One of the challenges in working with Google Tag Manager<\/a> (or any JavaScript-based platform for that matter) is what to do with race conditions<\/a>. A race condition<\/strong> emerges when you have two resources competing for execution in the browser, and there is a degree of unpredictability to which \u201cwins\u201d the race.<\/p>\n A prime example is working with jQuery<\/a>. It\u2019s one of the most popular JavaScript libraries out there, and websites utilize it for a multitude of things, many useful for Google Tag Manager, too. For example, jQuery trivializes asynchronous HTTP requests<\/a> and DOM traversal<\/a>, both of which can cause headaches to GTM users.<\/p>\n However, since jQuery is often, and should often be, downloaded asynchronously, there\u2019s the risk that jQuery hasn\u2019t loaded yet when GTM starts executing your tags<\/strong>. Thus we need some mechanism to let Google Tag Manager know when an asynchronously downloaded or requested resource has become available.<\/p>\n \n \n Subscribe to the Simmer newsletter<\/a> to get the latest news and content from Simo Ahava into your email inbox!\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are two ways you can go about this. The first one is to use a Custom HTML tag<\/strong>, and then fire a The first method is to create a Custom HTML tag<\/strong> that fires as early as possible. So you\u2019d want to add the All Pages<\/strong> trigger to it, so that it fires as soon as the GTM container has loaded.<\/p>\n At this point it\u2019s important that you do not<\/strong> load the script by simply adding the
\n X<\/span><\/p>\n
\n The Simmer Newsletter<\/strong>\n <\/p>\nTip 66: Add a load listener to script elements<\/h2>\n
![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2017\/12\/add-load-listener-to-script-elements.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\ndataLayer.push()<\/code> once the resource has completely loaded. The second way is to use tag sequencing<\/a>, and tell GTM that the setup tag (where you load the script) has completed by using the internal onHtmlSuccess()<\/code> method. But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself.<\/p>\ndataLayer.push()<\/code> in the load listener callback<\/h3>\n