DEV Community: lauracharvey

How I went from newbie to dream role in 225 days...

lauracharvey — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 15:27:16 +0000

Ahh it’s been too long since I sat down to write, I am so, so, so excited to bring you this latest instalment!

As you may or may not know, I GOT MY FIRST TECH JOB 🥳

225 days after starting my learning journey, I accepted a role as Developer Relations (DevRel) for Veeqo starting Monday 18th January 2021.

This article follows on from my last post:

My journey through space, time and tech (so far).

lauracharvey ・ Aug 19 '20

#beginners #codenewbie #career #watercooler

And will cover:

what I did next
a bit about bootcamp
what my job application process was like
how I got my job
job application tips

...and of course, the burning question that you’ve just thought of, what on earth is DevRel?

Where we left off

On the 19th August 2020 I told you all I was going to carry on self-teaching, but if I’m being honest readers, it was only because I had a not so supportive partner (with no tech experience) who had told me that bootcamp was a load of hoo haa and he wasn't prepared to support me through it.

By the end of August, I had decided a career in tech was more important to me than an unsupportive partner, so I left and decided to pursue my dream alone!

I passed my entry challenges and enrolled in the General Assembly Software Engineering Immersive course within a week and signed up for the cohort starting 21st September 2020.

Turns out, when you least expect it and you’ve resigned yourself to being a lonely old spinster with 10,000 dogs, someone comes along and ruins your well-made plans…

Cue Ant 🥰

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-1310333732864372737-776'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1310333732864372737&theme=dark" }

Laura, I’m here for the tech stuff, not your love life, tell me about the bootcamp…

I wrote about the bootcamp application process here:

The No Jargon Guide - Bootcamp Edition - Entry Challenges

lauracharvey ・ Sep 19 '20

#beginners #codenewbie #career

My course was fully remote due to COVID-19 (for anyone reading this in the future who doesn’t know, COVID-19 was like a sort of apocalypse over 2020-2021 similar to the movie Contagion where no one was allowed out of the house and people busied themselves by stockpiling toilet paper).

My classes were held on Zoom with 1 tutor, 2 teaching assistants and a cohort of 23 students. We would log into class from 9:30am until around 4:30pm with a 1-hour lunch, except on project weeks where you were gifted a lay-in and didn’t have to log in until 10am!

Our course was 12-weeks long and the syllabus covered:

HTML
CSS
React.js
Express.js
Node.js
MongoDB (& Mongoose)
Python
Flask
PostgreSQL

Here’s a breakdown of the timescales:

What was the teaching like?

Class was a mix of sessions and “labs”, the sessions were 45 minutes or more and then the labs were mini practical exercises done in groups or alone to break up the learning. During labs we would often be put in breakout rooms on Zoom which would be a smaller group that you could chat to or solve problems with.

Homework was set at the end of each day and varied in length and complexity. In the first few weeks it was going over concepts we’d learnt that day, from week-7 onwards it was replicating a full stack application that the teacher had built, adding to it each day with the things we’d learnt in class.

I work better in the mornings so I would get up early and work for 2-3 hours before class, but I know most people in my cohort did theirs as soon as class was over for the day.

Go on, how much did it cost?

It definitely wasn’t cheap.

The General Assembly Software Engineering Immersive costs £9,000 if you’re a boy, unlucky. However, if you are female or identify as female you get a discount of around £1,500.

BUT and this is a massive but, you HAVE to have a Mac which is obviously a huge outlay on top of the course fees.

How did you make it work?

I chose to fund the course fees from savings.

I got the Mac on credit card (eeek 😬)

And I’m extremely blessed to have parents who are able to help me out. Although somewhat begrudgingly, they paid me monthly “pocket money” so I could pay my bills and afford to feed myself.

All I will say on this, it’s best to be prepared financially for bootcamp, it’s stressful enough without adding money worries in the mix. There are part time options which although cost around the same, you can fit them around a job so at least you don’t have to stop earning.

Is bootcamp worth it?

I think this is a really personal question…what do you want to achieve and why?

For me I was making slow progress with JavaScript and I wanted to go quicker, I felt like I’d put life on hold enough in the past so I wanted to do something that could help me achieve my goal of being a developer as quickly as possible.

Also, after trying university before I knew that style of learning wasn’t for me.

It is true that you can learn everything I learnt at bootcamp for free online, but I felt I needed the support and community learning that bootcamp brings. I loved having people to ask questions, chat with about code, check understandings and also the solidarity when thinking “I don’t get this at all…”.

What are some things to bear in mind?

It’s like a massive information dump for 3 months

If you don’t get something, the next day you’re onto a new topic and you have homework so it can be difficult to go back over material during the course.

It’s really intense (no, really)

I was totally unprepared for how intense bootcamp was, its 7 hours per day, 5 days a week. You have homework and you’re learning masses of information each day.

The GA course also has built-in career support called “outcomes”. The outcomes team set homework and arrange networking sessions in the evenings a few times throughout the course. Once you finish the 12 weeks teaching you go straight into 2 weeks outcomes work which include work to get you job ready – CV/Resume, cover letters, LinkedIn, portfolio, READMEs and a job tracker.

No one gets you a job

If you are hoping going to bootcamp will magically get you job offers left, right and center and you'll be alright because bootcamps have affiliated employers, unfortunately you’re wrong. You have to put in all the work on your deliverables yourself, approach employers yourself and prepare for those technical interviews yourself.

Ok, enough about bootcamp, tell me, how did you get a job???

I think my job search journey is a little bit unusual, so I’ll tell you, but I’ll also give you some tips for a more traditional job search.

As some of you might know since starting to learn to code, I have built a Twitter following (I don’t have the secrets as to how, but I’ll do my best to share some tips in a thread another day).

On the 19th December 2020, I posted my new portfolio letting everyone know I was looking for work.

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-1340374223378931718-945'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1340374223378931718&theme=dark" }

I had a few people direct message me and one of them was the CEO of Veeqo who said he thought I might be a good fit for the Developer Relations role they had advertised with a link to the role.

DevRel was something I knew I wanted to get into but never dreamed I could do as a junior so I jumped at the opportunity.

The application was very simple, upload your CV, add a cover letter and answer a question - which CTO do you find most inspirational and why?

I chose Gerri Martin-Flickinger because she's female and was the first ever CTO at Starbucks and I think her vision for technologically connected coffee shops is pretty cool 😎

I was so glad to be shortlisted and the interview process was then done in 3 stages:

Interview 1 - 15-30 minutes

Chat with their Head of People about the role, Veeqo as a company, their culture and the sort of thing I was looking for to check it was a match.

Interview 2 - 30-45 minutes

Chat with the hiring manager about the role and my experience in more detail.

Interview 3 - 45-60 minutes

I was asked to give a 15-minute presentation on their API, how it works and its benefits.

What are other tech interviews like?

I got a job quite early on in my search, but I interviewed at 4 other companies, I won’t disclose who, but I’ll give you an overview of the role, the type of business and the interview process.

Full Stack Developer
Digital Agency

About 3-4 weeks into bootcamp, chat about the role, my journey, the tech I was familiar with and transferable skills

Outcome: Rejected

Frontend Developer (React)
Start Up

Chat about the role, my journey, the tech I was familiar with, the type of role I was looking for, transferable skills and my learning style

Outcome: Withdrew

Frontend Developer (React)
Start Up

Interview 1
Chat with the CEO

Interview 2
Chat with the CEO and backend developer

Outcome: Offer Declined

Junior Software Engineer
Start Up

Interview 1
Chat with hiring manager and technical test – create a function in any language to convert a serial number and letters in certain numerical values to find an overall check digit and check the authenticity of the serial number

Interview 2
One and a half hour pair programming session in React

Outcome: Withdrew

Where did you find all these roles?

Twitter & LinkedIn

There’s no magic trick to it unfortunately, you just have to sift through lots of roles however networking can really help bring the roles to you rather than you going looking for them.

I have like 1 Twitter follower, will I ever get a job?

Everyone has to start somewhere and you definitely don’t need to have followers on social media to get a job in tech.

Here are some practical tips for you if you’re currently searching:

1. Show some personality

Job applications don’t need to be boring, you’re not a tech savvy robot, you’re a person and that is the person the hiring manager is going to have to work with on the daily should you be successful.

Are you a loud or funny person? Show it!
Are you a Warhammer enthusiast? Show it!
Are you a dog lover? Show it!

You can check my personal statement on my portfolio if you’re struggling to get started.

2. Show you are passionate about tech/development

I’ve spoken to a couple of recruiters and one thing they both said was that COVID has caused a massive influx of junior developers in the market and not all of them care as much about development as you do, and it shows!

Set yourself apart from other candidates by showing your passion and commitment to the developer community. Share your wins, your losses, create content and build, build, build.

3. Build projects without following a tutorial

Show your creativity and willingness to strike off on your own, by all means replicate something that has been built 1000 times before but do it in your own way without copying the code line-by-line.

4. Have a portfolio or at least a GitHub or CodePen to showcase your work

Once you’ve built those projects find some way to showcase them, don’t worry about someone digging around in your code, firstly, you might learn something and secondly, it shows your progress from project to project

5. Get your CV/resume in check

Make sure your message is consistent across all of your platforms, don’t call yourself a Frontend dev on LinkedIn and then a Full Stack developer on your CV.

For the UK market your CV should be no more than 2-pages including:

Your name
Your current job title or job title you are hoping to achieve
Your contact details
Links to your other platforms i.e. Twitter, GitHub, Dev.to
A personal statement
Summary of your technical skills
Experience including dates, projects/content created whilst in that role and a description of the role/responsibilities
Education
Achievements (these don't have to be tech or even job related)
Hobbies and Interests

6. Use your LinkedIn to supplement your CV and actually make an effort with your LI

Can’t fit all your awesomeness on 2 pages?! Me either...add a little note on the bottom of your CV “for my full career history, please check my LinkedIn”

Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date and consistent with your CV. Sharing on Twitter? Cross post to LI too, that way you have the chance of reaching hiring managers or decision makers on either platform.

@DThompsonDev has a great guide on updating your LinkedIn, here's one to get you started...

HOW TO USE LINKEDIN PROFILES TO GET JOBS! Stand out where the hiring managers hang out!

7. Cover letters are still necessary, unfortunately

Your cover letter should be tailored to each job, it doesn’t need to be an essay, all you need is:

One paragraph about why they are the best company ever and why you want to work there
One paragraph about what you could offer them, don’t big yourself up using statements like “I’m the best candidate”, “I’m exceptional with Python” just talk about practical skills you have and how they match the role on offer:
“I really like working with JavaScript and particularly enjoy using different array methods…”
One final paragraph to summarise:
“I’ve attached my CV and would love the opportunity to talk you through my work and discuss the role you have available…”

8. Speculative applications might open up your options

Found a company that you’d really love to work for, but they don’t have any open position? Apply anyway.

Send a cover letter or cover note on LinkedIn and ask if they have any positions coming up or could they please consider you for any future openings.

9. Network, network, network

It’s estimated that 85% of job roles are filled by networking alone so get out there talk to people and start making friends in your industry

10. Put a post out on social media

You never know that 1 follower could have your hiring manager in their contacts, what have you got to lose?

Ok, last question, what on earth is Developer Relations?!

Developer Relations aka. Developer Advocacy is a growing specialism, it’s a bit of hybrid role that is different from organisation to organisation but generally you split your time between development and building a developer community around your companies’ product(s).

So, Veeqo, is an inventory and shipping platform for ecommerce retailers, they can do things like stock control, picking, packing, shipping, purchasing and financial reporting all in one spot however, some retailers want to build their own bespoke app so, Veeqo has a public API that can be used in the building of apps.

My new role will be looking after that API, making the API and its documentation as user friendly as possible. I will also be the go between for developers using it, getting their feedback and supporting them with any issues to make developer experience the very best.

I will also support the community by creating helpful content and speaking at conferences and other events.

This article What exactly do developer advocates do? from @lynnetye is a really great way to learn more about more about DevRel, she chatted to 15 Developer Advocates or Dev Avocados as they lovingly call themselves, about what they do day to day.

My role is being built from the ground up so I’m really excited to see where it goes, as always, I’ll keep you updated!

A little note from me

If you’re reading this, I assume you’re learning and/or looking to get into a tech so a massive GOOD LUCK on your journey! I love hearing from you so please feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Thanks for reading 😎

My journey through space, time and tech (so far).

lauracharvey — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 22:03:04 +0000

You asked for it and now I'm delivering…

If you know me, you know I'm one for the longer posts, if you're in a hurry or not a big reader, you can see my (first ever) video here:

https://youtu.be/kNil5ZiA75k

My Story

I don’t feel like my journey into tech is ‘done’ yet so this is more likely going to be a life story than a useful step-by-step but here goes nothing…

As anyone who has read my blog knows, my extent of tech education in school was minimal, to say the least, from what I remember my final certification in Information Communication Technology (ICT) was a multiple choice question paper and a website project for a donkey sanctuary built with Microsoft PowerPoint.

I actually tried to find the past paper on google to give you examples – it’s that old, the examining bodies don’t keep a copy – likely through embarrassment of the content.

I had a really tough time in school, I just never seemed to fit in, I was badly bullied and moved schools twice. By the end of senior school, I was a hurt and sad 16-year-old, already fed up with education. My parents insisted that I go to college. At the time I wanted to do something arty but my parents told me, art will never make you money so you must choose something to make a career out of.

Being creative I ended up studying Fine Art, Graphic Design, Photography and Media Studies. I forced myself through college because I thought it was the right thing to do. I made it out with 4 passes and after that I was ready to go travelling, go out and see the world...cue my parents telling me it was essential to go to university to avoid winding up as a bin man.

I had no interest in studying for a degree but at the time there weren’t many other options like bootcamps or apprenticeships, or at least no one made me aware of the alternatives. I pushed on and started a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration, I just really wasn't invested in it and throughout my first year I was really brought down by the lack of creativity, “well the (imaginary) client asked for that to be red not blue”, “you can’t use that typography with this typography” and so on. I grew tired of it and decided not to go back after the summer break.

Moral of the Story – don’t listen to everything your parents say (unless they are life coaches then I’d say listen a little bit).

So, I’m 19 years old, working at McDonalds part time and I have no idea what I want to do with my life, I know I like helping people, so what about care work?!

By the end of the summer I was working as a Support Worker caring for adults with learning difficulties and visual impairments. As a young and ambitious person, I was already looking at the big picture, thinking how I could create things to improve lives or make the work a little bit easier and getting excited imagining all those people I could help.

I decided I was going to change the world! I realised stigma around disability started young, so I created my own Disability Awareness lessons and went to teach them at local senior schools. They went well and that made me want to work with children and young people.

I started work as a Support Worker for children with disabilities. I stayed for around 3 years but there was no real progression that allowed you to stay working directly with the kids. Don't get me wrong, I loved whizzing round on go karts and spending my days finger painting but unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough for me so I decided to try my hand at teaching…

Narrator "A decision she would learn to regret…"

I started a part time degree course in primary education whilst still working at the care home. It was all going ok until it came to placement halfway through year 1.

I was placed in a more, shall we say “challenging” classroom (as in throwing chairs across the room, writing swear words on the wall kinda challenging). The teacher had been struggling and I think my placement there was more to help the teacher control the class than it was to support my education.

Towards the end of the placement I was feeling rather stressed and I got called to the head teachers office one day. He started literally yelling at me and my placement “buddy” telling us that we weren’t doing enough to support the teacher in class, it was a lengthy rant and by the end of it, I was in tears.

So that was the end of teaching for me. You might think that’s weak but if there was a chance that could be the everyday for me, I wanted no part in it.

Now we’re back at square 1, 23 years old with no clue what I want to do with my life, still wanting to go travelling but with the nagging thought of what my parents said about a career. I decide I should to move to the city, “there are better job opportunities in the city” I thought and it’ll give me a fresh start to reinvent myself.

Within a month or two of moving to the city, I broke up with my then boyfriend (that I was sharing an apartment with), found a horrible scam job where they made me go self employed so they didn’t have to pay my taxes and I got called to jury service on a court case against a man who had been sexually abusing young girls in the area. More info on that here - if you're interested.

In the UK, jury service is mandatory and people are called at random, you are also assigned cases at random once you show up to the court house. You might get called for 2 weeks but only sit for a day on a robbery case for example and then get sent home.

The case I landed lasted 2 weeks, my scam employer refused to let me have the time off (which is, of course, illegal) and made me work nights throughout the case to keep up with my workload.

I crumpled, I think at this point I’d just had enough, I found myself crying all the time, not wanting to go out, very lonely and very sad.

One day I was walking home from work, thinking about going back to my empty apartment that was dark and lonely while I could hear everyone around me having fun or having friends over and I started to panic, I could feel this overwhelming sense of fear rising up inside me and I felt sick.

I realised something wasn’t quite right, so I tried to go to a walk-in doctor’s surgery.

I pleaded with the receptionist, but she said they were too busy to help and I would need to get on a bus to the other side of the city to a different surgery. I couldn’t even contemplate doing that in the state I was in so I called the only person I knew in the city – my ex. He came to help me, encouraged me to go home to my parents for a little while, walked me home and stayed with me while I packed my bags. I never went back to the city or to my job.

3 months and 16 counselling sessions later, I felt a little more human. I started looking for jobs again and started a temporary placement through the Job Center doing mechanics at a local garage.

I still had no idea what I wanted to do, back to square 1 – 24 years old feeling lost but I was again pressured by my parents to get back into the world of work.

After a couple of weeks of searching, I was lucky enough to secure a job at the local council in the payroll department working with some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

I started off in payroll admin, processing changes to employee contracts in the payroll system. Quite quickly I was promoted to the control team that dealt with actually running the payroll and submitting all the data to HMRC and from there I was promoted to the systems team where I dealt with the administration of the payroll system itself; setting user accounts, creating system enhancements, weeding out bugs, completing user acceptance testing of new modules.

I really enjoyed finally getting to put my brain to use and gain more technical skills but again I felt like I needed more, more challenge, more excitement.

At 26 I finally decided to go travelling, me and my then boyfriend (we’ll call him Fred) converted a Ford Transit into a campervan and got the ferry to France, after 4 weeks on the road Fred decided Europe wasn’t for him and he wanted to go home. I didn’t drive at the time, so I had no choice but to go home.

Picture of the van before

Picture of the van after conversion

I spiraled into another spell of depression and Fred being the kind and compassionate fellow that he is, kicked me out of the rental we were sharing and very abruptly brought the relationship to an end.

I can see now that Fred was just a bit of a d*ckhead (yes this is a sub post) but at the time I was devastated, ashamed and once again completely lost.

I was halfway through a temporary work contract after coming back from Europe so I carried on with that for a couple of weeks and one day I decided to do what I’d waited 10 years for – take a working holiday in Australia. I booked a one way ticket in January 2018 and flew out at the beginning of February.

And let me tell you reader, it was the best thing I ever did

Me on the beach with friends

I felt so free, strong and happy, I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing and there was no one around to judge me or be disappointed in my choices or make negative comments. I was finally being 100% true to myself.

I lived in Melbourne for around a year and then moved to Brisbane, I managed to find work doing short time assignments for HR & Payroll projects. I was having so much fun, I wanted to stay forever, about 6 months in I finally built up the courage to ask for a loan from the bank of mum and dad to study IT on a student visa.

I saw this as an opportunity to finally study a subject that I was interested in and hopefully gain a permanent visa at the end of it. My parents begrudgingly agreed and I signed up for a course starting in January 2019. But, in typical “Laura’s life” fashion, the day my course started the college lost their status as an authorized education provider and an investigation started with the governing body.

And ohh boy what a fun ride this one was…classes cancelled last minute, classes scheduled last minute, students in the same class studying different subjects, no permanent lecturers, out dated course material, teaching OOP like you had any idea what programming even was.

There were so many times I felt like it was me, like I’d taken on a course that I was not capable of completing. The final straw came when my half term was moved without notice causing me issues with my employer due to having to constantly change working days at short notice.

Also, in typical fashion, at the same time, I was having issues with my rental property and dealing with breaking a lease (that’s a whole other story).

The college were refusing a refund, the classes were barely happening and I felt stuck, changing your education provider is really hard due to visa regulations and I couldn’t afford a second set of course fees. You’re also only allowed to work 20 hours per week on a student visa, so affordability was a worry.

It was at this point I asked why I was causing myself unnecessary stress.

In May 2019 I decided to return to the UK. Back to square 1 – 28 years old feeling lost (notice a theme emerging here).

I was thinking of studying part time whilst earning enough money to still have a comfortable life. However, all the mishaps with my course in Australia had put me off and I had completely lost confidence. I got a job in payroll again and started to get myself settled before embarking on anything major.

In August 2019 I saw an opening for a temporary payroll project role earning 2 x my annual salary, I thought “f**k it” why not.

And do you know what reader, I got the job (and the salary).

I naturally assumed a higher paying job meant more responsibility and therefore that challenge I was always searching for, however, that wasn’t the case at all.

I sat for months twiddling my thumbs because there was a hiccup with the project. I was also not included in business as usual because I was on a temp contract.

There’s nothing I find more frustrating and demoralising than doing nothing. It was also tough being in a new team whilst doing nothing because the team were all looking at me wondering what I had actually been hired for.

Eventually I got to work on my project and implemented the new functionality but that also meant looking for a new job. I knew what I was good at, yes, I didn’t necessarily love it but I was good at it, so why not carry on that same route and then maybe I’d have one of these illustrious “careers” that everyone bangs on about.

In May 2020 I started as a Consultant for a software company, sounds posh, but basically I teach other people how to use payroll software and then set up the system with customisable features to meet their business needs.

Starting a new job during a pandemic has been so tough. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I recently posted about how much I’m disliking it. I will also be writing about this experience in my next blog post so keep your eye out for that.

So that brings me to the latest part of my journey.

Around mid-May I was already bored with my new role and looking for the next steps to improve myself, I was looking into Business Analysis because it aligned with my current experience. I found a couple of courses but wasn’t convinced enough to commit.

I was scrolling through Facebook one day and an ad popped up for a 5-day coding challenge with Code Institute. If you are interested in taking the challenge, check it here:

Code Institute

It takes you through a little bit of HTML & CSS and you build a website with a recipe to make tea. Every morning you get an email with a new challenge for the day, it takes between 30 minutes – 1 hour to get through each module.

By the end of the challenge I was hooked. Due to past issues (see above), I wasn’t quite ready to move forward with a paid bootcamp. I spent a few hours searching around for free learning material and came across freeCodeCamp.

Praise be to Quincy Larson for putting that together – if you want to learn to code and you haven’t checked it out yet – try it here:

freeCodeCamp

freeCodeCamp encourages you to use 2 things from the start: GitHub & Twitter. In my opinion it is mean to unleash GitHub on beginners but Twitter is one of the best things I’ve ever found.

If you’re in tech and you are not yet a member of Twitter – get in there. You will find the most loving, brave, talented and down to earth people you’ve ever met (virtually). Tech Twitter is so full of support and all these amazing people sharing achievements just like yours, it’s sometimes hard to keep up!

If you don’t know where to start, here’s a list of awesome people to follow – it’s not everyone but it’s good place to start:

@lauracharvey

Joking! I started a list but there were too many incredible people and I didn’t want to miss anyone out so just get on there and start adding devs at random – that’s how I did it.

Twitter is also an incredible place to market yourself and your skills, do something good – great – put it on there, made a mistake – great – put a post up, stuck with something – ok – tweet about it. I’ve only been on Twitter since the end of May and already it’s brought me 3000+ incredible people who are interested in what I have to say and an offer of freelance work. Use it right and it could potentially help you springboard to your first job in tech.

Right, back to the story…

I started freeCodeCamp and was so excited by the combination of complexity and creativity. I finished the Responsive Web Design part in a week and then spent a couple of weeks building my projects.

Then I hit JavaScript – or more like JavaScript hit me – like a brick to the face.

The learning curve was so much steeper, I felt drowned in technical jargon and the freeCodeCamp syllabus was moving way too fast for me. I started to get disheartened and ended up moping around for a few days thinking I’d never make it.

One morning I woke up, remembered why I was learning coding and started searching for more learning materials, here’s what I found:

• Codecademy
• Odin project
• JavaScript30
• Brad Traversy
• Fun JavaScript Projects
• Edabit
• CodeWars
• Ania Kubow's JavaScript Games

I haven’t stuck to any one of the above religiously, I like to dip in and out. Purely thinking about employment later, I want to build projects that I didn’t follow a tutorial for or build the tutorial project without coding along – if I get stuck, I refer back to the tutorial, if I still don’t get it, I go back to the learning materials on Codecademy.

In late July I built a project that I wanted to host but I had no idea where to start, I checked Netlify but you needed to use GitHub so I started searching around for guides. It was during this search I found that guides just expected you to know stuff.

The guide would be called “A Complete Beginners Guide to Git & GitHub” and then on the first few lines it would read:

Download Git
Sign up to GitHub
Navigate to the relevant directory in Git

What?! Not really helpful when you have no idea what a directory is or how to use Git.

That inspired me to start my series: Breaking into Web Dev – The No Jargon Guide, if you haven’t already, you can check it out here.

Ever since then I have been writing and coding – making new things each week.

When I started, I never really expected to love coding as much as I do, I certainly didn’t think I’d want to make a job out of it but that is what’s so beautiful about trying something new out – it opens up possibilities.

Like I said at the beginning, my journey isn’t really done – I’m still learning and still trying to navigate the great mountain of content available.

Just this week I posted on Twitter asking for advice or anecdote’s on quitting your job to attend bootcamp or self-study full time to see if I can make the career change a little quicker.

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-1295378073546829824-493'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1295378073546829824&theme=dark" }

The responses were amazing and lots of people had quit their jobs to bootcamp or self study full time but for the time being I’ve decided to carry on learning part time while I save up to potentially make the leap. I have also made steps to jump start my freelance project in the meantime. Just yesterday I offered 5 free websites to friends through Facebook and Instagram.

It worked really well and I now have people asking for paid sites too.

Whatever happens – I’ll keep you in the loop.

As you can see my journey through life hasn’t been smooth and I’m still not exactly sure where I want to be (at age 29). No matter who you are or where you’re at, here are my take-aways for you:

Do what you want to do (career wise, don’t be committing crimes and using my blog as permission).
Don’t be concerned about where other people are at – your friends might be married, having babies, working 6 figure jobs – they’re not you and that’s what makes you special – you do you!
Be true to yourself – listen to yourself more – you know yourself better than anyone.
Be strong – if you’re on a path, don’t let other people’s negativity throw you off – if you need a support – reach out, I’ll happily give you a pep talk!
Have confidence in your choices - you're a smart cookie don't let anyone allow you to believe otherwise.
Don’t be disheartened if something doesn’t work out – there’s no harm in failing and trying something else.
Taking risks is character forming – don’t be silly but don’t so scared that you end up doing nothing.
Always keep in mind why you started something – it’ll keep you motivated especially on those hard days.
A “career” is not everything – try to find something you enjoy – also don’t be concerned with job titles – being a bin man for 20 years is still a career in my eyes.
ABB – always be building – your knowledge, your hobbies, your interests, the number of countries you’ve visited, it can be anything just make sure you’re always moving forward.
Don’t listen to your parents – their ideas of the world are outdated and they don’t know the you that lives inside your head.

The No Jargon Guide – Article 2 – Making your first Website Live

lauracharvey — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 22:05:24 +0000

Introduction
About this Blog
Notes for the Reader
The Real Juicy Stuff
How Do I Deploy my Site?
Understand the Detail
How Do I Find a Host?
What to Look for in a Host?
How Do I Create a Domain Name?
What Next?
Setup Guide
Extra Reading - What is the Cloud?
Conclusion

Introduction

Breaking into the tech industry as someone over the age of 25, who didn't study computer science in school was intimidating.

I’m 29 years old, the extent of my ‘tech’ education in school was building a website using PowerPoint – yes – you read that right – PowerPoint.

I bumbled my way through life, knowing tech was something that I was interested in but that I always thought was out of my reach.

If you are reading this and you are feeling like I was, I am here to tell you…

Tech is for you! And I am on a mission to help you make the best start.

About this Blog

Welcome to my blog – a series of articles for newbies aimed at explaining things that I found challenging in very plain English so that they will be a breeze for you (hopefully).

As a newbie I often found the guides I am reading have this element of tech "stuff" I am just expected to know about. They all seem to assume prior knowledge or knowledge around the subject so I created this blog to help guide you through the things I found tough.

I am open to feedback so please, leave me some below or reach out to me on Twitter. I am also keen to cover the topics that you will find most useful so if you have got a burning question/worry get in touch and I will try and include it in this series.

This is article 2. I ran a poll to get an idea of which topics to cover first, the vote came out as:

Git/GitHub - see that here
Hosting/Domains
What even is Web Dev? (this will be an overview of the industry, roles, languages, working options etc.)

Just so you know what will be coming up next 😊

A couple of notes for the reader

Navigation - you can read this guide all in one or use the contents list above to jump to the sections you need.

This guide is intended to give aspiring web developers a one-stop-shop to learn about deploying their first website, it also covers an overview of how the web works, hosting and domains. I’d suggest you read it all to gain a better understanding, but you can just skip to the Setup Guide option if you’re in a hurry 😊

This guide assumes you have an interest in Web Development and have started learning to write code in some form.

I have tried to explain everything very simply, if you feel patronised, I’m sorry but as someone who found other guides too technical, I wanted to try a no jargon approach.

Ok if you are still with me, lets dive in.

The real Juicy Stuff…

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this post, I hope you will be able to:
• Understand how to make you website publicly available
• Understand a little bit more about how the web works
• Understand domain names and when you might want one
• Understand hosting
• Understand the different hosting options
• Understand a tiny bit about the Cloud

How do I make my Website Live?

So, you’ve finished coding your first website! Congratulations!

What do you do with it now?

How do you make it accessible to other people?

I’m going to be honest; if you are a detail person and need to know the why and the how the answer is not simple, and it might take you down a rabbit hole you never really wanted to go down but…don’t fear! This guide will cover it all step-by-step.

The next section goes over how the web works and what that means for your site, however, if you’re in a hurry, you can skip to the Setup Guide here.

Now, if you really want to geek out, lets learn the detail…

For those with a qualification in Computer Science you are probably aware of how accessing the web works (the bits you don’t see) but for those who are not familiar, here’s a diagram:

As you can tell I am not an artist but at I hope this helps you visualize before the more detailed explanation:

1. You log onto your PC and pull up the browser.

2. Your PC runs its protocols
Your computer has in-built networking software that runs “protocols” to check that you have the necessary permission to access the web, it also checks on the processes it should use for data exchange between the web and you.

3. You get an IP Address
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) – the company that supplies your internet connection, provides you with an IP Address.

IP Address
It’s like a return address for your computer, some people believe their IP Address is permanent – it isn’t. Your IP address is temporary and may change at any time, something as simple as restarting or router can cause a change in IP. Each IP address is unique and ensures the data is returned to your exact device.

IP Addresses are 4 sets of numbers with 1 to 3 digits, separated by a full stop, like this:

66.171.248.170

Fun Fact - once upon a time, the world ran out of IP Addresses and there was a mass panic from the tech companies, this caused IP Addresses to move to the latest version – IPv6 which has a theoretical maximum number of number combinations of:

340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456

🤯

4. You enter a URL or Domain Name

URL
The full web address, examples:

https://www.google.com/
https://www.lauracharvey.dev/about-me.html

Domain Name
The name of the web page, examples:

www.google.com
www.lauracharvey.dev

5. Your browser chucks out a domain name search

Your browsers sends a message to the Domain Name System (DNS) to get the IP address of the domain name.

Domain Name System (DNS)
A very complicated set of servers set up like an internet address book, they deal with translating the domain name into an IP Address which is then passed back to your browser.

Server
A piece of hardware (I could not think of a word to replace this – it’s like an actual computer it’s an object that you can touch) or software (a computer program) that helps look after/manage/or serve a computer network. There are many different types of server – Google is your friend if you want to read more about them.

6. Your browser sends a request to the server

To see the stored files, your browser needs to ask permission from the server where the data is stored. This request is made using HTTP.

HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocols – the rules of the web, a set of rules used to decide how messages and data are transmitted and what actions servers and browsers should take when commands are made. For example, your browser sends a “fetch” message to the server, the server then transmits the webpage to the browser.

7. The server accepts the request

The server then sends the necessary data to your browser using HTTP.

8. You see the web page

Your browser delivers a sparkly web page right before your eyes!

This all happens within seconds which actually blew my mind when I realised that human beings came up with this whole system – I mean how?!

Pretty cool, how do I get a home on the World Wide Web?

For your web page to be out there on the World Wide Web, the files, images, source code and other data need somewhere to live to make them easily accessible by browsers. Therefore, you need to ‘rent’ some space on a web server. Think of it like renting an apartment but for your files.

Unless you work for a mahooosive organisation, your servers (the actual hardware) are more than likely going to be owned by a web hosting company like Blue Host. They own the actual physical servers, which are just big computers used for storing data and your web page is assigned a space on one of their servers, it is also given its own IP address.

As you can imagine, server space is valuable, so generally you pay a fee for a hosting service.

There are multiple hosting options:

• Shared Hosting

You share the server with other people, and you do not have control over the set up of that server, the hardware and software are controlled by the hosting company

• Dedicated Hosting

You rent the whole server and have control over its setup

• Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Like a hybrid between Shared and Dedicated, it mimics a dedicated server so that you can customise the setup but in reality, it is still a shared server physically but you just get the equivalent of a private suite!

• The Cloud

I’m sure you hear about the cloud all the time, I was always so confused when I heard people talk about it, I was thinking “well it must be somewhere, it can’t just be in the sky, or can it?!”

To confirm, it’s not in the sky, it is on physical servers however, those servers exist all over the world and are connected via the internet. The cloud is popular because a person can access very powerful applications on low quality devices with just an internet connection, the data is held in the cloud, so they do not need lots of memory to run/store it. The company behind the software also do not have any IT infrastructure of their own to maintain.

The cloud is a whole world of its own, if you’d like to know more, I have added and additional reading section at the bottom of this post.

As a newbie, it’s unlikely you’ll be looking at a dedicated server, VPS, or the Cloud so I’d go with shared hosting for the time being.

Ok, how do I find a host?

I really like Netlify - https://www.netlify.com/ because it is free and super simple to use but in case you’re fussy, here are some other suggestions:

• Blue Host https://www.bluehost.com/
• Hostinger - https://www.hostinger.co.uk/
• HostGator - https://www.hostgator.com/
• A2 Hosting - https://www.a2hosting.com/

Thanks, but what am I actually looking for in a host?

You need to pick your host based on the following things:

• Type of website

Is it a personal site, business site, a fun side project you want to use to showcase your skills? The type of website, what you want to do with it and how many visitors you expect to the site will all make a difference to choosing the right host.

• Your required bandwidth

Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data transmitted in a certain number of megabits per second. It’s how much data can be transferred to/from your website in a given period e.g. a month or a year. It’s sometime confused with internet speed, but the two things are very different. Basically, a large company who expect over 20,000 visitors to their page needs around 5000MB/5GB of bandwidth so you should be golden with anything under that amount, don’t overpay, you won’t benefit from it. FYI - Netlify offer 100GB as standard.

• Is Email Included?

If you’d like someone to be able to contact you at laura@lauracharvey.dev for example rather than a Gmail or Hotmail account, you can sometimes get this service included with your hosting package.

• Hosting options

Covered above 😊

• SSL Certificates

These are little data add ons that are stored on the server, they allow for a secure transfer of information, more and more sites use them these days but they are especially important if you are collecting sensitive personal information or credit card information. They activate the HTTP”S” protocol so the web address becomes:

https://lauracharvey.netlify.app

instead of:

http://lauracharvey.netlify.app

Ok, I've chosen my host, how do I give my site a cool name?

To have a personalised site address, you’ll need a domain name which is basically like the postal address for your website, you might also know it as the URL (which is slightly different as discussed above). A domain name is unique and no two can be the same.

As an example, if I wanted to have my own domain name, as long as the domain name wasn’t taken by somebody else, I could have:

www.lauracharvey.dev (which I am actually the proud owner of)

Ok, you might be thinking, why can't I just call it that when I set it up with the host? Well...you can do that, but you have to pay for it.

Any time you want a specific domain name that ends with something like .com, .co.uk, .io, you have to pay an annual subscription to keep it. So, you don’t want to be paying for one when it’s not necessary (yeah I’m looking at you, yes you, the one with the 10 side projects each with a domain name but no source code…).

For the time being I would suggest getting your domain name and your hosting in the same place, it might be a tiny bit more expensive but at least it’s one less thing to worry your already overworked brain about!

As explained, your domain name must be unique so unfortunately if your name is John Smith you might struggle! If you can’t get johnsmith.com you can either try different endings or try using a middle initial but don’t forget...

If you buy johnsmith.com, johnsmith followed by any other combinations .co.uk, .io, .dev etc. are not included, this might mean, another John Smith might buy johnsmith.dev which could be confusing for clients and employers searching for your site and winding up on his.

Also, if you’re buying a domain for a portfolio, it needs to look professional so don’t go for something like: johnsmith1990.com.

Sites like Name Cheap: https://www.namecheap.com/ are good for searching, if your domain name isn’t available it’ll give you alternative options.

You might want to consider buying the top 3 options to take them off the market and therefore make them unavailable for other people.

Perfect! I bought johnsmith.com, what now?!

Congrats! You can move onto the below setup instructions; you can skip to point 1. to get going quickly.

Setup Guide

If you have skipped to this point, the Setup Guide assumes you don’t want to know about the how/why and just gives the basic instructions on how to deploy your site. If you want to know details, read from the top! 😊

To deploy a site, you need hosting and you also need to decide whether you are going to buy a domain name.

A domain name is how people will know of and access your site, so, if you decide on Netlify for hosting (as an example) and chose not to have a specific domain name, your sites URL will always end with: .netlify.app/

Like: http://laurasrockpaperscissors.netlify.app/

However, if you choose to have your own, you can decide whether it ends .com, .co.uk, .io etc. The only trouble is you have to pay for the privilege!

Most hosting services will offer the opportunity to purchase a domain name however, if you’re a real penny pincher you might find one cheaper elsewhere!

Before deploying a project, you need to consider:

• Type of website
• Your required bandwidth
• Whether an email service is included
• Hosting options
• If SSL Certificates are included

For today, I’ll assume it’s a personal project that you are trying to deploy and talk you through set up with Netlify.

First things first, get your project on GitHub.

If you don’t know about Git & Git Hub yet, please check my previous article here for full instructions on uploading your project.

Set up a Netlify account here: https://www.netlify.com/
Link your GitHub

In Netlify, there is a button “New site from Git”

You’ll see the following screen:

Click “GitHub” at the bottom

It should then ask you sign into GitHub, and it’ll pull through your active repo’s

Select your repo

Once your list has pulled through, select the relevant repo.

Choose your deploy settings

You can leave the build setting blank if you don’t have anything to add.

Deploy site

Go on, click that button!

Change the name

Your site will be given some crazzzzy name so change here:

Site Settings if you want to change the name and have the .netlify.app in the address

Domain Settings if you’d like to pick/add your own domain name

Marvel at your own little piece of real estate on the World Wide Web!

Extra Reading – What is the Cloud?

The cloud is everywhere, essentially the cloud accesses hundreds of servers that are connected via the internet to bring you content.

It allows easier access to applications for the user, for example, if you were to download Microsoft Office to your computer, you would need a computer powerful enough to run it and a lot of memory to store the application and its data, whereas, if you use cloud-based service like Google Docs, you can access the same features through the internet without the need to download anything to your computer.

Before the cloud, software applications were tied to one computer, you couldn’t access the same software or data on your PC and on your smartphone.

The cloud is not owned by anyone, it is collectively managed, and its easily accessible nature has allowed for lots of new application to be offered for free and some older application be offered at a much cheaper price.

For example, Adobe applications used to cost hundreds of pounds for one licence, now you can access the whole Adobe Creative Suite for a monthly fee.

The cloud has also made it easier and cheaper for the businesses behind these applications. Companies now have a lot more choice about their back-end setup so instead of requiring a whole team of IT professionals they can access all or some of the services through the cloud.

There are three types of cloud:

• Public
• Private
• Hybrid

There is also a tier like system for the different types of cloud services:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

This is the most basic level, you rent the back-end services like: servers, storage, networks, firewalls etc.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS includes everything from IaaS, but it also has added “middleware” with things like operating systems, development tools (easily accessible development software managed by the cloud provider), business intelligence (analytics) services, database management

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is best imagined as a large organisation using the software over a large network like Microsoft Outlook, the company would rent the hardware and the software from the cloud provider so that all their employees can access the application.

There is also:

Serverless Computing

Is very similar to and crosses over with PaaS however, it is highly scalable and event-driven meaning code is only executed when necessary, so the “renter” is charged for exact usage rather than a subscription amount.

Examples of cloud computing services are:

AWS
IBM Cloud
Google Cloud

That’s about the extent of my knowledge on the cloud so please, no questions!

Joking, I love questions, come at me bro 💪

Conclusion

I really hope this guide helped you understand the steps needed to deploy your first website and learn a bit more about the web without being bowled over by jargon.

If you have any questions or there is something I have not explained clearly, please drop me a comment.

As explained in the intro, I am doing a series of these guides so comment or reach out to me on Twitter if there is anything you would like me to cover.

I have loved putting this guide together so please, give me more things to write about! 😊

The No Jargon Guide – Article 1 – Git & GitHub

lauracharvey — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 18:58:07 +0000

Introduction
About this Blog
Notes for the Reader
The Real Juicy Stuff
What Even Is Git/GitHub?
What Is Version Control and Why Should I Care?
How Do I Get Started?
Setting up Git/GitHub
What Is A Repo?
Common Git Terms
How Do I Add my Files to my Repo?
What Next?
Accessing Other Peoples Repos?
How do I Add Changes I Made to Another Persons Repo?
How do I Create a Pull Request?
Conclusion

Introduction

Breaking into the tech industry as someone over the age of 25, who didn't study computer science in school was intimidating.

I’m 29 years old, the extent of my ‘tech’ education in school was building a website using PowerPoint – yes – you read that right – PowerPoint.

I bumbled my way through life, knowing tech was something that I was interested in but that I always thought was out of my reach.

If you are reading this and you are feeling like I was, I am here to tell you…

Tech is for you! And I am on a mission to help you make the best start.

About this Blog

Welcome to my blog – a series of articles for newbies aimed at explaining things that I found challenging in very plain English so that they will be a breeze for you (hopefully).

This is article 1. I ran a poll to get an idea of which topic to cover first, the vote came out as:

Git/GitHub
Hosting/Domains
What even is Web Dev? (this will be an overview of the industry, roles, languages, working options etc.)

Just so you know what will be coming up next 😊

A couple of notes for the reader

UPDATED 12/08/2020
Git & GitHub are slowly updating their terminology from master branch to main branch so this article has been updated to main throughout except in the instructions where you will still need to use master.

Navigation - you can read this guide all in one of use the contents list above to jump to the sections you need.

This is a complete beginners guide to Git/GitHub: setup, creating your first repo and pull requests (don’t worry newbies, stick with me, we will go over this), it is not an extensive manual so if you’re looking for more extensive material on Git/GitHub can I suggest you check their documentation here: https://guides.github.com/.

This guide assumes you have an interest in Web Development and have started learning to write code in some form.

I have tried to explain everything very simply, if you feel patronised, I’m sorry but as someone who found other guides too technical, I wanted to try a no jargon approach.

My instructions are for setup in Windows – if you are a Mac/Linux user and the setup differs greatly, please can you share the instructions with me so I can add them here. Thanks 😊

Ok if you are still with me, lets dive in.

The Real Juicy Stuff…

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this post, I hope you will be able to:
• Understand what Git/GitHub is
• Understand why you might want to use it
• Know how to set up Git/GitHub
• Understand what a repo is
• Know how to create your first repo
• Know how to clone someone else’s code and create a pull request

What even is Git & GitHub?

Git and GitHub are not the same thing, but they are partners in crime.

Git is a version-control system that is downloaded to your computer, it monitors code files that you/others have written and keeps track of any changes you or other developers make to those files. It’s particularly helpful if you are working on a project with multiple people, it allows each developer to have a copy of the code file and the history of that file on their own PC/laptop so they can make changes on their own version before merging it with the main copy.

GitHub is a public storage space for those files and allows easy access to the code files for anyone who wants to see them/work with them. It also allows you to access other peoples code if you want/need to.

But, "what is version control?" I hear you cry...

As you progress with your learning of programming languages and your confidence with projects grows, you might choose to move away from online code editors like CodePen where you essentially type all the code that would normally appear inside the "body" tags and switch to a software-based development environment like Visual Studio Code.

Software-based Development Environments – often known as Code Editors or IDE's (Integrated Development Environments) are software that you can download to your computer, these work like offline coding ‘pens’ where you can write and debug code on your own laptop/PC. You can also download extensions that make writing code easier. I will cover Code Editors/IDE's and file setup in a later post so keep your eye out.

Generally, to get started with a project in you need to create ‘files’ such as:

style.css
index.html
script.js

These are the files that contain your (source) code.

Now, fast forward 12 months, imagine you are building the new hottest app (I have great faith in your abilities 😉). You have published version 1.0 to the app store and sales are going well, but, to fix bugs and stay competitive you want to update the original code.

While updating the code, you hit a skills gap, however, you are aware your buddy, knows something about the issue you are facing so you send the file to her. She takes a look, adds some code and sends the file back to you. You accidentally overwrite the existing file and the app stops working.

How do you get back to the original?

How do you know which change it was that caused the error?

That is where version control and Git come in. Git keeps the original source code at the heart of your project and tracks all changes made to that code by you and your pal, so should you need it; you can roll back to earlier versions. It also allows multiple people to work on a file at the same time and merge the separate changes without causing issues to bring together one updated file – i.e. version 2.0 of your app (and so on).

I'm not building an app, why do I need it?

Git/GitHub are very widely used in the industry, here's a list of the benefits:

If you are considering transitioning to a career in Web Development, it is a good place to showcase your code to potential employers
It shows these same employers that you are confident to have your code in a public space
You can host/publish your portfolio on GitHub
It shows you have an understanding/appreciation of version control
It shows you can use industry specific tech
It puts your work out there so other devs can see it, improve on it and potentially coach you on how to make it better
If you want to contribute to Open-Source projects (I will cover these at some point too) you can access them on GitHub
It allows you to track changes you make to your side projects and therefore, track your progress

Ok, so far so good, how do I get started?

First things first, you will need to download Git. You can do that here:

Windows: https://git-scm.com/download/win
Mac: https://git-scm.com/download/mac
Linux: https://git-scm.com/download/linux

I (Laura) have Windows so my instructions are for installation/set up with Windows – as I said up top, if you’re a Mac or Linux user and the setup is very different please let me know so I can include it.

Now, I am not a tech expect or even remotely expert with Git/GitHub, so I opted for all the standard options during the installation process. Unless you know differently, I would suggest you do the same (just click next a bunch of times until it finally says finish).

Next you will need an account on GitHub, you can sign up here: https://github.com/

Please don’t get disheartened once you open GitHub, it looks terrifying, but I will take you step-by-step to set up, adding an existing project to GitHub, accessing/viewing other peoples projects and contributing to them.

Setting Up Git & GitHub

Git is controlled by the ‘Command Line’ on your computer, sometimes referred to as: cmd, cmd.exe or Command Prompt. If you don’t know, the command line is the black box with white text you sometimes see pop up when installing/uninstalling new apps, it looks like this:

If you are a Mac user you can go directly to your command line however, with Windows you will need to use GitBash.

When you downloaded Git, GitBash should have been included you can access it by pressing the Windows key and typing GitBash or by searching in the search bar.

Once open the screen will look something like this:

First you need to introduce yourself to Git, go on, make friends, you’re going on a long and fruitful journey together after all!

Give Git your Username & Email by typing the below after the $ on each line:

To check that these details have been saved, type:

Press enter and you should see something, a little like this:

Now Git is ready so you need to create a repo in GitHub – ready for it to receive your files.

But Laura - What on Earth is a Repo?!

A repo (more formally known as a Repository) is basically a container within Git/GitHub where your files will be stored. There are two types of repository: your local – the one on your computer and your remote – the one on the server - I like to think of it as the one in GitHub.

Inside a repo, you will find source code files, other files related to the project like sound bites, images and a README file which basically explains the project and should act as user guide (if necessary).

A repo looks like this:

You can create one easily by clicking on the ‘cat icon’ in the top left of GitHub to get back to the home page and then clicking the “New” button next to Repositories.

Give your repo a name, the description is optional, decide whether to make it public or private and then click “Create repository”. No need to create the README file at this stage, we will do that later. You can leave gitignore for the time being too.

Your new repo should look a little something like this:

That’s it! Keep it open while we walk through linking your files.

So, how do I get my files into my Repo?

First, let’s talk a little bit more about how files are moved between your computer and GitHub.

We can refer to this as the “Git workflow”, there are four main elements:

Working Directory (the folders on your computer)
This is like a library of all your files, you need to access the correct folder (working directory) to control the files you want to change/upload

The Staging Area (the in-between)
This is where you can save files that you have been working on locally before you are ready to move them to your repository. It is like saying, I think these are the files I want to upload but I am not too sure, hold on to them for me and I will decide what to do with them later.

Staging is useful because it means you don’t have to send every single file in a folder to your repo, it allows you to just move the files that you want to upload

Local Repository (on your computer)
Your repository (folder/box/container of files) on your PC where your files are stored and only you have access to

Remote Repository (GitHub)
Your repository that is held on the server (online/remotely/not where you are) and can be accessed by anyone – in other words your GitHub repository.

Common Git Commands

There are various commands (all typed into GitBash) to tell Git what to do with your files here are the ones you need to be aware of at this stage:

cd Desktop/FolderName – this tells the command line which folder (directory) on your computer you would like to send into the git workflow – we will work through an example of this later

git init – think of this as initializing or starting off the process. If you want to do anything with git you need to include git init. It turns the folder from a normal folder to a Git folder – one that Git has access to

git add – this moves your files into the staging area

git commit – this moves your files from the staging area into your local repository (the one on your computer)

git push – this copies your files from the local repository (the one on your computer) and sends them to the remote repository (the one of GitHub)

git pull – gets files from the remote repository (the one of GitHub) and puts them into the working directory (your library of Git files).

git status – tells you the status of your files - where they are sitting and what you have done to them

git clone – allows you to copy other peoples files from GitHub to your local repository (your computer)

Ok, so can I put my files in my repo yet, or...?!

Yes! Here goes, a step-by-step guide, how to add an existing project of your own to GitHub.

1. Tell Git where to look

Open GitBash and type:

So, if your project was stored on your desktop under a folder called “project” you would type: cd C:\Users\yourname\OneDrive\Desktop\Project

2. Create your README file

Type:

You can edit this README file in GitHub later

3. Start the process

Type:

GitBash should then think about it for a second and give you an initialization message and label this folder the “main”.

4. Add files to your Staging Area

Type:

Don’t forgot the space followed by a full stop after add, this means “all” and will ensure all files in the selected folder will be marked for action in the staging area

If you only want to add certain files you can do so by:

git add followed by a space and then the filename

5. Check the status of your files

Before moving forward, you might want to check which files are in the staging area. You can do this by checking the ‘status’. Type:

It will list all the files in the staging area

6. The Scary One

Type:

Sends all your files to your local repositories. The -m “” is simply included for you to be able to add a message with your commit i.e. “first commit” or “commit with bugs fixed”

7. Set up the link between your local and remote repository

In GitHub, open the repository you created

At the top of the Quick setup section, you should see a URL

Copy this to your clipboard (CTRL & C)

Now back in GitBash type:

You will probably have to use right mouse click + paste as CTRL & V doesn’t seem to work with GitBash.

8. The Really Scary One

Type:

This copies or ‘pushes’ the files from your local repository (your computer) to your remote repository (GitHub) i.e. makes them visible and available on GitHub you need the “origin main” to tell which branch in GitHub to update (more on this below).

9. Do a Victory Dance!

You just pushed your first repo to GitHub – you’re now a fully-fledged Web Developer 😉

YES! I DID IT! BUT WHAT DO I DO NOW?!

You can make changes to the code files on your computer, save them as you normally would and then in GitBash:

git add . (add your updated files to the staging area)
git status (double check the status of your files)
git commit -m “second commit – bugs fixed”(commit to local repo)
git push -u origin master

Code and repeat…that’s all there is to it!

Got it, but how do I access other peoples code?

Find a project you want to contribute to or look at on GitHub. You can test using my rock, paper, scissors game if you would like to.

Link here: https://github.com/lauracharvey/rockpaperscissors

• Open the repository for the project you are interested in
• Fork It

In the top right, under you profile picture there is a Fork button, this creates a copy of the remote repo on your own GitHub.

• Click “Code” in the top right-hand corner of the main body

• In the dropdown, select the repo URL, copy it to your clipboard

• Now go to GitBash and type:

Where your file path is replaced with wherever on your computer you want to store the new files.

• Then…

example: git clone https://github.com/lauracharvey/rockPaperScissors

• Finally...Code 😊

You can make changes to your local copy of these files however; you cannot upload them to the other persons remote repo yet.

In order to do that, you first need to create a branch of the code and then create what is known as a “pull request”.

How do I make changes to another persons repo?

TAKE A DEEP BREATH

So…Git/GitHub are set up in a branch system, imagine a tree with 5 branches, and 2 woodpeckers who live on that tree, woodpecker A pecks on branch 1 while woodpecker B pecks on branch 2. Both branches belong to the same tree (the main tree) but they can both work at the same time on these different branches, woodpecker A does not have to stop to allow woodpecker B to do their work.

Lets, bring that back into the context of Web Development – Developer A & B are both working on the same project – for arguments sake, let’s say a rock, paper, scissors game.

Developer A finds some bugs and wants to fix those bugs so starts working on them on his computer.

Developer B wants to work on some new features of the game but he’s in a hurry and doesn’t want to wait for A to fix his bugs.

With Git/GitHub Developers A & B can have their own version (branch) of the project on their own computer so they can both work at the same time, once they have finished their coding, they can commit/push those changes to their branch without impacting the main file (the tree).

Once they have agreed on the changes, they can then agree to update the main file that is stored in GitHub.

The first steps in creating a pull request are:

1. Check you are in the correct repository

So, if your project was stored on your desktop under a folder called “Making-Code-Better” you would type:

cd C:\Users\yourname\OneDrive\Desktop\Making-Code-Better

2. Create your branch

Type:

Make sure you give your branch a descriptive name, so it means something to everyone working on the project i.e. branch-to-fix-bugs-in-version-1

3. Make sure you tell Git to open the new branch by using checkout

Type:

You should then get the following message:

Switched to branch ‘branch name’

You can use git checkout at any time to move between branches, you use the command git checkout main to move back to the main file.

4. Add updated files to your local repo (still on the branch).

Type:

5. Add these changes to your forked repo in GitHub

Type:

This is just like a normal push but you are making sure you push to the branch instead of the main file

6. Go to GitHub and get ready to make a “pull request”

Making the actual Pull Request

If you've jumped ahead to this section, you need to read the above steps to set up a branch from the original repo before creating a pull request.

If not, here are the steps for creating one:

In GitHub – open the forked repository (your copy)
Click “New Pull Request” on the left-hand side
Select the original repository on the left and your forked repo on the right
You should see an alert notifying you that the branches can be merged – this means there is no conflicting code
The original creator will be notified and can decide whether to accept your pull request AND you’re done – you’re up to speed with Git/GitHub…3000 words and possibly a very tired brain later. Well done!

Conclusion

I really hope this guide helped you understand the steps needed to main your first experience with Git/GitHub without being bowled over by jargon.

If you have any questions or there is something I have not explained clearly, please drop me a comment.

As explained in the intro, I would like to do a series of these guides so comment or reach out to me on Twitter if there is anything, you would like me to cover.

I have loved putting this guide together so please, give me more things to write about! 😊

DEV Community: lauracharvey

How I went from newbie to dream role in 225 days...

My journey through space, time and tech (so far).

lauracharvey ・ Aug 19 '20

Where we left off

Laura, I’m here for the tech stuff, not your love life, tell me about the bootcamp…

The No Jargon Guide - Bootcamp Edition - Entry Challenges

lauracharvey ・ Sep 19 '20

What was the teaching like?

Go on, how much did it cost?

How did you make it work?

Is bootcamp worth it?

What are some things to bear in mind?

Ok, enough about bootcamp, tell me, how did you get a job???

What are other tech interviews like?

Where did you find all these roles?

I have like 1 Twitter follower, will I ever get a job?

Ok, last question, what on earth is Developer Relations?!

A little note from me

My journey through space, time and tech (so far).

My Story

Picture of the van before

Picture of the van after conversion

Me on the beach with friends

The No Jargon Guide – Article 2 – Making your first Website Live

Table Of Contents

Introduction

About this Blog

A couple of notes for the reader

The real Juicy Stuff…

Learning Outcomes

How do I make my Website Live?

Now, if you really want to geek out, lets learn the detail…

Ok, how do I find a host?

Thanks, but what am I actually looking for in a host?

Ok, I've chosen my host, how do I give my site a cool name?

Perfect! I bought johnsmith.com, what now?!

Setup Guide

Extra Reading – What is the Cloud?

Conclusion

The No Jargon Guide – Article 1 – Git & GitHub

Table Of Contents

Introduction

About this Blog

A couple of notes for the reader

Ok if you are still with me, lets dive in.

The Real Juicy Stuff…

Learning Outcomes

What even is Git & GitHub?

But, "what is version control?" I hear you cry...

I'm not building an app, why do I need it?

Ok, so far so good, how do I get started?

Setting Up Git & GitHub

But Laura - What on Earth is a Repo?!

So, how do I get my files into my Repo?

Common Git Commands

Ok, so can I put my files in my repo yet, or...?!

YES! I DID IT! BUT WHAT DO I DO NOW?!

Got it, but how do I access other peoples code?

How do I make changes to another persons repo?

Making the actual Pull Request

Conclusion