How to get the most out of freeCodeCamp?

For those of you like me, who see the words ‘challenge’ on a screen and immediately try to get through it as quickly as possible. Sure, it feels great to get through the challenges as fast as possible. Sure, in the moment you feel like a true genius. But the reality is far from that.

I was quite impressed with myself when I finished each of the sections in half of the time they guesstimate it would take an average person. I had some previous experience with HTML and CSS. So I thought that was why I was understanding these concepts and getting through the challenges so quickly.

Although I felt like a genius at the time, I soon got to the basic front end development projects. I realized that everything I learned up until now had not been retained knowledge.

Sure, I was able to complete the sections in half (if not less) of the time they estimated it would take me, but I had learned nothing. The concepts were all familiar, but nothing was truly retained in my head.

My biggest piece of advice to avoid my mistake here would be to slow your roll. Once you complete a challenge, don’t move to the next right away. Take an extra five to ten minutes to try to understand what they’re teaching you, and why.

If you had your all-time favorite meal in front of you right now, would you inhale that food without even a chew? Or would you do the sensible thing and savor and enjoy the experience?

You don’t want to upset your stomach by eating too quickly. With that being said, why would you want to upset your brain by trying to learn too quickly?

Now that I’m onto the JavaScript component of the course, I have begun taking extensive notes at the end of each challenge. I find this has helped me retain the knowledge. For example, like learning math, repetition is everything. Writing out your notes will really help you retain this new knowledge (for most people at least).

Bringing it all together

Although this is a great way to learn, there are definitely ways to help improve your learning experience.

• Slow down and enjoy the experience. Make sure you understand the concept you’re learning before moving onto the next challenge.


• Be as resourceful as you can. The more sources of the information you can find, the easier your learning will be. With that being said, make sure to find credible sources, and make sure you’re learning current concepts, as a lot of things do change over time.


• Embrace the Read-Search-Ask method and take part in one of the best online communities for learning to code, ever.

I truly think freeCodeCamp is one of the best ways to learn how to code. The structure of the course revolving around a project-based learning experience. Their fantastic online community. There isn’t anything like it.