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What to learn to become a fullstack developer (for beginners)
In web development there is a lot to learn before you can start to earn.
Getting into web development, or coding/programming of any kind, can take quite a while.
Learning is the easy part, but landing a job… well that's the hard part!
But that wasn't always the case. Once upon a time, it was the exact opposite.
You see, when I first started learning how to code in 1999 all we had were boring books and a few awful websites.
But nowadays you can just watch videos and the information is downloaded directly into your brain, how awesome is that?!
But in 2021/2022 we have a problem… there is SO MUCH information we don't know what to follow or believe.
That's where online courses come to save the day.
Online coding courses give you the knowledge and practice you need to learn how to code, and they give you the guidance you need to move forward as a web developer looking for a career change.
What do you need to learn first (in web development)?
It's easy. You could learn and be REALLY good at HTML in less than a week.
Every website uses HTML, so this is the first thing you'll want to learn.
CSS is also easy, but it's BIG and has strict rules that aren't always obvious. It should take you about a month to get really good at CSS and to start making beautiful and modern looking websites.
Ugh, JavaScript.
I say "ugh" because JavaScript is a HUGE ecosystem full of shiny objects that don't matter. Don't learn React first, don't learn Vue first, don't learn jQuery first.. learn plain, vanilla, raw, unfiltered, boring JavaScript first.
Don't get distracted by all the tools, packages and fun things you can do. Just keep it simple. This can take you between 1–3 months to learn.
JavaScript is a programming language, whereas CSS and HTML are not programming languages - they are considered markup languages. And the human brain registers a programming language as a different way to think - it's literally like learning a new speaking language. So be patient at this step.
Application Programming Interfaces.
That sounds harder than it actually is. It's honestly just fancy talk for "sending and receiving data from a different computer over the internet". It's like asking your waiter for a drink - you make a request, it shows up, and what you do afterwards is up to you.
API's should take you about a day to learn the theory. But then another 1–2 weeks for practice.
Git is a "version control tool". It lets you make changes over time, rewind your work, save it and store it somewhere safe like GitHub.com or GitLab.com.
It can get REALLY complex really easily, so just learn the basics for now.
This should take you about a week to learn, but then you should be using Git on every project moving forward for all of time. So you'll get REALLY good at it pretty quickly.
Server-side programming languages are the languages you write that exist on the server. That could be Python, PHP, Java, JavaScript, etc.
I personally like Python because it's powerful, easy to learn, easy to read and write, and it's the worlds #1 most popular programming language - so you know there are jobs related to Python.
This is similar to learning JavaScript, time-wise at least. It should take 1–3 months to learn a server-side language well enough you can apply for a job.
If you already know JavaScript quite well, you'll pick up other languages quite easily. So if you already know JavaScript and you're just learning Python, it'll probably take half the time to learn Python, so maybe 2–6 weeks.
Arbington.com is the place to learn this. Right now it's $15/month to get access to over 150 web development courses, plus another 150 design courses, hundreds of marketing, SEO and analytics courses, and so much more.
In total you'll get immediate access to over 1,500 courses for just $15/month - and it comes with a free 14 day trial.
Certificates of completion are included in every course!
In about 7–10 months you have become a junior fullstack web developer.
There are a few things we skipped over like learning React.js or Django for Python, but once you know the programming language the frameworks become easier to learn.
Don't forget to open source all of your work on GitHub to future employers can see your progress!
Happy coding!
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