Learning to Code from Scratch: One Wild Idea and a Thousand Lines of JavaScript

How one Learning Experience Designer is using Replit, curiosity, and courage to explore the world of coding

Originally posted on Substack.

It started as a flicker.

Well, not actually. It was more like a bulldozer to my brain. An idea that wouldn’t go away and actually kept growing as time went on. My brain whispers to me as I try to fall asleep, “What if this could work”?

At first, I thought of all the ways it could not work. All the reasons it was not a good idea. I didn’t have the skills. I didn’t have the time. I didn’t have the money. But like all ideas worth pursuing, it was persistent and wouldn’t go away.

So… I did something about it. I gave in to the idea and started my research into making what lived in my brain a reality.

My idea was out of my comfort zone. When I built, I built visually, and I built courses to share knowledge. This wasn’t that. This was software. Something I’ve never built and didn’t exist yet, but maybe it could? I just had to do what I do best and become a student.

So… I’ve been teaching myself to code.

This isn’t a blog post to say I’ve built an app in a weekend, and I’ve already made millions. This story is messier, but more honest. The kind of story where I’m staying up way too late, staring at a cursor for an hour, wondering where the bug in my code lives. A story where I could have cried tears of joy seeing Hello World on localhost:5000… and then wanted to cry just tears when I immediately broke it afterward. Yet, through all the peaks and valleys, I keep going.

I’ve been using Replit as well, since I don’t know if I’ll ever be a master coder. Replit means I can look at code that works visually and see what code should look like when it’s working. Now, this doesn’t mean all my coding woes have ceased to exist. I’m still failing spectacularly, but I’m starting to understand those failures a bit more.

Learning to code hasn’t just been about syntax; it’s also about re-learning how to learn.

I’m used to feeling confident in my field. I’ve built LxD departments from scratch and worked with cybersecurity teams to translate technical material that I didn’t understand into something learners can absorb. I’ve empowered people to take their learning into their own hands.

This is different. This is me without SMEs to guide me. I’m alone with my 7,000 tabs full of posts from 2013 and trying to determine what is still relevant. It’s slow. It’s me feeling very, very small, but also so excited.

If I said I love it, it would only be half true. I love it at times. I’m frustrated at other times. And sometimes I feel as if I’ll never be able to actually accomplish what I envision.

I’m not sure how this idea is going to play out. I don’t even know if I’ll be the one who can fully build it. All I know is that I’m pushing myself to learn something outside my comfort zone. Something so wildly outside my domain. And I’ve reignited curiosity and drive within myself.

There have been plenty of times in my life when I’ve wondered if it was too late to start something that feels so large you would never be able to accomplish it. And there have been a few times when I’ve chased that vision. This is one of those times, and if it sounds like something you are going through, let this be your nudge.

You don’t have to be the expert. You just have to allow yourself to follow the idea and see where it leads you.

Even if it starts with a blinking cursor.

If you have that whispering idea that keeps you up at night, give it some attention. Start where you are.

You don’t always need a five-year plan or a degree. Sometimes you just need a Google search and a dream. I’m learning in public, and I’d love to hear from you.

Are you building something just to see if you can?Thinking about learning to code?

Leave a comment or share your favorite resources, because I need all the help I can get.

Let’s make the things we don’t yet know how to make together.