The Learning Continues...

These past few weeks have been a blur...

One thing that has stuck out like a sore thumb, is that my education has just started. My time at The Iron Yard was the start of my journey, not the end. I have been taking on freelance projects, and learning new skills at the same time.

Something that I have really taken a intreast in is Parallax Scrolling. It has all ways been on my list of cool things I want to learn how to do, I just haven't gotten around to diving into it. (So much to do, so little time... you know how the saying goes)

I recently had the opportunity to take on a project that has a good ammount of animation and Parallax scrolling. Now I faced a delima, I could 1) turn down the project because I don't know how to do Parallax or 2) accept the gig and learn how to do this Parallax thing over the weekend.

I ended up taking choice number two...

I went back and forth interanlly for a few days before making a choice. At the end of the day I decided that I need to accept projects that challenge me and cause me to have to learn new skills. If I only accept projects that I know that I can do, I won't grow as a developer. (or at a minimum my growth will be stunted.)

"I need to accept projects that challenge me and cause me to have to learn new skills." - Jay Wilson Jr.

Plus this was the story of my life while a student in The Iron Yard. Nearly every assignment that I was given for the 12 weeks was something that I had never ever done, and I had to learn how to accomplish it on the spot. So it seems that being in this uncomfortable place is going to be the norm for a while. It's not quite as uncomfortable as before, as now I have accepted the fact that I don't know everything. However, rest assured, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can figure things out. That is my secret sauce. My ability to quickly learn new things.

Here's how I learned Parallax over the weekend

So after sifting through Google for an hour or so I came across a great Parallax Scrolling Tutorial on iHateTomatoes.net After doing this tutorial I had a good grap on Parallax, and it turned out the author of this site Petr Tichy offered a Master Class on Parallax...

I ended up purchasing his course, and I was blown away by the quality of the course! I almost didn't want to buy it because of the cost. I think sites like Learnable.com, CodeSchool.com and TutsPlus.com have conditioned me to expect to pay between $10-$30 bucks for online training.

After having gone through this course I can say that is was worth every penny. Of course I could have learned all this on my own through trail and error, and free resources but I have a deadline looming and I need to be proficient over a weekend. This training exceeded my expections and saved me a bunch of the headaches that would have come with figuring out everything from scratch on my own.

If you have any intrest in Parallax Scrolling, Web Animation, SVG, jQuery, or Front-End Development I recommend that you check out Petr's blog you will learn a few things. If you want to jump to the next level be sure to grab his Master Class. He delivers the goods for real.

Keep learn and growing friends,

Until Next Time...