Offering Free Help and Mentorship to Indie Hackers Learning How to Code
I got my first job as a developer five years ago and my journey into tech has forever changed my life for the better.
One of the biggest keys to success with learning how to code is getting help early and often. When you're stuck, all alone, it's very difficult to push through.
This is one of the reasons why I started Nolibs. It's a community that focuses on sharing and learning about web development without using libraries. Only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
I believe that it's important to focus on and master the fundamentals so that you can more easily grasp tools like React and Vue.
One of the problems I noticed when running a meetup myself for years was that people who were new to coding reached for libraries and frameworks too quickly. This ended up hurting them and many struggled during interviews.
Nolibs provides a platform to write code (similar to Codepen and REPL.it) and a safe space (private slack group) to ask questions, learn, and grow together.
If you are learning how to code and could use some help, feel free to reach out directly or sign up below. Looking forward to helping however I can.
This is really cool, Daniel. I applaude you!
I'm a self-taught coder and when I finally got access to some mentorship, it was like being given an oxygen mask. I agree completely with learning vanilla Javascript first. I didn't, and it's the reason I don't have mastery to this day.
Thanks! Appreciate the kind words. Let me know if you have any feedback/suggestions on how I could improve the platform.
Do you mind elaborating on why "no libs"? In my experience, not using libraries has caused far greater headaches than over-dependence on them. If someone's put in the effort to build a robust solution and supply it through npm for example, I'm always happy to at least try it out.
But I'm always open to hearing out your/other opinions and experiences.
Sure thing, that's a great question. So, nolibs !== anti-libraries. Besides the name, is there anything on the website that made you feel this way? If so I definitely want to remove it. Nolibs is targeting people that are new to coding or don't have a strong foundation in web development fundamentals.
The goal is to help developers strengthen their fundamentals which I believe will help them in their careers. For example, when using a javascript library from npm, you might need to review the source code. In order to read or understand most source code, you need to have a solid foundation in javascript.
Well I guess it's this that I was missing. The landing page doesn't quite make that obvious. Putting "nolibs" and "no libraries" just suggests its sort of a blanket statement, but I understand. "nolibs" is a bit more catchy than "no libraries until you have a solid grasp of web dev fundamentals" haha :)
Upon closer inspection, /about says "To be clear, nolibs !== anti-libraries." so that makes it more clear.
Best of luck to you!
Love the vibe on your website! And the drive for helping others achieve a solid base of basics before getting into more complex libraries. How have you consider using slack over other community tools? Curios about the rational, Thanks!
Thanks, and great question!
I really want to have a native experience with a forum, and by that I mean, it doesn't feel like you've left the main website. Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, etc. are great examples. Community tools that I've seen don't provide this kind of experience.
I don't have the bandwidth to build something custom right now so the MVP was to spin up a slack account.
I'll probably keep Slack even when the forum is complete. It's hard to beat realtime feedback when you're struggling to learn how to code.
I have someone I know learning using grasshopper - javascript and coding basics. Will this help them succeed?
Absolutely! I strongly believe that mentorship and community are crucial to learning. They can sign up for our slack community or reach out to me on twitter @danielkhunter