeptical of the idea of a class slack group at first, but it has grown to be one of my favorite parts of the course. Having a group of like-minded individuals with the same goal at your fingertips is a great motivator to get through the course.

I think coding is a uniquely qualified skill to learn online, because you are already in the environment you will use the skills while you are learning it. Need help figuring out how a particular CSS attribute works? You will be seeking help in the same places during the class as you would be in the real word, and searching for answers is an invaluable skill in coding. 

Resources To Learn Online

I did this course over at Udacity, where they have a pretty extensive list of coding related subjects to learn about. There are a ton of additional places to learn about coding too, including Google's developer website, w3schools, and the Mozilla Developer Network (I actually ended up using all of these during my course!)

What Am I Most Proud Of From The Past 3 Months In The Challenge Course

This course made me feel the same way I did when I learned to take photos on my own - empowered. It really helps remind you that "I can do this, I can better myself."

That really snowballs into a drive to continue learning, which can open up countless opportunities down the road. I encourage you to try learning online, it's never to late to learn a new trick.

#GrowwithGoogle #GoogleUdacityScholars