Announcing Beginner Basics Full Release

I've made a significant change to how I'm developing Learn JavaScript the Hard Way:

There will be no more Early Access concept. Instead I'll have three courses that target Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced programmers with different price points and upgrade paths.

This is after talking to many of the current and possible future customers to discover that...many of them just don't want early access. They want a completed course that fits their needs.

Nearly everyone I talked to fell into a three camps:

1. Beginners who aren't sure they will like programming, but want to learn web development. These people want a lower cost with a less intimidating amount of content they can attempt, and possibly upgrade later.
2. Developers who are professionals already but have no web development experience, or their experience isn't modern. These people might already know some aspect of the web development stack, and probably know a few programming languages, so they mostly want an introduction to the entire stack, but not so much the basics.
3. Motivated Professionals who want to get better at making their own websites, and focus on building a business. They want all the other content, but also want a good set of full working websites they can study and copy.

I've decided the best way to fix this is to create the three classic product tiers you see everywhere else. That way, I have a course that's ready now for beginners and is "done", with plans for the other courses coming as I do them.

Beginner Basics

This is what I'm releasing today. Beginner Basics is a complete finished course that's aimed at beginners who know nothing. It teaches HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with access to all of the livestreams and includes videos for every exercises.

Complete Coder

Do you like my alliteration? I love it. Don't question it. Just go with it. It makes total sense!

Seriously though, this is a course for people who want to learn every aspect of full stack web development, but aren't interested in making their own websites. You would choose this if you're looking to upgrade your skills, or work for someone else. The planned curriculum for this course will cover every layer of the classic web development full stack, but with simplified code you can study and understand. It builds on the Beginner Basics, and people who buy Beginner Basics can upgrade easily if they want to go farther.

Professional Programmer

This course will include all the previous material, and then have a final course that does complete demos for four professional websites, with the code included. This is for people who want to make their own website business but don't want to start over from scratch, or want to have real code to reference and study. This part of the course will include things like payments, hosting, deployment, and security topics to help people run their own websites.

An Upgrade Path

With this new configuration I'll also have an upgrade path for people, so they don't have to buy more than they actually need at the moment. If you're not sure that programming is for you, then Beginner Basics will get you started. If you get through that and want more, then you'll be able to upgrade to the other courses for the difference.

Beginner Basics is Done

This means that I've finished Beginner Basics and it's ready for full public consumption. I will be updating some of the videos with a better design, but the content is solid and ready to use.

The Future

If you want to see what the future will be like, check out the first version of my zedshaw.games that's a fun first demo of the software in the course. In it's current state the zedshaw.games site is a simple Gaming Clips sharing site, and you can view the code at the git.learnjsthehardway.com.

I'm also starting development on the Competent Coder course as soon as the dust settles for this release. I'm setting it for August 1st to give myself a time limit.

A Special Deal until August 1st

In order to give people who wanted the original Early Access deal a chance to still get it I'm including all three courses in all purchases made before August 1st. If you buy Beginner Basics before then you'll get the other courses for free as they come out. After that I'll start working on Complete Coder and it'll be priced like normal.

FAQ

• If I bought it when it was early access do I still get the full course? Yes, you will receive each course as it's released since that was our deal when you signed up, and I also appreciate your support.
• If I buy Beginner Basics but change my mind can I upgrade? Yes, I'll implement a feature that lets you upgrade your purchase if you want to tackle the next level of courses. I'll usually make upgrades a simple "pay the difference" procedure.
• Do I have to get the Beginner Basics if I want a more advanced course? Yes, but mostly because I plan to reference material from previous exercises, so it'll be confusing without it. You don't have to use the content if you don't need it.