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πŸŒŸβš’οΈ How to Learn Web Development and Land a Job Faster in 2024 (Beginners' Guide With Free Resources)

Chaoo Charles on February 06, 2024

1. The Problem - Being Stuck in The Tutorial Hell I remember when I was learning to code, I learnt the basics of web development includi...
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ingosteinke profile image
Ingo Steinke, web developer

Moving from theory to practice quickly is very important to break out of "tutorial hell", I totally agree. But after a practical crash course like suggested in your post (as you wrote, do this for about 9 months!) or better yet, starting in parallel:

  • revise what you coded 1 month ago:
    • what's good?
    • what would you do differently now? why?
    • does it still run? why not?
    • update all dependencies and retry...
  • learn about refactoring and maintainability!
  • learn about test-driven development (TDD) and start testing your code!
    • adding tests later is still better than not testing at all
  • learn about coding standards, best practices and clean code!
    • use this knowledge for reviewing your legacy code from months ago
  • refactor your JavaScript code using TypeScript!
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chaoocharles profile image
Chaoo Charles

I agreeπŸ’―

There is always room for growth. Thank you!

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_ndeyefatoudiop profile image
Ndeye Fatou Diop

Nice post πŸ™. Small thing: depending on your goals, you may not need to do full stack : either front or back should be enough. Otherwise you will have shallow knowledge in both. It’s super hard to be a very good full stack dev

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Chaoo Charles

True, but I still recommend doing a fullstack project then choosing what to focus on more from there. You will know which one you liked most and you will have an idea of what happens on the other side when you start collaborating in teams.

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_ndeyefatoudiop profile image
Ndeye Fatou Diop

If that is for choosing between the two, I definitely agree !

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chaoocharles profile image
Chaoo Charles

Like I can create a Fullstack app but I know my strong part is on the frontend, so usually when looking for freelance work and jobs, I usually go for frontend. But I have ideas of what happens on the api/database side which makes working with example data and intergrating later with the actual apis when they are ready easier.

I think backend devs should also have a clue of what happens on the frontend as well.

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Minhaz Halim (Zim)

Right..

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susyzee profile image
SusyZee

You know, every single word you said here is true!!! If I had started projects first, I would've learned faster. Unfortunately when I attended a one-year coding school, they did not tell us anything about doing projects, or creating a portfolio. So it took me another year to develop JavaScript projects together with a portfolio and websites i had created, along with some other stuff I also do, like Graphic Design. So if anyone out there is starting a coding school, start doing projects, prepare a portfolio... move on. I had to learn everything all by myself, and thanks to all of you who talk about this all the time, or else I would've never have known. It's important to follow a DEV Community🩷🩷🩷🩷

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chaoocharles profile image
Chaoo Charles

Thank you for adding the emphasis, I also spent my first two years learning but couldn't create a project. I started in 2016 but created my first complete website in 2018. I think starting early with projects is the best.

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susyzee profile image
SusyZee

Definitely.... hope many are reading this, so they don't make our same mistakes!!! Start creating projects immediately everyone!!!! 🩡🩡🩡🩡🩡🩡

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Alex

I could never follow programming tutorials unless it was something like algorithms or data structures. The way I learn any language/framework/stack is by picking an idea that resonates with me, deciding what technology I want to use/learn and just jumping straight into it. It's a bumpy road at times, but much more fun and motivating because it gives you a sense of ownership and constant dopamine hits from seeing little parts working and coming together. Then one day you look at the path you've taken and realize that you now feel comfortable with what you've been learning and can use it comfortably, even for professional work.

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Chaoo Charles

This is a very good path, just jumping right in is one of the best way.

But for a complete beginner they might find it hard because they might not know anything about coding, including the various tech options available or even on how to open a code editor. That's why I think a few tutorials at the beginning could become handy but someone should try to move away quickly from them.

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Jordan Spencer

Another side of Tutorial Hell is just feeling like there's always more tutorials that you should be doing or that you think you aren't doing the right tutorials and you end up with a million different tutorials bookmarked! That's my kind of tutorial hell.

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Chaoo Charles

well, creating projects will help you know what you are missing and be able to look for the right tutorials.. so just start working on projects

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Fernando • Edited

Diving into coding challenges and crafting my own projects made a massive impact on my learning path. It turned out to be incredibly efficient since I could put theory into practice and sharpen my knack for solving problemsβ€”a true game changer in mastering programming concepts.
I can add this page also to find more learning projects aquadzn.github.io/learn-x-by-doing-y/

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Chaoo Charles

Awesome, combining coding challenges and crafting projects is really a good take. Coding challenges are also the best when it comes to interview preparations.

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Sohail Pathan • Edited

Developing fast and scalable applications is a crucial aspect of web development. As your app expands, you and your engineering team will not want to rewrite the code to accommodate scalability.

To build complex functionality, it is best not to rely on resources that require a lot of time and effort. That's why we at ApyHub have created a catalog of pre-built services for developers. - to help them build applications faster, cheaper, and more scalable.

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Dmytro Klimenko

This is really a timely topic. I've encountered a similar issue, and your solution really helped me understand the situation.

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Chaoo Charles

Great, start creating projects sooner

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yogini16

I liked it.
Thank you for sharing !!

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Chaoo Charles

Awesome, glad you liked it 😊

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Chaoo Charles

Good advice, thank you for this!

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Mike

Great article. thank you so much for break it down for us.

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Chaoo Charles

No problem mate!