Are JavaScript Classes Worth It?

When considering the value of JavaScript classes, you should first review your reasons for learning the JavaScript programming language. Understanding the type of knowledge you need will help you decide what kind of class you need, if any, and if a given class is worth its time and expense.

If you are only curious about JavaScript and want to know more about its features and uses, a blog article or free video lesson could provide that basic information. If you would like to use JavaScript for small projects like editing webpages or writing simple applications, a good textbook or a series of video lessons might suffice, if you have plenty of time to spare. Still, a short introductory class would help you reach the same proficiency faster, with fewer missteps.

However, if you intend to use JavaScript for serious programming projects like commercial applications, mobile games, website development, or scripting for data management and analysis, you will benefit greatly from professional instruction. Learning all the necessary commands and techniques yourself could take many months, including trial and error and setbacks due to missing knowledge. Similarly, if you need to know JavaScript to pursue a new career or improve your job skills in fields like web development, software development, or data science, you should seek an in-depth, accredited course. This instruction will not only ensure that you have all the necessary information and practice to handle a variety of programming challenges but will also confirm those skills to employers through a degree or certificate.

Consider the Costs

Choosing whether to purchase a class on JavaScript can be a calculation based on the expected return from learning. Will the skills you receive be worth the cost? If you need to study JavaScript for your career, the potential earnings from a better job or a promotion could balance the costs of instruction. Alternately, you might be able to sell services or products created with your programming knowledge, although JavaScript is typically only one of several skills needed for technical products like websites, applications, and their supporting code.

Even if you might recoup the cost later, live instruction can be a significant up-front expense. Whether attending in-person or online, live JavaScript courses can range from a few hundred dollars for short classes up to advanced courses costing thousands of dollars. You might take several short classes to spread out their costs, although this strategy risks spending more in the long term. Shorter classes are also more limited, with less time for advanced topics or instructor feedback. Still, if you are unsure if you need a longer, more complex course, a short introduction can avoid spending too much before you make that decision.

Another lower-cost alternative, on-demand courses, are presented online without a live instructor. While more economical than live classes, these pre-recorded lessons may lack the immediacy, motivation, and guidance of an instructor-led course. Free lessons, while having no monetary cost, are even less likely to be complete, provide no feedback, and require more effort and time on your part. Ultimately, you should consider whether the potential savings are worth the drawbacks of each option.

Advantages of a JavaScript Class

While live classes are the most expensive route, many students prefer this option when learning a programming language like JavaScript.

General Benefits

A live instructor, whether met in person or online, can directly answer questions, review work, correct students’ mistakes, and adjust their explanations as necessary. Given this personal interaction, students are more likely to understand each topic and avoid frustrations. Learning code, like learning any language, benefits from varied, accurate examples from a fluent user and active practice with frequent feedback. Live classes also help students stay motivated and focused due to the instructor’s encouragement and the urgency to use class hours well. Live classes can stay more current than recorded content, a particular concern with an actively used and improved programming language like JavaScript. A school with live instructors can also improve faster in response to student feedback, adjusting their curriculum to ensure better comprehension. These benefits will help each student learn faster and reach advanced material sooner.

Learning to ‘Speak’ Code

Programming languages share some common terminology, like ‘variables’, ‘loops’, and ‘functions’. Specific languages, like JavaScript, also have particular terms that come from their unique behaviors, uses, and history. As instructors describe each element and technique of JavaScript, they teach the language of that coding language, helping students to become fluent. A live instructor can give better and more personal explanations of each term, ensuring that students correctly grasp its meaning and importance before moving forward. Building these common references is critical to understanding more advanced concepts.

Coding is also built on the syntax of each programming language: the specific behavior of its commands and their combinations. Students must understand the correct usage of each element, incorrect uses that will create errors, and how combinations of elements can be reused to produce similar effects at different scales and in various environments. As instructors teach each element and technique, they will provide varied examples to illustrate those features in other forms. A live instructor can address more examples, more quickly, to ensure that students grasp both the underlying patterns and their variations. 

Access to Programming Environments and Libraries

JavaScript is a scripting language, meaning that it does not interact directly with devices but is run by another program. When JavaScript is used for web development, it is executed by a web browser or web server, but testing JavaScript code or using it within a separate application requires a framework, a program that allows JavaScript to interact with a device and its operating system. JavaScript programming is also made more efficient and powerful with libraries, sets of pre-written code blocks that represent useful functions, methods, and objects. Most JavaScript frameworks and libraries can be found online, but knowing which to use, where to find them, and how to start using them can be intimidating without guidance. An instructor-led course will pre-select, provide, and explain a few of these coding tools, usually the ones most commonly used by professionals and expected by employers. This controlled introduction lets students build their knowledge and fluency with selected tools while also learning how that subset relates to the wider range of available options.

Personalized Feedback

Coding, like writing, needs a qualified critic, especially when something goes wrong. A novice coder, alone, can quickly become frustrated trying to spot the mistakes in misbehaving programs, especially if they have little prior programming experience. Or, their programs might function but run more slowly than necessary. A skilled instructor can review their students’ practice work, not only spotting errors but also teaching students how to edit and debug better by themselves. Instructors can also point out areas for improvement when a student’s code is inefficient or insecure. Just as valuable, instructors can confirm and praise well-written code. A live instructor is also a valuable, time-saving resource when a student is stuck and uncertain about how to proceed with a project.

Collaborative Projects

The instructor is not the only valuable person in a live coding course. Other students can give ideas and assistance while learning, and even their mistakes can be instructive! Group projects are also valuable experience and require the help of collaborators. While group work may be frustrating at times, it teaches students how to divide up a big project, communicate while working, and bring together everyone’s parts into a finished, functional whole. Group coding experience is particularly useful for students pursuing a career in web or software development, as most commercial projects are too large for a single coder to handle in a practical time frame. Some professional JavaScript courses include lessons in collaborative software design environments so that students graduate ready to use these tools.

Building a Portfolio

Seeking employment as a coder or in any position requiring JavaScript ability will require proof of your proficiency. You can provide that proof through concrete examples if you have created functional projects in a JavaScript course. For example, you might write a custom JavaScript library, a webpage plug-in like a message board system or an interactive map, a complete interactive website, or even a small mobile game. Each project serves as an example of lessons learned and techniques mastered. In some cases, an instructor can improve your project further through targeted advice, resulting in a higher-quality exhibit. 

Considerations When Looking at JavaScript Classes

Not every JavaScript class will fit your needs, and in some cases, you may not need a formal class at all. Here are some considerations when deciding if a particular class or type of class or program is right for you.

General Considerations

Live classes are held on a fixed schedule. While you can often choose between multiple scheduling options, once you have booked a course, you are committed to those meeting days and times. You must also ensure that you have time between classes to complete any assigned work. Live courses require that students keep up with their classes’ pace. Depending on your background knowledge and learning style, this speed might be too fast or even too slow. Further, online classes require consistent access to a computer and an Internet connection, plus a quiet space to attend and work during scheduled hours. Further, for in-person classes, you must allow time to travel to and from the classroom location. 

What is the Course’s Focus?

There are multiple reasons a student might seek to learn JavaScript. Thinking about your reasons for learning JavaScript, such as specific tasks or a career goal, can help you identify classes that specialize in your interest area or avoid classes that are overly specialized or focused on the wrong topic. Some courses cover JavaScript generally. Others adjust their material to focus on particular projects, coding problems, or coding tools. This is especially true for advanced courses, but even some introductory courses may have an applied focus. For example, an introduction to JavaScript for the Web might explain more that applies to webpage design and web development. A shorter course of this type might only explain enough to edit existing code and add JavaScript plug-ins to webpages. By comparison, a course teaching data science in JavaScript might assume a prior background in data management and knowledge of coding languages like Python, with the course teaching JavaScript as a further tool for data collection and analysis. 

What is Your Desired Level of Study?

Courses vary in their depth of instruction, from one-class overviews to months-long intensives that prepare students for professional JavaScript certification. More in-depth courses often include complicated topics that apply to specific uses of JavaScript, such as animation or mobile applications. If you want full fluency with JavaScript, sufficient to create complete programs or web services for yourself or an employer, you will benefit from a thorough study program with organized, guided coursework. If you would only be using JavaScript for small jobs, like simple edits on webpages, you might seek a more basic course or might learn the necessary skills from video lessons.

Note that length is not always correlated with content, as some shorter courses compress more lessons into fewer classes, trusting students to keep up with their accelerated pace. For students with prior coding experience, a fast-paced but thorough course like a bootcamp could teach them enough about JavaScript to figure out the rest on their own. Some casual courses may also be spread out over longer periods for an easier time commitment per day and more time for practice between class sessions. Novice coders might appreciate a longer but easier course that gives them more time for practice and discussion between classes. 

Is it Worth Enrolling in a JavaScript Class?

Who will find it worthwhile?

Professionals who will use JavaScript regularly in their work are most likely to benefit from a complete JavaScript course and to find that benefit worth its costs in time and money. An accredited JavaScript course with an expert instructor should cover all the material entry-level programmers need, through lectures, examples, exercises, and projects demonstrating each topic. Course projects can provide reference material for similar tasks later and also serve as a starting portfolio for employers or clients. A certificate from a professional course (or an industry certification achieved as a result of such study) provides further proof of a student’s ability. Some career-focused courses even include employment advice and support. Since JavaScript itself is usually only one of several skills required for careers like web development or software development, an instructor can point students toward any additional study they need.

Who might find it worthwhile?

Professionals who will use JavaScript only occasionally or who will work with programmers using JavaScript could still benefit from a course on this language. Being able to understand the terminology, features, and limitations of JavaScript will help when using applications built on this language or when leading or collaborating in a development team. Programming skills are also useful for cross-training, allowing an employee to assist when needed and increasing their value.

Hobbyists or independent developers who want to build applications using JavaScript will also reach their goal more quickly by taking an organized JavaScript class. Some courses are focused on specific project types rather than programming work as a whole and could advance your knowledge faster in the topics you need most. A live instructor is also able to answer questions related to your planned project and may be able to address your interests within their lessons. 

Who probably doesn’t need a JavaScript class?

Anyone who won’t be coding in JavaScript or working in a field that uses JavaScript probably doesn’t need a formal course. Those who are just curious about the language’s features and uses can learn these from free lessons available in many places online. Hobbyists who might like to learn JavaScript coding but don’t have any urgent project or purpose might prefer self-paced study, which costs less and lets students study whenever they are available. Programmers who are already familiar with JavaScript but looking for help with a new topic or a difficult problem also might not want a whole, formal course; a video tutorial or a 1-on-1 teacher would be a more cost-effective way to learn just the information they want.

Learn JavaScript with Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers several live online courses in JavaScript, primarily focused on its use for web development but including features used in all JavaScript applications. The shortest of these courses, JavaScript for Front-End, addresses JavaScript’s uses for front end web development. This course is recommended for students with some familiarity with web design or front end web development, or at a minimum, experience coding in HTML and CSS. The course begins with lessons on JavaScript’s fundamental concepts, commands, and techniques, progressing through multiple examples teaching students basic (or ‘vanilla’) JavaScript programming. The second half of the course teaches the GreenSock Animation Platform (GSAP), an animation tool built on JavaScript that assists multiple kinds of animated content for webpages. This course includes a proprietary workbook and awards a certificate upon completion; students can also retake the course once within a year.

Noble Desktop’s JavaScript Programming Bootcamp, also recommended for students with prior web design or front end web development experience, focuses specifically on JavaScript programming for web development but provides a thorough education in the language. Beginning with lessons on JavaScript’s fundamental elements and programming methods, the instructor addresses each important topic in depth, including core techniques, features unique to newer JavaScript releases, and commonly used JavaScript libraries. The Bootcamp course includes several projects that allow students to demonstrate and practice their skills, also creating a starting portfolio. The instructor will also discuss career planning and interview preparation, including a bonus 1-on-1 training session for each student. This course includes a proprietary workbook and a certificate of completion, and students may retake the course once, if needed, for up to one year.

The most complete of Noble Desktop’s JavaScript courses is the JavaScript Development Certificate program, an immersive course spanning multiple weeks, designed to train professional JavaScript programmers. The course begins with the same lessons as Noble Desktop’s JavaScript Programming Bootcamp, with the same recommended prerequisites. The course’s second unit addresses the use of JavaScript in web development, explaining additional JavaScript tools like the Node.js and Express.js libraries and integration of JavaScript with MongoDB, a database management system for websites. The third unit, equivalent to Noble Desktop’s React Development Bootcamp, explains the React library, which enables the creation of reusable blocks of code called components, and demonstrates React’s uses for web development. This certificate course also includes a bonus unit on SQL, a data management language used in web development. The course concludes with several portfolio-quality projects and career guidance for the web development industry. In addition to its live online classes, this course also includes supplemental written materials, access to class recordings, and eight 1-on-1 mentoring sessions with an instructor. Students receive an official certificate upon completion of the program and may retake the full course once within a year.