Hello hello,

Welcome to another issue of the Top 3 in Tech newsletter. Today is heavily focused on learning to code - and should only take a few minutes to read. Enjoy!

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1. Project ideas

I wrote a post on Twitter and LinkedIn recently, asking about everyone's biggest struggle when learning to code.

The absolute most common answer: What projects to build when practicing or trying to land a coding job.

It's a great question. On one hand you want to make something cool and unique - but on the other, you might not be comfortable enough with your skills to do that yet.

So, here's my take. Start by building some of the popular classics:

1. Todolist application
2. Weather application
3. Simple calculator UI
4. Movie browser with watchlist

These are solid starting points that will teach you a lot of fundamental coding concepts. They're also rather easy to find tutorials for, which is great in the beginning.

When you work on these projects, try to add your own personal twist. Play around with the design, add a few extra features etc. That'll help make the project stand out (at least a bit) from a generic solution.

However, as you get more comfortable with coding, the fastest way to improve is to build something that's relevant to you personally.

Think of an app that you would actually like to use yourself. Examples:

• If you're into fitness, create a simple fitness tracker app
• If you invest in crypto, create a crypto tracking website
• If you like cooking, build a recipe storage app

It doesn't matter that these already exist - your version of them doesn't exist. And since you're building it for yourself, you can make it exactly how you want it.

As a bonus, the intrinsic motivation of building something you actually want to use is amazing for productivity.

If you still can't think of anything to build that you would actually use, one other approach could work: simply browse through a list of projects like this one or this one here and pick the one you think sounds most interesting. That should help you get started.

Remember: At the end of the day, what you build isn't the most important.

As long as you keep building something and improve your skills that way.

🔥

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2. Beginner JavaScript

On the topic of learning to code, one of the best teachers I had when learning JavaScript was Wes Bos. He has a lot of great courses, and one of the more recent ones is his Beginner JavaScript video course. It's an awesome resource to go from beginner or "I know some code but don't feel very comfortable yet" to actual JavaScript developer.

​Learn more on the landing page ​

The one downside to this course is the price - it's $82 for the cheapest package. However, Wes has also released the entire content in text format for free. So if you don't have the budget for the video course, you can still go through the content at your own pace:

​Browse the free, text-based version​

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3. The Feynman Technique

Let's round out today's newsletter with a Twitter thread about the Feynman Technique to learn anything. The Feynman Technique is a unique learning method that prioritizes simplicity to create depth of understanding, named after Richard Feynman. It's a really cool framework for learning and retaining knowledge (like coding) - so check out the thread for a full breakdown of the technique:

​Read the full thread by Sahil Bloom here​

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I would really appreciate if you would share the newsletter with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email or copy/paste the link mads.fyi/top3 on other platforms. It really helps to keep me motivated and let the newsletter grow. See you in 2 weeks ✌

— Mads Brodt