Read, read and read some more...

Things I've worked on/completed since my last post…

I am currently working my way through Intermediate HTML & CSS in The Odin Project.

I have completed up to and including 'More CSS Properties'.

Things that went well...

I enjoyed the section on tables and the practical exercises, both because it was new and because I found myself able to do it without too much difficulty.

Things didn't go quite so well…

The main thing that stands out here and which often occurs (for me) when reading a lot of theory, is that there is a lot of detail and I find my brain checking out/getting foggy at times and/or regularly. Often this requires re-reading and even then, sometimes it does not stick. What I generally do in this case is move on and trust that when it comes to applying something practically, I will have the ability to re-read the documentation again and apply it as required.

That is not to say that I am fine with skim-reading and not understanding anything. I do try my best to understand, but if there is an overload of detail and I have no experience in the topic, I know from experience that it won't all go into my head immediately. Other aspiring devs I have spoken to have confirmed having this experience too.

My rationale for not dwelling too long on reading material at this point is that struggling to understand every detail without any practical experience is probably not productive and I hope that as I gain more experience, the understanding of certain things will fall into place by simply doing anyway.

Sometimes I struggle to know how much I need to understand everything I read, when it's a topic I am not familiar with. I just try to use my best judgement and if I find my knowledge lacking at any point going forward, I will just re-read the topic (hopefully with more knowledge at that point).

Things I've learnt/things I need to improve on…

Figuring out when to move ahead if some of the reading material is not 'going in', rather than spending excessive amounts of time on things I will probably have to consult again anyway when working on a project (at which point, I am more likely to understand anyway).

Plan for the forthcoming week…

If I can, I would love to finish the section on 'Intermediate CSS Concepts' (six chapters). I seem to have completed the previous eight sections relatively quickly, so I am hopeful about this. Having said that, it depends on the level of detail in each section and the amount of free time I have.