I want to learn JavaScript. (Don’t I…?) I’ve been saying this for over two years, and it hasn’t really happened yet. So why not? Maybe I need to figure out why I want to learn. Let’s go:

For the conferences, obviously

This community puts on the best conferences, so inclusive you don’t even need to know JS to feel welcome. And that’s why I already know: these are my people. 💛

My HTML & CSS wants company

There are limits to what I can do with HTML and CSS but no JS. When it comes to what I can build in the browser on my own, I’ve reached that station a long time ago. I could always improve my design skills, but that just doesn’t interest me enough. I want to learn how to make my web pages interactive — and then how to make use of more web technology. ✨

Learning is awesome and this is a challenge

There are many topics I could go for. Choosing JavaScript is taking advantage of what I already know and building on top of that. But it would definitely be more comfortable to settle for upping my CSS tricks, practicing UI prototyping and sticking with familiar territory. Learning JS sounds like reasonably sized challenge for a former graphic designer with no CS background. 💪

Towards a wider career path

I’m not even sure you get to call yourself a frontend developer without writing JavaScript. There certainly aren’t many job opportunities to match that description. And for many reasons; I don’t want to be a coding designer. My next job could probably be in a variety of different roles, but I think my options will be most diverse if I invest now in general frontend skills. 🎓

I’m pretty sure I will enjoy it

I went to graphic design school because I wanted to work with computers. I’ve always been more interested in the technical side of what I do than the visual. Even back when working with print design, the tasks I had most fun with was setting up systems in InDesign or analyzing the output in PDF. I’ve come a long way since those days, so yeah… don’t halt now, okay?! 🚀