How to start your web developer journey
Published: 2021-02-22 16:02:18

Ok, so it’s 2021 and you have decided to become a web developer. Good. But <b>where should you start</b>?

That’s the big question I asked myself (actually it was the end of 2020). I have a full-time job that takes at least 8 hours of my waking time. We are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic and I have little money to spend on extras.

As I have <a href="https://dev.to/hicalje/hello-world-3f41" target="_blank">already explained</a>, this “web developer thing” is something I really want to <b>invest energy in</b>. So, as many others before me, I resolved myself to become a self-taught web developer.

This is how I’m tackling the issue.

[Before going any further, I want to clarify that all the links, platforms, courses and resources are <b>not sponsored</b>. I’m writing about them only because they are really helping me and I like to share them with you]

<h2>Bootcamps</h2>
<b>I haven't a CS degree of any sort</b> (I graduated in Political Science) so I need someone to at least teach me the basics.

The <b>bootcamps</b> I’m attending are all on-line (again, Covid-19 and money issue). My platform of choice is <i>Udemy</i>, because of the average level of teachers and how contents and exercises are organized. Plus, if you have a little patience, you can save a lot of money with dedicated discounts.

[Of course you can have a look around and choose any other platform that suits you]

In December I’ve started the <a href="https://www.udemy.com/course/the-web-developer-bootcamp/" target="_blank">The Web Developer Bootcamp 2021</a> by Colt Steele, a cool course taught by a guy with a lot of experience in both coding and teaching. It covers everything from how to set up your dev environment to MongoDB and more. So have a look at it.

If you may find yourself struggling with some of the section of your on-line bootcamp of choice. Why don’t rely on YouTube free channels ?

Here those that I’m following:
<ul>
<li><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TechGuyWeb" target="_blank">Traversy Media</a></b>: a channel full of useful tutorials and how-tos, from simple to advance</li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCETveVX7TPauIupxYz6sFtA" target="_blank">FollowAndrew</a></b>: this guy rocks! If you follow him step-by-step in the creation of web contents you will learn a lot and also build quite a huge amount of resources you may need to refer to in the future</li>
</ul>

<h3>Bonus tip</h3>
Forget about ads claming that this or that on-line school can make you become a “full stack developer” in two or three months. There’s no such a thing.

<h2>Build your side project</h2>
This is something that so many people suggested when I was starting my journey. But, wait. I could barely type a few strings of code and should I have started a project on my own? How? Pretty simple indeed. I looked at my notes and they were like this: 

<img src="https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/u5deuofg5gwxrlut7niv.JPG">

Nothing more than a document page written in simple HTML. Now, I’ve a sort of <b>fetishism for wiki-like knowledge bases</b>. (Ehi Atlassian<sup>(R)</sup> guys, I’m here, hello!) So I decided to create my own wiki-like website to rewrite all my notes. This project, that I intend to carry on for a long time, is giving me the chance to:

<ul>
<li>Going over and over my notes, so to fix them properly in my mind and discover that something I though I had understood was not so clear</li>
<li>Learn a lot of new things, challenging myself at a level that a simple course would haven’t allow me to</li>
</ul>   

Now my notes look like this: 
<img src="https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3tw3z6qdmnxm0p6tydlp.JPG">

[Someday I will publish it on Codepen] The sum up is: if you really want to grow as a developer, you need to have a side project, whatever form it takes. You need to practice!

As someone once said to me: <i>if you want to become a developer, you must be patience and curious</i>. 

<h2>Never stop learning</h2>
Bootcamps are a great way to learn, no doubt about it. But they <b>may not be enough</b>. Internet is full of great resources and this could be overwelming, especially when you start this journey without a proper compass. I’ve already tried a dozen of them and this is my shortlist: 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.freecodecamp.org/" target="_blank">freeCodeCamp</a>: totally free (you may choose to make a donation or not). fCC is built around various curricula ranging from HTML and CSS to Data Science and all of them assume (almost) no prior knowledge. These are really practical courses so you will have the chance to measure yourself from day one</li>
<li><a href="https://scrimba.com/" target="_blank">Scrimba</a>: another great place to start. So far I’ve followed only the Flexbox and CSS Grid courses (100% free) and both of them run smoothly. A great addition to my knowledge box</li>
<li><a href="https://www.samanthaming.com/" target="_blank">Samanthaming</a>: a blog full of resources and mini-courses. Thanks to their simple and clean approach I have (or think I have) understood Flexbox! </li>
<li><a href="https://www.frontendmentor.io/" target="_blank">FronEndMentor</a>: one of the highest ranked place to practice you coding skills through a series of challenges. Not tried this one yet though</li>
<li><a href="https://www.theodinproject.com/" target="_blank">The Odin Project</a>: similar to freeCodeCamp, full of free resources. I will definitely subscribe and challeng myself in the next few weeks</li>
</ul>

<h3>Bonus tip</h3>
This is just my list based on my own research and chatting around. Feel free to expand it. BUT, be aware that in first weeks of your journey you may end up overwelmed with tutorials, cheetsheets and articles. So, before taking any course, understand what is the learning approach that best fits your need. Take your time to realize if the teacher method is good enough for you. 

<h3>Bonus bonus tip</h3>
<b>Additional (personal) challenge</b>: you really wan’t to be a web developer? You know what does it take?

Listen to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/DorianDevelops/about">Dorian</a> and try answer again these simple questions.