I'm about 6.5 hours into a free 19-hour Python API development course focused on FastAPI. I already know how to code, but I haven't built a project this complex before. When I tried recreating part of the course, I realized I was mostly remembering the instructor's steps instead of understanding why each part worked. How should I continue from here? Should I finish the course first, pause to rebuild the project from memory, create a different project alongside it, or review the underlying backend and API concepts?
4 Answers
Build your own project as soon as possible. Take the ideas you’ve learned so far and use them for something unrelated to the tutorial, such as a task tracker, weather dashboard, or parts catalog. When you can’t follow the exact steps from the video, you’ll be forced to understand and apply the concepts.
A small variation of the course project can be a good transition. Keep the general structure, but change the subject completely—for example, use product data instead of recipes. Even that small change makes you decide what models, routes, and responses are needed instead of copying everything mechanically.
You can finish it, but don’t wait until the end to practice. Pause at a useful checkpoint, rebuild what you’ve seen without looking, and then continue once you understand the parts you struggled with.
You may also need to strengthen the foundation underneath FastAPI. Make sure you understand how HTTP requests and responses work, what REST APIs are doing, how routing and status codes fit together, and how a backend communicates with a database. You don’t need to master every topic first, but filling in those gaps will make the framework much easier to understand.
I think I do need a better understanding of how website backends and APIs work. I’ve mostly focused on writing code so far.
What you’re experiencing is normal. Following a tutorial often creates familiarity without proving that you can solve the problem independently. Try rebuilding the project from memory, explain each part out loud or in your notes, and only return to the course when you can identify a specific gap. Forgetting some details later is fine—the goal is to practice retrieving and relearning them.
Would it be better to finish the tutorial first and then start building projects?