From Zero to Self Taught Web Developer: My Journey
My Journey as a Self-Taught Web Developer and How You Can Follow the Same Path.
When I first started hearing about web development I thought it would be so cool to be able to do programming and the benefits being high earning potential, remote | flexible and a job that you can really progress and become even better and at this point I was working on self development and to be able to have something else I can teach myself and give me some real projects I can sink my teeth into.
However I was talking to a few of my collages from a warehouse job and one of them told me - "Your stupid If you think you can make web development as a career path" "you failed school with no GCSE, you got kicked out of college there is no way you will become a web developer".
Then told me to shut up and wrap pallets.
Now for that person telling me that I cannot do it maybe I should be thanking them as when people tell me that I cannot do something It makes me more determined to do it.
So I became activated and I had brought this web development course for £1000 this course was jam packed with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JSON, AJAX, and http method and codes, the course had some parts of cyber security and firewalls, there was also web design and would have many pages to do with figma and wireframes and page layouts as well as explaining what different picture extensions and where best to use them and more however these were all the basics with no frameworks but a lot of that course was to do with being an employee, there was parts of the course that explained the idea off freelance and project budgets and how to invoice clients, like working in a team, how to speak with customers, commenting, debugging and more.
The course had some videos but more written pages so I would read some of the pages before I set off to my 9 - 5 and when I had time in the evening I would also read.
Overall I completed the course 4 times then I started practicing myself.
I got VSCode installed then I was making html pages, adding different styles and making the page dynamic with JavaScript utilising event handlers and working with the DOM - The Document Object Model.
I had also brought a few books there was HTML and this book had the history of HTML and went from HTML1 to HTML5
I had brought a book on CSS best practices and how to CSS3
I had also brought a book on JavaScript basics and JavaScript under the hood, the call stack and heap practices.
I read all 3 books a few times and I had been gifted more books from the Facebook Free Site so at this point I started constantly studying as well as testing out different ways to make webpages and using all that I had learnt.
I thought this is great! I felt as if I was the leader of the army and the code is my army and I can get the code to do whatever I wanted.
Many developers like to use dummy text Lorem for adding text to a web page however, I was learning marketing at this point so I preferred to use and test my own Copywriting skills.
I would then show my friend and ask him - "Hey what parts of this website catches your attention the most?" "Do these words entice you to want to carry on reading?" "Do these styles and buttons have good call to actions?"
I found a free learning resource online called w3schools and they have many many topics and how to pages from html to php to c++ but as I just wanted to learn the three basics HTML, JavaScript and CSS I just focused more on them.
Whenever I was on my break I would use my phone to go onto w3schools and read documentation and from what I remembered from what I had read for that day I would put into practice when I got home.
I watched a few videos on web development and the idea I got was now I know the base languages I can start looking for front end jobs but I indeed hit a roadblock.
Yes that's right every single web development job required you to know frameworks such as react, node, saas, sql, express and many more not to mention you need to have references of people who you have done work for.
So I thought I need to start learning more about creating a Restful API and getting files from a JSON server | file.
Then it hit me boom! if I truly want to be great at web development then why not get into backend and full stack!
So I started learning about back end practices using node so I came across Traversy Media YouTube channel installed NODE JS and then started following along with tutorials, got a good grasp on node so then now I have node I figured I can start installing with NPM express, react, mongoose and more! so then I started learning react library for front end and using node for backend, creating API's, still needed more to learn on react so I came across webdevsimplified YouTube channel and started learning about react hooks.
So then I had a good understanding of react hooks and using NODE for backend I would then learn express JS framework to make getting a backend server up and running as quickly as possible and express JS makes everything so much more efficient.
So I would start full stack projects with react as frontend and express as backend, then I thought I need to learn databases because at this point I was just saving everything to local storage. For both the frontend and backend I used JavaScript.
So then I started learning mongoDB and Mongoose then I started going on to make MERN stack app's MERN stands for M-mongoDB E-express R-react N-node
Ran into a bunch of problems and errors but that will be added in my tips and tricks part.
I carried on and I was getting into this flow so then I started learning about crypt, bcrypt and json web tokens for authentication and authorisation.
I had started working with sanity too and using sanity as a database.
I dabbled in three.JS a bit but I really wanted to get these solid skills down first as many companies don't seem that interested in three.JS unless you are applying for game development positions.
I've done many projects and it was only last year that I got my portfolio site up and running hosted on Vercel and I also created a GitHub account to save my projects in repositories.
I really enjoy web development as for me it is not only just another way for me to learn, grow and work on my creativity but also for the fact I can do it pretty much whenever, it makes me feel so happy when I finally figure out an error, also I would be lying if I said I didn't think of the earning potential.
I've come across many full stack developer positions based here in UK for companies 70k a year.
Freelancers can charge £80 an hour depending on the project.
Many people went to coding bootcamps and a misconception is that in order for people to take you seriously and to get a career in web development you must do a coding bootcamp.
This information is WRONG! bootcamps are designed to teach you really well but they also are a way to get you from A to B with ease and most of these bootcamps will have job positions lined up for you when you pass the bootcamp.
You don't need to go to a bootcamp as you can get so much further yourself so long as you have the drive, willingness to learn, practice and more practice and always be documenting your process.
When I started yes I invested money but you really don't need to invest any money. I've been doing web development for about 4 years now and I have realised there are so many free resources out there to learn and practice but you will have to invest a whole lot more time.
My tips and tricks for you if your a self taught developer.
1. Block out time | Get rid of distractions
So these two complement each other, if your trying to study it will be really hard to focus let alone remember any of it.
So my advice is find somewhere quiet or if you have a busy household then study when everyone is asleep at night or before everyone gets up in the morning It will be a bit annoying as you will most likely be tired and have sore eyes but you have to find that time where you will not be distracted.
Being completely in focus is crucial for learning and remembering not to mention flow.
If you must study during the day then a few things you could do to eliminate distractions turn you phone on silent.
I know we are in this age where we cannot be without our phones, however try block out one hour at a time.
Put your phone on silent and set a timer for one hour then have a break and repeat this process.
You can also get yourself some noise cancellation headphones.
2. When you study, stop and think about it.
What do I mean? well say when you have just read documentation or you have just watched a tutorial, stop and think about each step you learned about and how they all come together, imagine yourself working on that same project.
3. Use many methods of learning and learn as much as you can each day.
When I started I was reading documentation, reading other peoples code, watching tutorials, listening to tutorials while sleeping and I had an mp3 player Id create a learning playlist with many development, tech podcasts.
The idea is that your mind is constantly learning and reiterating everything you are learning so it all stays fresh in your mind.
You may be the type of person who remembers things instantly but I was not. I forget things quick so for me that was how I managed to remember and learn and retrain my focus.
4. Focus on your own development and not others.
If someone seems to be doing better then you or someone seems to be a better developer with more completed projects then do not be discouraged as we all learn differently and so long as you do not give up you will get far.
If you have people in your life being friends or family members saying that you have been doing this for a while and complaining that your not making money from it then don't listen to them as they have no idea the amount of work that is involved.
The most important thing is that you do not rush this process, things take time and so long as you are making progress then that is all that matters.
5. If you run into problems while coding then Google is your friend.
Yes we all run into problems and errors when coding and sometimes we may not know how to deal with them however there is probably a developer who once had that problem and found the solution so search google, search forums a great one is stack overflow.
6. If your stressed then give yourself a break.
I have found that many times when I am faced with an error and I cannot find the solution, maybe my focus is gone and whatever I am learning is not going in my head or even if my mind goes blank I take myself off and I break for a couple of hours then go back to it with a clear head It is much more easier for me to tackle the problem and find the solutions.
Listen to your mind and body and if you are having these issues then yeah take yourself out for a walk, exercise or just spend some time with family & friends without thinking about your work then when your mind is calm then go back to it.
7. Test flow with sounds or music.
Yeah next time you sit down to do some programming then Put some sounds on preferably not ones that have lyrics, you could use white noise, rain sounds, dubstep, chill step, binaural beats, what works for me is LOFI sounds | LOFI HIPHOP I find listening to lofi music helps me get in flow quickly.
8. Always Document.
Always document your progress either by writing notes or recording yourself talking about what you are learning and what have you done.
GitHub is great for putting your projects on and having GitHub is like a backup so if your computer gets wiped you can still find your projects on GitHub and you can download the code and work on it again.
9. Talk to people about what you are learning.
Why? because when we speak to others about what we have learnt It helps us remember it and it helps us explain in a way that our clients will understand too.
There was many times when I took my son to school id be talking to him about JavaScript and why certain things happen and some practices I have been implementing.
Trust me this helps.
Here is a few products from amazon that will help you on your development journey ⬇️⬇️
👉 Modern JavaScript for the impatient 📙👈
👉 JavaScript all-in-one for dummies 📙👈
👉 HTML, CSS and JavaScript All in one📙👈
👉 Sam's teach yourself PHP, MySQL & JavaScript All In One📙👈
👉 HTML5 and CSS3 Masterclass📙👈
Here is a few free websites that will help you learn ⬇️⬇️
Here is a list of You Tube channels that will help you learn ⬇️⬇️
FIREBASE 👈
SANITY 👈
That's all folks!
Don't listen to people who tell you you cannot because you can!
You are worth so much more then you give your self credit for.
If you really want to succeed in this field then you just have to work towards it, it wont be easy by any means but you will make it with determination, willpower and drive.
You are never too young, too old, too stupid or too smart to work on yourself.
