Pitfalls of becoming a web developer: moving too fast

This is surely to be the first of many "pitfalls" posts about becoming a web developer. There are so many and an honest assessment by someone who has recently experienced them is something the Internet hasn't provided just yet.

This time I'm going to talk about an unseen and usually unexpected pitfall: moving too fast.



The eagerness that comes with starting something is powerful. It will compel you to work long into the night, convince you to attempt learning advanced topics, and generally make you want it now. Everest is looming in front of you and your eyes are on the summit, and that's a really good thing. You need to know where you're going, but you also need to know your limits. Like Everest, many people have failed trying to reach the summit of Web Developer Mountain too fast.


I moved too fast the first time I tried, in earnest, to learn web development. I was eager, like a kid opening a Christmas present. I jumped straight into a fairly complicated project with the theory that "the best way to learn is by doing". I didn't realize that "doing" can mean something other than diving into the deep end before I learn to swim.

There are a thousand analogies for starting new things slowly. People say things like you have to walk before you can run and they're right. Following a tutorial that walks you through the steps to create a Twitter-clone might help you understand the general idea of what goes into a social web application, but it most certainly won't do much for helping you learn web development at an early stage.

Moving too fast can look like a lot of different things. Maybe it's jumping into a project that's too complex or reading a book on programming before you've understood how to think like a programmer (yes, programmers think differently than normal people). It could be that you simple learn too many things too soon without putting them to practice, without giving them time to sink in and form connections in your brain so they make sense. Learning all the HTML tags is only useful if you know how they relate to each other and work together to build an HTML document.

Move slowly on purpose

In the beginning, do your best to tame the impulse to move fast. There are lots of ways to move slowly on purpose in the beginning. Here are a few off the top of my head:

• Set limits on the amount of time you spend learning each day.


• Allow yourself rest days where you don't learn anything new.


• Do many very small projects that reinforce what you learn as you go.


• Skim over the chapters you've already read to reinforce the content.


• Go to Codecademy and take some lessons that reinforce your learning.


• Move forward only after you feel comfortable with the new things you've learning.

Of course, everyone moves at a different pace, so comparing your pace of learning to anyone else is a recipe for failure. Understand your own natural speed and be happy with it. Your brain works in a very special way and is specific to you, that's a good thing. Discover your pace and stick to it.