Intro
After watching a lot of 100days challenge, I decided to plan out one for myself.
I am not in position currently to dedicate a 100days, so I plan to get started out with 30days challenge.
Doing it alone, one can be demotivating and easy to quit midway. So I want to do this in the group.
If it was me alone, I would pick bigger challenges (like different styling, mobile web and full stack and other stuff) – but for now it will only be web- frontend challenges!
For this particular challenge- I envision it to involve a lot of collaboration and interaction.
It is not for absolute beginners! Primary target is someone with some experience working with HTML, CSS and JS but you don’t have to be an expert. We are all learning!!
A knowledge of framework (such as React, Vue or Svelte) can be useful but not required.
It will be a daily collaboration with designers and developers.
I will plan out things, make a hand-sketch of what I the challenge it to be.
The designers group will design a high quality wire-frame and share it.
The developer group will pick a design and implement it as code.
For this- I think I will need 2 designer leads and 2 developer leads. If you are interested, please dm me
This is a UI design and front-end only challenge!
If I get requested, I will make a more beginner friendly or backend focused challenge and for other sectors too.
The regular task will not take more than 1:30 hours.
Starting task will be very simple – but its because we need to give time for setup and catch-up
But then from 2nd week, things will catch up to speed.
Week days small tasks and bigger ones on weekends.
By the end you will have at least 4 mid-to-large sized projects to show off in resume- maybe we will do a portfolio too!!
How it works
- Briefing on what we are working on, including details to both design and development teams – will be short video call/meet
- I provide mock-up, hand drawn wire-frame to design team
- Design team submits their work and shares it in group
- Dev team choose a design and works on itMembers can consult lead for any queries, resolve issues
Why now
- Exams are over for most people, we can’t wait for everyone (apologies for those who still have pending)
- New session starting- so people don’t have incoming exam, test pressure
- Many people just graduated or gave their final exams
Rules
- Create a project a day.
I will be sharing a task just for your ease (so you don’t having to worry about finding new ones) but feel free to explore on your own and make the challenge you own! - Share your results publicly
Share your progress on social media (fb, insta, discord, reddit) wall and/or group including ITSNP. It will motivate you to keep learning and others to join in! - Code and design should be publicly available (open source)
Share the link for designs on Figma or code on CodeSandBox, CodePen or GitHub!! - DO NOT COPY
It’s for your own good. Simply copying will NOT make you a better programmer/designer. You will learn nothing and won’t have a feeling of achievement or accomplishment.
Also people can detect if it was your original work or copy-paste if you are asked to code in front of others/at job.
Looking at and getting inspiration from other’s work is encouraged. Just don’t copy-paste somebody else’s code, share and claim as your work! - Do not skip a day!
Missing a day is fine. This challenge is about consistency. In case you miss one day- make it up in the other day. Don’t put off stuff- it will pile up and become bigger the more you ignore it. After all it is 30min-1hr only! - Be respectful of everyone
We are all learning here. No poking fun or making joke of especially of someone just starting out.
Endgame
It is a challenge. Most of all – it will benefit you and you alone. You will gain valuable experience building projects.
Your resume will have lots to show and in job search you can show experience working with others, building out real things.
A challenge most people face after college while seeking job is lack of experience, unable to work with others and no projects to show off.
After this challenge you will have a lot to show off, learn a lot and experience and have a taste of working in real environment!
I don’t want it to be highly challenging, nor for absolute beginners.
Personally I plan to reward 3 people (in both categories) who actively participated as
- The overachiever
Went above and beyond making what was asked of them, completed bonus challenges - Consistency king
Consistent throughout the challenge so factors like daily participation, quality of work across days and even most improvement/growth! - Best design/code
The gift will be worth (~Nrs-1000) in form of wallet load, book or we can discuss and this may change (depending on other factors).
Besides this, I will be in touch with ITSNP core members to be able to gift further swags and merch to other lucky members too!
We might even have popularity contest and voting!!
FAQ – Questions may have
Q. I want to do more than 30 min a day.
A. You are welcome to do so but I will focus more on doing something everyday rather than try to do a lot in one day!
It will help you build healthy habits and discipline.
If you binge start one day (5hrs) and 0 for the next week, it is far worse than 30 min everyday of the week.
Doing it in short periods will also ensure you don’t get burned out quickly!
Q. I don’t like your challenges and want to do my own
A. Yes please!! I highly encourage to try different things out and do things on your own. Conact me and I will provide you resources to help you get started.
Q. Devs have to wait to designers to complete – so time wasted waiting?
A. No. I am working to ensure it won’t happen. I will have a challenge for everyone ready and if necessary we can have designers do things a day earlier.
Q. I am both designer and developer. Can I take part in both?
A. Yep! I won’t advice to do it but you can
Q. I am absolute beginner. I want to take part
A. Some challenges might be a bit too difficult for you in final weeks but starting out (Week 1) you won’t have much difficulty learning.
Also if I have lots of request, I can have separate beginners only challenges!!
Q. When do we start?
A. Start on 1st of May. We will continue to 30May and 1 final day to make up and report(write a blog or an article) on your progress.
Just give me a few days to plan this out 😀
Why am I doing this
Many reasons- some of which are
- Scan out talent (for future projects)
- Self learning (I learn from your code, designs)
- Collaboration
- Consistency and discipline
- Community involvement and bonding
This is something I would absolutely take part in when I was starting out and I think it can help many of you to get started with your career too.
Currently I cannot guarantee anyone anything regarding jobs and internship but I will be actively looking and working with people I know for it too!!
Let me know what you think about it. If you have suggestions to make this even better- let’s talk about it!
Thumbnail credits– Rahu from Pixabay
Thank you for reading all this and I wish you all have a very wonderful day.
