0 to Dev in 6 months — Recommended Syllabus 
Tags: beginners, career
Published: 2020-09-07 04:03:44

Take it with a grain of Salt — but if I was starting out trying to be a web dev today this is the syllabus / path I would take. 

**Other devs — comment below what path you would take if you were starting from scratch today.**

### Month 1 (HTML + CSS + Basics)
- Week 1 HTML  (Build and deploy a website using ugly plain css) (Deploy using [google drive](https://thenextweb.com/google/2013/02/05/google-drive-now-lets-developers-share-hosted-websites-by-storing-html-javascript-and-css-files/#:~:text=Create%20a%20new%20folder%20in,can%20view%20your%20web%20page.) or [Netlify](https://www.netlify.com/))
- Week 2 HTML + CSS  again Deploy using Google drive or netlify
- Bonus points for:
            - Google Analytics
            - Custom Webfonts
            - Images in your website
            - Mutli-page website
    - First 2 weeks is about getting something on the screen, learning editors, and basics of the internet HTML + CSS is the easiest way to do it.
    - Last 2 weeks: Rebuilding one of those sites with a CSS framework as a starting point. Bootstrap or Tailwind (Just using a CDN style tag)

    By month one you should be pretty confident in 

    - HTML
    - CSS
    - The terminal
    - Git + Github
    - Basics of hosting and domains
    - Basics of file structures and relative paths
    - Basics of style tags and using a front end library

    **At this point you can probably make $15-20/hr freelance if you position yourself right.**  

    **You could also do a lot customizing things like Squarespace or Shopify** 


### Month 2  (JavaScript)
    
- Keep it Vanilla JavaScript
    - Avoid JQuery or any other libraries
    - [https://www.beginnerjavascript.com/](https://www.beginnerjavascript.com/)  or any other course for Vanila JavaScript
    - Add interactivity to your site — Again deploy it
    - Maybe do a couple hours of algorithm bullshit — not until month 2

    **By month two you should be confident in:** 

    - Writing and reading JavaScript functions
    - Selecting and interacting with HTML elements on screen
    - Handling forms and inputs
    - Some API interactivity — Maybe a Stripe Credit card collection form or the Pokemon API
    - Strong recommend to try to play some some "low code" stuff and make something that actually does something. Not just a "Static" site.

    **At this point you can probably make $20-25/hr freelance if you position yourself right.**  

    You could now build an MVP using "low code / no code tools — Strongly encouraged 

### Month 3 (React — if you want to be a "Front end dev")

- This is going to take all month.
- Build at least 2 projects start to finish and DEPLOY them.
- Bonus points for interactivity or interacting with any kind of low code backend — [airtable](https://upmostly.com/tutorials/create-simple-web-app-react-airtable) or [Firebase](https://firebase.google.com/)

**At this point you can probably make $25-30/hr freelance if you position yourself right.**  

### Month 4 (Gatsby + CMS Systems) 

(Get freelance work or do favors for people now)
    - Build a static site using React + Gatsby
    - Always be deploying
    - Bonus points for actually getting paid to develop a website
    - Understand and explore Content Management Systems
        - Headless Wordpress, Contentful, Sanity Etc.

**At this point you can probably make $25-30/hr freelance if you position yourself right.**  

### Month 5 (Backend basics — Next.js  or Rails)

- You can start with Next.js
- Even though you want to be a front end developer you'll need knowledge of the back end
- You should now build an app that does "Something" with a backend you've built.

**At this point you can probably make $30-35/hr freelance if you position yourself right and be up for internships / JR JR positions at agencies or firms** 

### Month 6 (Build something real using everything you know)

- ABD — ALWAYS BE DEPLOYING — Shipping things, get paid early on if you can.
    - Build small and complete
- Random note: [This "Front End Web Development" course from Treehouse seems pretty solid](https://teamtreehouse.com/tracks/front-end-web-development) and my recommended path kind of follows this