whats the difference between 'memorising as well as understanding coding' and 'following the teacher thoroughly'

First of all everyone has a different learning style, so when your self teaching its important to understand the best way YOU learn. Personally, I got to the middle of the beginner JavaScript course and I felt like I was just copying code and wasn’t truly understanding the concepts. I decided to jump into PHP and pick that you a little quicker. Then I realized that I had the basic syntax memorized but I had no idea how to go about writing my own code and making my ideas come to life. I read a book called Learning To Program by Steven Foote and that gave me the foundation of theory and knowledge that I needed to have a better understand of the languages I was learning. So I would suggest learning a little theory to help you better understand the basic concepts. Don’t forget that these languages are just tools and understanding the fundamentals of programming and a little bit about how computers work makes a difference, at least it did for me. Also, I wouldn’t recommend their Tech degree but that’s just my opinion.

P.S if your interested, here’s a short book review about the book I mentioned earlier. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/book-transformed-my-interest-passion-tianni-myers/

Well, you won’t always understand everything the first time you are introduced to it, that is normal. Eventually you will get the aha moment. Spending more money for a Tech Degree will not make you a better programmer, Im sorry to say. If you are serious about coding and want to make it a career, Team Treehouse shouldn’t be your only resource and I can explain why not.

I would still go through the Front End Course and just skip the HTML and CSS Basics. You can take the updated Bootstrap 4 course, AJAX course(if you haven’t already), Console Fundamentals, Git Basics; just pick and choose what you don’t already know.

Additional resources:

1. Youtube videos (sometimes watching a 5-10 min youtube video to understand a concept is easier than a 2 Hr scripted video course)

2. Reddit (ask questions or read what's going on in the industry for any particular language)

3. Read tech books if your into that. (video courses are great because they deliver information quick and concise but there is a lot of information you don’t get. Its like watching Harry Potter the movie and then reading the book. You realize a lot of the story in the book doesn’t make it to the movie.)

4. Code Academy (practice writing code without having to write new code, reinforces what I learn at Team Treehouse)

5. Meetups (talk and collaborate with other techies)

6. Live stream Programming on Twitch.tv (Sometimes I learn thing faster by watching someone doing it)

7. Blogging (it helps to share what you’ve learned or how you solved a programming problem)

It helps to set goals for yourself and to know what you're aiming to achieve to help guide you’re learning. For example, I want to be a Front End Developer in 6 months. Hope this helps, if your already doing this stuff then your well on your way so be confident in your skills :D

Tianni, as a front-end beginner, I value and take seriously the "Additional resources" and other ideas you've listed above. And thanks to Saqib Ishfaq for initial inquiries. Good day!