https://medium.com/launch-school/javascript-weekly-learning-alone-together-d4b350ee5fb5

A few weeks ago we took a break from JavaScript to talk more generally about how to use a structured problem solving approach. This week, we’re going to depart even further from the norm and talk about learning — specifically, what I call “lonely learning,” and why it’s an outdated method for new coders. Like a lot of coders, I learned the craft mostly on my own. I spent many long hours behind my home computer, banging away at problems until my eyes started to glaze over. I read books, did tutorials, and fumbled through projects. When I encountered a problem, I mostly just suffered with it until I found a solution — sometimes hours or days later. As I look back on that introductory period of my coding career, I often wonder, “why in the world did I do it that way?”

The odd thing about my lonely coding journey is that the loneliness was not enforced. There is no good reason that I had to do it all alone. The bulk of my learning was done through Launch School, which is an intensive online school for developers and has a robust community of instructors and other learners. In other words, I had a built-in support network staring me in the face the whole time, but for far too long I failed to take advantage of it. Only after I completed Launch School did I start to get more involved in the community. And in doing so, I discovered an amazing group of passionate technologists who seem to spend as much time helping others as studying for themselves. Why hadn’t I taken advantage of this while I was going through the curriculum? Why had I chosen to suffer alone?