In the last two weeks I’ve quite literally engulfed my brain in JavaScript programming.
The short story behind my interest is that, for years now, I’ve wanted to build some nice looking, simple, cross-platform desktop applications.
In most of compiled language land – this is a bit of a joke. I’m sure at some point I’ll have an engineer tell me
“Oh, it’s not that hard!”
But in every case I’ve found – it isn’t something easy enough that a relative newcomer to programming can pick it up and create Hello, World! within an hour.
(JUCE is probably the exception, because it does this for you – but doing anything yourself in JUCE is much more complicated…)
But two weeks ago, on a whim, I did a search for such an idea related to JavaScript. It brought me some incredibly surprising answers.
Did you know that the Slack desktop application is built with JavaScript? It is.
Same thing with Visual Studio Code, Skype, GitHub Desktop – even the Wwise Launcher is built with the same tech.
So I reached out to a friend who runs a JavaScript development company for the “inside scoop” – ie: is this worth spending my time learning?
I got a resounding yes.
An Ocean of Brand Names
If you’ve never programmed in Javascript before – or haven’t in a long time – here’s the deal.
There’s a million little different packages of code, and quite a few big brand name ones. Stuff that like, Facebook, Twitter, and Google made.
While you think this stuff would be easy to sort through and figure out what the hell it all is – it’s not. It’s quite literally like the first time you stare at Reaper, or anything else with a horrible learning curve.
“Well, this looks kinda familiar… but good lord that’s a LOT of information.”
So I had 2 options:
- Sit through a ridiculous amount of hours of YouTube videos
- Ask someone knowledgeable for help
And if a picture is worth 1,000 words – an informal mentor is worth 1,000 YouTube videos.
Not to say I haven’t done a lot of the former, because I have.
But when I’ve gotten stuck – having one person to be able to drop a really dumb question to, without fear of being shamed, is invaluable.
And if you feel like audio communities are good at shaming – you’ve clearly never posted on a programming forum before.
My endeavors have been so successful, in fact, I got my first (mostly) running application up this week. Sadly, I can’t show it to you – yet.
I Don’t Have Anyone to Go to
What I’ve just disclosed to you is inevitably going to lead to this question –
“But how do I get a mentor?”
Well, if you’re looking for something formal I’ve mentioned The Audio Mentoring Project before.
I would recommend, however, that you don’t just sit and wait for someone to come to you.
You actually have a lot of options, and can (and should) take care of yourself right now.
Because, “informal” mentoring is tremendously easier to come by than some sort of formal apprenticeship program. It’s also just as valuable, so long as you put in effort.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s three things you can act on immediately –
- Go buy a book
- Go buy a course
- Go succinctly contact someone knowledgeable
If you don’t know how to be succinct – sign up for my email list and read through The 5 Big Mistakes. Then you will.
My “Mentor”
My mentor in Javascript wouldn’t even know he’s my mentor. He’s just been incredibly helpful to me, and for him it’s fun to watch me grow.
“But Adam – you said he’s the owner of an app company. I have no friends like that. I don’t know anyone like that!”
Well, I didn’t either.
In fact, until a month or two ago – I’d never met him in person.
I’m not going to spell out step by step how you can parlay a book, course, or a Twitter DM into a full “mentor relationship” – which is what you should do. There’s not exactly steps. But I can share my story with you.
My mentor came across my Twitter timeline… probably a year or more ago. He said things that I agreed with, liked, retweeted, and I’m pretty sure I had some comment about it.
I followed him. After a bit, he followed me back (maybe it was immediate, I can’t remember). But I wanted to be enriched by him. I found his thoughts and words useful to my life, and said so publicly without being weird about it.
His company started a podcast, which I listened to attentively. I also answered a few audio questions for them, and gave them my positive and honest feedback on the podcast.
When interesting articles showed up that crossed our paths (JavaScript and/or audio) – I passed them along to him and chatted politely.
Then, when I got the chance to actually meet over coffee – I set it up in advance, and tried to show him honor and respect by buying his coffee. I tried to be cognizant of not wasting his time, but we ended up talking for an hour and a half because we were enjoying ourselves (oops).
That time allowed us to share various interests, see we had a lot more in common that we even already knew (which was plenty), etc.
So then when I had this JavaScript question – I knew the one person I would ask and immediately value his opinion as fact. No extra searching.
You see how that works?
We don’t have scheduled sitdowns or Skype calls. I probably could’ve pinged him without ever meeting him in person.
I just valued him, before ever needing him. He’s not a means to an end – he’s a professional I’m happy to have a relationship with who happens to be helping me out while I’m a total idiot.
You can do this too – today.
Who do you know, that you value, that you can reach out to and tell them that?
Whose books have you bought? Whose articles have you read? Whose courses have you gone through?
Because I’ll tell you – without this informal mentorship – there’s a good chance I would’ve gotten overwhelmed and quit by now.
It’s not “all about who you know” to get a leg up.
Simply put – people, and your relationships with them are super valuable. Even more valuable are the right people. Those you vibe with, learn from easily, push you, and encourage you.
Think about who you can start with today, and send that message.
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