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How to become a vanilla JavaScript badass

A few years ago, I noticed that a lot of people who are learning JavaScript struggle with putting all of the moving parts together into a working project.

They read tutorials, follow along with other people’s code, and look stuff up on MDN, but when it’s time to sit down and create a project from scratch… nothing! They get stuck. They don’t know how to start.

The Vanilla JS Academy is a project-based workshop I created specifically to address this challenge, and it’s quickly become my most successful learning resource.

A new session is starting on April 4, and registration opens up next week.

How it works

This immersive, 6-week program includes a combination of over 70 lessons, 18 projects, and live conversations with both me and other students.

  • Every other day, you get a project to work on, 1-3 short lessons that provide some background, and a template to help you get started.
  • On the in-between days, I share my approach to the project and some of the common challenges and “gotchas” that students often run into.

If you get stuck, there’s a 24/7 private Slack channel exclusively for students, and video office hours every few weeks.

Tired of tutorials? Want to really dig in and work with other developers on how to become a vanilla JS badass? I can't tell you how much I've learned from Chris Ferdinandi and his Vanilla JS Academy.- Ben Rudolph

Workshops tailored to your learning journey

The next session of the Vanilla JS Academy includes two different workshops.

  1. Vanilla JS Essentials. Learn the fundamentals of DOM manipulation and injection, working with APIs and asynchronous JavaScript, managing data with arrays and objects, and saving state with browser storage.
  2. Structure & Scale. Learn how to structure and organize your code as your projects grow and scale. Dig into concepts like revealing module patterns, object-oriented programing (OOP), chaining, immutability, ES modules, and service workers.
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

Essentials is designed for people who are early in the process of learning JavaScript.

Maybe you’re just starting out. Maybe you’ve been trying to learn for a while but things just aren’t clicking. Maybe you’re already employed as a junior developer, and want to feel more confident.

Structure & Scale is tailored for people who feel very comfortable with JavaScript fundamentals, and want to move to the next level.

If you find yourself copy-and-pasting code a lot, or struggling to maintain code bases as they grow larger, this program is for you.

Early bird registration opens up on Monday (March 14)

The next session of the Vanilla JS Academy starts on April 4 and runs through May 14.

Next week only, you’ll be able to save 40% on registration with Early Bird Registration. After that, the program returns to it’s regular price of $799 (or $299 paid in three monthly installments).

I hope to see you there! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.