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The beginner mindset
2 Playsin 38 minutes
In this episode, I discuss the concept of the beginner mindset, reflecting on my experiences in teaching and creating educational content. I also talk about how it's gotten harder for me over the years. I also talk about the future of my podcast, including my plans for new episodes and a shift towards a more low-effort production style.
Find me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kevinpowell.co
And/or Mastodon: https://front-end.social/@kevinpowell
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Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Topic
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello my friend and friends, and welcome to my podcast, General Musings. My name is Kevin, and this podcast is but me here talking about whatever is front of mind for me in any given week, usually in some way that is related to front-end development, and this week I'm going to be talking about the beginner mindset.
00:00:17
Speaker
This is coming up because I was talking yesterday or two days ago with Quincy Larson, who you might recognize that name because he's the person who started and runs Free Code Camp. During our discussion, it was for his podcast or the Free Code Camp podcast. and During that discussion, ah we started getting and talking a lot about education and the beginner mindset came up and it's something that stuck with me a little bit. and I'll tell you why in a second, but just really quickly, as you might have noticed, ah oh Kevin's back. And it's been a while if I'm in your podcast feed or whatever. It might have been a while since you've last heard me. So I will talk more about the at the end of this about my plans for the podcast going forward. But me being here now does let you know that I do plan on continuing it. But I'll give you some updates on that in a little bit. But for now, I want
Challenges in Teaching Beginners
00:01:02
Speaker
to focus on the topic at hand, which is the beginner mindset.
00:01:06
Speaker
And the struggles I've been having with it recently, which is, I think for me, it was always something that I found relatively easy to do was to get into the beginner mindset.
00:01:19
Speaker
And especially when I first started making videos, it was something that I had a lot of comments on of people being like, oh, you are answered my questions as they were coming up. And I broke things down in really simple ways that they could understand. And in those early videos, especially over the first few years, I'm saying early videos, I guess anything that's four years old at this point, i've been it's been eight years I've been making YouTube videos, which is insane.
00:01:43
Speaker
um But yeah, when I first started and making them, I was also teaching beginners in the classroom. So for me, it was really easy to be in that beginner mindset because I was dealing with beginners all the time. I was seeing the questions that would come up, ah the blank expressions that would be on people's faces if I used jargon or explained something, you know assuming previous knowledge they didn't have and all of that. And I got much better at breaking things down, using language that people understood.
00:02:09
Speaker
and all of that are not just people but beginners could understand and to be able to make the connections as well to concepts that are sort of abstract or or foreign and stuff like that and after that conversation with Quincy I realized nowadays it's a lot harder for me and part of it is I haven't been in the classroom for five years now I think so that definitely I've had that disconnect where I still deal with a lot of beginners but I don't have that immediate feedback that I used to have when I was teaching in the classroom.
Reworking Courses for Beginners
00:02:44
Speaker
And it's really when I'm doing individual videos, it's not so bad because I usually outline things. And if it's a beginner concept, which I sort of at one point this year, is it this year? I think it was this year. Maybe it was last year, probably when I was doing two videos a week. Still, one of my plans was one of those videos would be a beginner one. And the second video that week would be just whatever I wanted to do.
00:03:06
Speaker
And that was good to do. And when I know I'm doing something very beginner focused, I do definitely change my mindset and how I approach those videos. But recently I started reworking my HTML and CSS for absolute beginners course, which is just a playlist on YouTube, but it was I think it wasn't the very first thing I put on YouTube, but it was one of the very first things I did put up there. Just the playlist of videos going over the absolute basics, and it's over eight years old at this point, and it still gets thousands of views every month. And I'm like, that's awesome that it gets a lot. I know there's a lot of educational resources that still point to it. And I think for the most part, it's actually still really good. I was watching the videos in it and I'm like, oh, yeah, I explained that pretty good. Good job, Ken.
00:03:49
Speaker
ah But um it is eight years old now and if I'm looking up something and I see an eight-year-old video on a topic and I see a one-year-old video on a topic, even if that eight-year-old one has lots of views, I'm kind of gonna, especially on a tech related thing, I'm probably gonna look at the newer one. Now maybe beginner content or beginners don't necessarily look at the age of something as much as an experienced developer would because we know this state of change and everything and again, and you're looking at the vanilla HTML and CSS, one advantage there is it's basically evergreen, except in that playlist I do talk about float-based layouts, though I did add a video telling people, the next video is on floats, maybe don't watch that one. And I think it's good to keep because you might get, you know, some legacy project or something that uses floats. So I think keeping that content in there is good.
00:04:38
Speaker
But yeah, as I've been going through all of this, I do find it's been harder to get into that beginner mindset. I'm going through all of creating these lessons right now. And it used to be almost second nature for me. And now I have to like every time I'm writing my lesson out, I need to like, okay, wait, this is too in depth. I'm covering too much content here. I need to simplify this for a beginner. And part of that is the lack of direct access to beginners like I had before.
00:05:08
Speaker
And I think the other part is I just know CSS at a much deeper level now myself. And I know the parts that unlocked like that made things easier, right? That for me, like once I understood that a lot of other things started making sense.
00:05:26
Speaker
And I have to look at it and be like, okay, should someone know that right
Balancing Content Depth
00:05:30
Speaker
away? Probably not because it doesn't, if you don't have any experience and like this course is really like you could sit down on your first day of never touching code in your life is the idea for people going into this.
00:05:43
Speaker
So going into the nuance of anything is probably a bad idea. We just want to be writing the basic code to get stuff on a page, right? And I think understanding some of the nuance is important, and I'm not skipping over everything. But there's so much cognitive overload that happens in those first one, two, three days, the first week, all of that. like You're learning the syntax, you're learning all... like how many properties and values out of their learn all the HTML tags that you're learning and I'm putting an emphasis on using semantics right now as well so like I'm I think it's gonna be seven modules and it's only in the last one where we're actually gonna mention divs and spans like I just want to focus really on getting people used to using semantic tags um until they have to make a layout because I don't think if you don't need a layout I don't know if you ever need a div right so
00:06:28
Speaker
um Yeah, I'm just really trying to Focus on like the foundational things and I keep getting drawn into like this bit of information really helped me out But it would just be way over their head like they don't know enough to be able to benefit from that knowledge if that makes sense And I have to yeah, I'm going back over some lessons and just being like this is great, but it's not ah for absolute beginners course. This is almost like a some of the lessons are like this would be good for somebody who already knows it and just wants like let's go through all of these things that I know to understand them better and I think that could be a valuable course too and I think that would be something maybe I could do at one point but ah yeah this is just like the absolute beginner one so I need to be a little bit careful with that.
00:07:13
Speaker
And ah yeah, and I'm actually working on two very beginnerly things, though there is a bit of ah a separation. And then one of them is that HTML and CSS for absolute beginners, though I might change it to front end or something. ah Just because at the very end, I'm going to do like a couple, like two or three lessons on JavaScript, or we'll just do a simple DOM manipulation or something, just because it is part of what you will get into if you're getting into front end development. So a couple lessons there I think could be useful.
00:07:39
Speaker
So I'm doing that. And the other thing I'm doing sort of simultaneously, it's something I started working on first and then decided to pause. And then I'm going to go back to it once this crash course is finished is conquering responsive layouts.
Teaching Misinterpretations and Strategies
00:07:53
Speaker
um I got a note or an email from Jen Kramer, who, if you don't know, is she does a lot of courses for front end masters.
00:08:01
Speaker
And she just mentioned something about a student of hers that was ah using Flexbox a lot. and one of the reasons that and And she suggested using Grid for a couple of things they were using it for. And the student cited me as why they were using Flexbox. I'm like, oh, that's kind of weird. Because most people who know me will, if anything, accuse me of using Grid too much. So I was like, oh, wait, that's kind of odd. And then it turned out it was the main source of this information was conquering responsive layouts. where I don't really advocate for flex, but it just so happened to use flex. Yes, because the only thing I mentioned in that course, even though it was just a
00:08:39
Speaker
almost a throwaway thing that was like, okay, we're just gonna do a simple layout here and it just will be easier to do it with Flexbox. And they just took that to be like, oh, I only need Flexbox. And that actually came up in, I think also in my conversation with Quincy actually of how important it is to be aware that people listen to me. And and I might think something is just like in passing where throwaway comment or like, I'm just gonna use Flexbox here. Cause for this one thing we're doing, it's fine. And then not talk about grid. And that makes people be like, oh, I'd only need Flexbox.
00:09:09
Speaker
And so I have to be really careful with how I'm doing things there. um But yeah, a little bit off topic there. But the main thing is I want to redo conquering responsive layouts and I definitely want to have Grid put into there. And I think instead of... I have a lesson that I wrote in conquering responsible layouts where I've done the same thing, where I just and got out of the beginner mindset, because that should be a beginner course. And it's sort of this in-depth thing on the way flow layout works a little bit. And I think it's just a little bit... I asked people what they thought, a few people they trust, and they're like, oh yeah, depending on the context of where you're going with that, it could it can definitely be a useful lesson. But I'm like, it's not the lesson people need for that course. I'm going to move that into something that's a bit more in-depth.
00:09:53
Speaker
um And I'm also just trying to repurpose what I'm doing with conquering responsive layouts. to And you're teaching layouts and I want it to be like, it's responsive layout. So we have intrinsic layouts and then we have grid and flexbox and there's all these thought processes that have to go into all of that. So and I need to turn it into something that brings up those things. And because a big part of what I want to do with that and a big part of what I try and teach in everything I'm doing is working with the browser and that's like the most important thing that was creating conquering responsive layouts made me so aware that that is the thing that causes the most problem when it comes to making layouts is people just try and fight with how the browser wants to do things instead of leaning into it and so that's why in that course even like it's technically three weeks long and it takes two weeks of just going through the basics of how the browser works basically before you even I mentioned Flexbox in the third week
00:10:50
Speaker
um So I want to bring the layout thing a bit earlier I think into it just because there is flexbox grid, intrinsic layouts, etc. and like how to decide between media queries versus intrinsic layout. There's so many questions. This is where like now that my knowledge of all of these things is bigger, how do I distill this down and only take the parts that would be most useful for people instead of being like Here's all the context and it just becomes cognitive overload again. And so I'm trying to find that balance and yeah talking about it now even has made me think I need to like cut that course down in half just to get like let's extract the value out of it as much as possible and And then that will help people, like what's the things that will help people the most? And then once they are using that, that's when you have to come back after and be like, okay, now we can go into more detail and talk about things because you have the experience and the knowledge and you run into the problems and all these other things along the way.
Podcasting Journey and Format
00:11:46
Speaker
And yeah, I think talking about this out loud has helped me. and so But it's definitely one of those things that is funny because the beginner mindset and trying to get into it again can be very difficult. And sometimes I do like using analogies too of like just I think I like learning new things in general.
00:12:05
Speaker
And it's exciting learning new things that's when like all the you learning the most at the early stages and then you get it more into the new ones and everything else and like those early things are always the best i i like starting new hobbies learning a ton about it and then just moving on to something else and then every now and then something will stick and i'll actually like deep dive of that thing.
00:12:23
Speaker
But it's yeah, so like reminding myself of like, that's the stage people are at is something I really need to focus on. And because I love CSS, and I love the nuance of CSS, and I want people to understand the nuance of it, it's just hard. It's something that's become a lot harder for me. So it's it's funny looking back just at like how the more I know makes it a bigger disconnect there and something I really need to focus on. Yeah, this is a bit more of a therapy session, a reminder of to myself about all of this. ah So I do hope that you've enjoyed listening to me talk about it ah for these past 10 or whatever minutes it has been. um but I do want to shift gears a little bit now, though, just talk about, as I said, the ah podcast where it's going from here, as well as one more thing at the very end that we'll talk about. But for the shifting gears, yeah where where are we going with the podcast? ah First of all, the reason I took a really long break with it, and if you're new here, welcome. You didn't know why I took a break, but I did take quite a long break.
00:13:21
Speaker
just because the podcast has always been the lowest priority thing that I've been doing. And one of the reasons I started it was simply because podcasts are my favorite thing to listen to. And I'm like, well, if I love podcasts, other people probably do too. So I'd like to cater to that audience.
00:13:35
Speaker
The first version of it was like, how can I keep it low effort as low effort as possible? And I have my newsletters were always like the general musings area at the beginning of my newsletter. And there's the AI that can I was using 11 labs that use my voice and it actually did a really good job, but not good enough. ah So I did like three episodes, maybe using that and I'm like, OK, I'll just use this as my script and read that part.
00:14:01
Speaker
And then that also became more work. The 11 Labs thing became a lot of work because I had to keep regenerating different parts of it to get like it would just muck up the delivery of certain things. and It was more effort than it was worth. Then when I was reading and using my newsletters a script, that became more work because I was editing a lot because if I'm reading something, a very specific script, I tend to make more mistakes than if I'm just talking like I am now. I'm following some bullet points I wrote down, which is the best way for me to actually talk and go through something.
00:14:31
Speaker
But yeah, I wanted to have the podcast, but I want to keep it low effort. So then I went from that to, as I said, the ah reading the script to then just more ad libbing a little bit, but still based on the script I had. And then I wanted to make more of a divide because some people are like, I love the podcast and I like the newsletter, but they're the same and I don't, you know, I don't need both.
00:14:54
Speaker
The same and the idea was a little bit to like reach a different audience because some people will prefer podcasts and some people will prefer a newsletter and it turns out Definitely, but there is the Venn diagram there. There's definitely an overlap based on the feedback I got so I decided to separate the topics I talked about and also use the podcast for interviews, which I'm gonna be bringing back I have one I've done That's really interesting ah had an ADHD with for developers and all of that so that will that's with Chris for new 90 that will be making I just have to edit that at one point a Really good discussion. It should be coming in a couple of weeks um But yeah, I wanted to definitely bring the podcast back ah And I got sorry. i' I'm rambling a little bit at this phase, but I wanted the podcast was my low priority and But I wanted to bring it back after pausing it, because I paused it just because I got super busy. Like I had beyond CSS that I needed to finish, so that was like top priority. Any free time I had, or not even free time, any time I had that I could put into it, I was putting into it. Then as soon as I finished that, I had a talk for smashing conference coming up. And this goes farther back than those, but when I was, this goes back to like the new year, I don't remember how long I paused it, but there was always something, right? there was
00:16:05
Speaker
um that conference I was focusing on, then it was beyond CSS that was for months, then it was the next conference, then I did my front-end master's workshop. There's always been like something that's been taking up a lot of my time. And I finally this week was like, oh, I can relax, I can breathe. So I'm like, okay, the podcast is coming back. And I wanted to bring it back because I've had tons of positive feedback from other people and because I, as I said, like podcasts. And so again, if I like them, I'm assuming other people do
Engagement and Social Media Presence
00:16:30
Speaker
too.
00:16:30
Speaker
And it's just a medium that's close to my heart. So it feels like I should have one and I'm a white dude. Like what we do is make podcasts apparently. So ah yeah, there's that too. ah And so one of my goals is again finding ways to keep it low effort. So I'm going to try and do it on edited. There's a small edit in this one because that thing that struck me. So I'm going to chop that little thing out.
00:16:52
Speaker
and I'm going to see what the feedback is like. I know some people get very annoyed with ums and ahs. There are AI tools that can remove all of that. I'm not going to bother with them for now. and if it's something that people If I get enough feedback or enough comments on it, so let me know through social media.
00:17:08
Speaker
um if there i just i just did in a So let me know if enough of them bother you or yeah, just let me know. I don't know. Whatever. Let me know if it's fine or if it does bother you or whatever it is. Any feedback is good feedback to get just so I know the general consensus of what people think of an unedited version versus something that's I could always run it through one of those AI tools that just sort of takes out the long pauses and the ums and ahs and stuff like that.
00:17:33
Speaker
And I just find that any time I do that, I need to tweak it a little bit, because some of the edits it does are a little bit rough, and that bothers me more than having just a pause like I did. So anyway, we'll see how that goes. And if I find that it's harder to do unedited ones, and I can always just pause while I'm recording, that's something else I do, if I ever feel like I need to. So I can sort of edit as I'm talking. Anyway, I haven't had to do that today, um but well we'll see where that gets to.
00:18:02
Speaker
through future episodes and everything else there. And the last thing I want to talk about, I said let me know on social media, so I just do want to let everybody know I am now on Blue Sky as well. If you are on Blue Sky, come and follow me. If you're not on Blue Sky and you've been hearing about Blue Sky and you're curious what it is, it's basically Twitter from 10 years ago, not that old, but sort of old Twitter at this stage because it's new, it's exciting, lots of people there, everybody who's on there just joined so they're all active and there's a nice sort of vibe going on right there. And one of the best things BlueSky has done is created starter packs. So I'll put a link to my profile. It's just at KevinPowell.co. So it's nice and easy to find. But if you go on mine, I've pinned my starter pack and seeing people, anybody can create a starter pack where it's just a whole bunch of accounts that I suggest you follow. And then you can just quickly get into like, you find a few web dev related starter packs, and then you're following all the developers that are on BlueSky, which is pretty cool how easy it is, and I love it. So I thought it was a really nice feature.
00:19:06
Speaker
And yeah, the vibes there are great. um A lot of the front-end community has moved on over there. Some people are doing still on Twitter slash X and blue sky and threads and mastodon. Other people have left Twitter. The numbers there are definitely down from even a month ago and even from a month ago was down from like three months ago. I've i've seen a large drop in just general engagement plus the way the algorithm works there I think is a bit weird too.
00:19:35
Speaker
um So yeah, there's been this sort of separating of things, but I feel like Blue Sky is the first one and it will feel very familiar if you used to Twitter. And if you don't like social media or you don't like that Twitter, the micro blogging, don't worry about it. That's fine. You definitely don't have to be there. Don't feel any FOMO if you don't like those things. It's not for you. It's not for you. But if it is, you know, if you haven't gone over there and you were on Twitter before and you didn't like it for other reasons like it's a platform you liked and you eventually left or if you're still there and you just want to follow where a lot of people have gone off to just have an account on both or switch over it's up to you what you want to do there
00:20:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's it for this week. If you enjoyed this, please do spread the word about it. That would obviously, that's the best way for podcasts to grow. So I'd appreciate that. And the podcast will be active now for at least a little while. ah So I'd appreciate if you could do that. And thank you so much for listening. And until next time, please don't forget to make your corner of the internet just a little bit more awesome.