Vanilla JS Essentials

Making myself a little web tool and using a whole range of stuff that Chris Ferdinandi’s Vanilla JS Academy taught me.

I struggled with JavaScript for a decade so I really would recommend it for anyone who needs a big friendly confidence-booster.- Laura Kalbag

Best investment and course I have taken. If you want a bite sized course that will hold you accountable take this course. I have reduced the amount I Google and use Stackexchange by 50% and actually feel like I understand what I am coding.- Walter Jenkins

This program is super hands-on. I always wanted to learn how to make my own libraries, or to know how jQuery library works. Async, Promises and Fetch was another huge one for me, that I used in my projects right away.

It gave me a lot of confidence as a developer, I wish I had a training like this when I started. It got me much closer to my goal of becoming a senior front-end dev.

The material covered in the Academy translates right away into my day-to-day tasks at work, which is amazing. I loved that we could share our solutions in a very supportive group, and that you were there in that group all the time. That's rare with other teachers. Having the official solution the next day was fantastic.

It's an amazing product for all the reasons listed above. I recommend it to everyone.- Maria Blair

After going through this program, I found that using vanilla JS, you can accomplish A LOT more than the larger dev community would lead you to believe.

I really liked the open-endedness of the weekly projects. I think having fewer restraints in solving the task made me focus more on the specific topic for that week and how I would apply it to the given project. Combining this with the Thursday office hour and then having your approach shared on Friday made for a well-rounded overview of the material.

Thanks for an awesome course, Chris! This truly was the best JS learning experience I’ve had—things really clicked for me during the academy and I feel much more comfortable using JavaScript and approaching problems with JS-specific solutions at the ready!- Zac Heisey

My biggest concerns before joining Academy were cost and my experience with other online classes. Most other classes are follow-the-tutorial type and you build a project but don't really understand what you built. Had I understood that your course emphasizes fundamental knowledge of why things work, I probably would have joined a year earlier.- Stewart Davis

I can honestly say I am not sure how I ever thought I could learn JS WITHOUT the Vanilla JS Academy. And trust me I have tried other courses.- Izzi Koning

I was not sure the level of the course. I was not looking for a 101 of JS, which the course was not. It was exactly what I was after.

I really benefited from and liked both the office hours (including code reviews) and the interaction with Chris and students on Slack (a big thing many other course do not have). It was also nice to see how other students approached the same problem. With having other students and you over a set period really helped encourage me to complete projects.

I never felt any imposter syndrome. We could ask any question and Chris was happy to help.- Kevin Beck

I was desperately looking for a person or guided tutorial to help me understand the foundation of pure (vanilla) JavaScript. Though I have good work experience in various programming languages including JavaScript, I felt I was missing something.

I found and bought Chris's books and have gone through most of them. But I was still looking forward to to talking to someone, so I joined the Academy :-) and I'm happy that I did.- Kumar Sucom

Initially it was very challenging. I found I often hit walls with things like finding the best method for iterating over an array, or finding the right way to target DOM elements, most if it was practice though. As the course went on, a picture started to emerge and things started to make more sense.

At the end Javascript didn't feel like a strange far away land, but maybe a town I've visited a few times and am starting to recognise landmarks.

It's a very accessible course. You importantly are not made to feel that anything should be better understood or you've committed some sort of JavaScript sin. Lots of encouragement and a genuinely approachable, knowledgable and nice person to learn from.- Rich Holman

I am thoroughly looking forward to every morning because of the Academy!- Kieran Barker

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If it had not been for you, I would not be able to learn JavaScript.- Patricia Parker

I had a great time learning through your Academy. The community is great and it is phenomenal the way you run it. I appreciate the kindness and welcoming feeling I get in a community and the Vanilla JS Academy community is just that.

I had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it, whether it was the Slack channel, office hours, or just going through and learning. Thank you, it was money well spent.- Todd Libby

Having your interaction is priceless. Such added value.- Elliott Porter

Your course provided the impetus to knuckle down and challenge myself. You got me writing code (not merely reading about it or watching videos).

Having a caring, well-spoken guide such as yourself made it fun to work through the projects. Having that in a group all tackling the same projects added that dynamic aspect that also got me moving.

Some specific things I liked: The fabulously well-crafted projects/challenges. The clarity of your teaching (videos, in-code comments, etc.). The supportive Slack channels. The feeling that no question is a dumb question -- and the thrill of having a dialogue going permitting sharing tidbits with others.

No Lynda.com tutorial or other tutorial provides that environment.- Ron Amick

Honestly, the projects so far plus seeing your examples have helped me learn so much faster.- Craig Haggart

A couple of weeks ago, Javascript was a great mess for me. I could read a little bit of it. After I started Vanilla JS Academy, I started to read it and understand, to the point of changing some simpler production code. Thank you very much, Chris.- Vicente Sarmento