Gleb has been student at our JavaScript Ful-Stack Bootcamp and as he was writing about his progress via a series of LinkedIn posts we thought it could be useful to gather them alltogether into a single article to share his experience with you.

Week 1

On May 15th, I arrived in Barcelona because I won a grant to study in the Most+ program. I got into the mobile development courses at Barcelona Code School.

The course started on May 20th, and the daily schedule has been intense: from 9 AM to 6 PM, five days a week. The first week flew by unexpectedly fast; during this week, we fully covered HTML and CSS. Since I already had some self-taught experience with web design, it wasn't as difficult for me as it could have been.

The courses are conducted in English, and the instructor is Polish, which makes him a bit easier to understand because his English accent is similar to ours. Our group is small—just three people: a Filipino, a Brazilian, and me—a Belarusian. The others are excellent in English, so the material is probably a bit easier for them. I understand a lot, but not everything, although I'm starting to get used to and switch from Polish to English after just one week. During this week, I managed to create several pages, design my new portfolio, and make a copy of YouTube's homepage.

Tomorrow is Monday, which means we start a new week of classes, where we will be studying JavaScript. Time flies very quickly because I spend almost all my weekdays studying. I've already been here for 11 days, but it feels like just a couple of days. I'm going to get ready for school now, but in the meantime, you can check out my new portfolio.

Week 2

My second week of studies in Barcelona has come to an end (for those who didn't read the first part, check out my previous post on my profile).

This week, we started studying JavaScript. We began with the basics, such as variables, arrays, and mathematical functions, and ended the week with objects and their methods. The material has been getting more complex each day, but since I've already tried learning JS and have studied programming languages like C++ and Java, the material isn't as difficult as it could be. Next week will also be dedicated to JavaScript, but the teacher said we're moving ahead of schedule, so we might start learning React earlier.

So far, my interest in studying hasn't waned at all. In fact, it's clear that I'm still very engaged, as I spent the entire weekend at home with my laptop instead of going to the beach.

Among the interesting projects this week, I wrote a simple web game called "Guess the Number." Next week, we'll be working on another project to reinforce our JavaScript skills.

We also attended a networking event hosted by Barcelona Tech with our teacher. You had to register in advance for the event, and if you wanted, you could present your project or idea, or just come to listen, which is what we did. There were about a hundred people from various nationalities and fields, making it quite interesting.

Week 3

The third week of studies at Barcelona Code School has come to an end. During this week, we managed to study the DOM, asynchronous programming, and we also started learning the React library.

Additionally, I am currently finishing up my latest project, reinforcing my DOM knowledge by developing a web game — Rock, Paper, Scissors. It is almost ready, I just need to polish it up and publish it. Next week, we will continue delving into React, which has already piqued my interest greatly, although adjusting to it took some time. Getting used to Components and JSX, an extension that allows you to create HTML tags within a JS file, is necessary.

Week 4

Hello everyone! The fourth week of training at Barcelona Code School has come to an end, which means we have studied the basic principles of React.js, such as Props, States, Components, Events, Hooks, React Router DOM, and much more.

We completed many practice projects using APIs, multi-page applications, states, and more. The next stage will be learning Express, MongoDB, and other topics, which means we are starting to study the back-end side.

I will tell you about this in a week, but for now, you can play rock-paper-scissors.

Week 5

Hola everyone! Five weeks of studying in Barcelona are already behind me, with less than half remaining. This time, I'm writing my post on Monday because today is a public holiday in all of Catalonia in honor of San Juan. Yesterday evening and night, there were fireworks, firecrackers, and other festivities. We have finished all the theory, and now only practice remains. We are starting to work on the first of two projects, a web application. I've already made the plan, designed the layout, and created the collection schemas for the back-end. Now, the toughest part remains: the front-end.

I won't reveal the full functionality of the site just yet, as it doesn't make much sense to do so before it's completed. Attached to this post is the registration page, which is all that is ready for now.

Week 6

Another week, the sixth one, of the study course in Barcelona has come to an end. This week was no less eventful. I dedicated time to my project every day, including weekends. The project I am working on is a portal for tourists and residents of Barcelona, which will feature the most significant and beautiful places in and around the city that everyone will find interesting to visit. The website will allow users to add places to a wishlist and a visited list, and view these lists in their profile, keeping all marked places at hand.

This week, I added the main pages to the site, implemented most of the necessary functionality, added filtering options, and other features. Next week, I plan to integrate a service for photo uploads and obtain a Google API to get addresses, ratings, opening hours, and other information. Additionally, I plan to expand the admin functionality and add account editing capabilities.

Week 7

Another week of my studying has come to an end, or rather, the next one has already begun—the penultimate one. I can confidently say that in two weeks, I have managed to accomplish almost all my plans that I wanted to implement in my web application.

At first, it seemed that I wouldn't be able to finish everything, but perseverance and working at least 10 hours a day, including weekends, paid off. All that's left to do is publish the project online and fill the database with information, after which I will be happy to present it to you.

Starting tomorrow, we begin studying React Native—in simpler terms, mobile development. I already have an idea for a mobile app, and it will be completely different in theme and functionality from the web application.

The training is really flying by very quickly, and it is so interesting that, to be honest, I don't want it to end at all. For the first time in my life, I feel this way about studying, and it makes me very happy. I plan to write the next post this week, right after the project is published online.

Week 8

My wonderful studying is coming to an end: eight weeks of daily work are behind me, and only the final week remains ahead. I am delighted to announce that I have managed to achieve my goal of completing my first web application. Yesterday, Me and my team (my girlfriend Hanna Fiadosik) filled the site with information and gave it a beautiful appearance. You can check it out at this link.

There may still be bugs and errors, so I would like everyone interested to participate in testing and provide feedback in any convenient way. I will be grateful to each of you for your help and support. I am currently actively working on a mobile application, but I feel that the remaining time might not be enough for a full presentation of the product. Therefore, I will talk about it later when I finish it.

Week 9

So, this exciting 9-week story has come to an end, and in just a day, I’ll be heading back to Poland. I want to express my immense gratitude to everyone who influenced these 9 weeks.

First of all, a huge thanks to the Most+ program for providing such an opportunity, which was once just a wish.

I didn’t want my time at Barcelona Code School to end, yesterday was my last day. As usual, I came in and continued working on my mobile app in React Native, and at the end of the day, my teacher handed me my certificate. We took a photo, and at that moment, I realized how quickly it all flew by.

I am incredibly grateful to my teacher Paweł Kornas for being able to teach me so much valuable information in just 5 weeks. I am thankful to the founder of the school George Kovalev for participating in the training.

All good things come to an end sooner or later, and this case is no exception. I learned a lot: I met many new people, improved my English, and fell in love with this wonderful city. Thanks to everyone who took part in this stage of my life. There’s more to come, and until we meet again!