Moving beyond "the code"

By day, I'm a digital marketer. At night, I'm a self-taught student of digital technologies. I enjoy building and connecting applications to solve personal problems and solutions for organizations. Some people think that's weird, but I really enjoy it. I've been working with websites on and off for the last 7 years or so. I've used niche softwares in higher education and digital marketing for the last 4 years

A few years back, I had some exposure to the backend side of web development, which really opened my eyes into the world beyond "plug and play" coding. I've taken a few web development courses, helped people make websites and tried making my own. My current challenge is to move beyond the "code". I want improve my skills set to move beyond hobbyist developer and become proficient at solving real-world solutions at home and beyond.

I'm not trying to get on a high horse or anything, but working in a digital industry is pushing me to the limits of my pre-existing skills. Right now, I really want to work on my understanding of plain-vanilla javascript so I can interact with the DOM better. To better articulate what I want to accomplish, I will document some projects and challenges I face here. This will be in addition to my sporadic reviews about media and culture.

Currently, I'm using these tools and resources to learn:

Atom
GitHub Desktop
Filezilla
Sublime Text
Notepad++
Firefox Browser
Crome
Mozilla Developers Network
W3Schools
Brad Traversy
FreeCodeCamp

If you're interested in working on any challenges with me or want to connect me with an open source project that might be valuable learning experience, let's talk. Connect with me on social media @dtheblerd. I want to work with you!