One of the most common questions I get asked by novice programmers is how long it takes to learn JavaScript. Of course, you should find out how long it takes you to learn before you can create JavaScript projects yourself and qualify as a software developer.
I will show you why it takes so long for some newbies to learn the basics of JavaScript, and what influences the learning curve the most. I’ll also give you some tips and suggestions to help you learn JS a little faster.
So, let’s start by answering the most common question:
How long does it take to learn JavaScript?
The short answer is one year.
You’ll need at least one year to learn JavaScript from a beginner to a job-ready Junior programmer.
That 12 months can be divided into four phases of learning.
If you have the talent and lots of free time, you might be able to do it faster. But in any case, all programmers go through these four stages.
Beginner (1-3 months).
At this stage you are just beginning to learn JavaScript and get acquainted with the syntax of the language.
In the first few weeks, your focus will be on basic JavaScript concepts such as variables, functions, and data types.
A lot will seem strange and incomprehensible, but that’s okay, because these concepts will start to make sense to you in the coming months.
The main goal at this stage is to become familiar with JavaScript syntax, the principles of the programming language, and to create small programs to learn how to write JS code.
Advanced Beginner (4-6 months)
By the fourth month, you should be familiar with basic JavaScript concepts and mechanisms.
You’ll be able to use JS to create console programs and maybe start to figure out how to add it to web pages.
From this point on, your main goal is to put what you learn into practice.
Intermediate level (7-9 months)
At this stage, you are no longer a beginner – you now understand the basic concepts of JavaScript and start working on deepening your knowledge.
You may still have to refer to some tutorials and lectures from time to time, but most of your time will be spent writing code, because this is where the real learning happens.
Advanced Intermediate Level (10 – 12 months)
In this last stage, you should now be able to write Full-Stack projects in JavaScript, read and understand code, and know how to fix bugs.
After completing this stage, you’ll be ready to be a Junior JavaScript developer.
Why does it take so long to learn JavaScript?
The reason it takes so long to learn can be divided into two:
- HTML and CSS are not programming languages
- JavaScript is not intuitive.