Refocusing on My Developer Journey

About a year ago, I finished a coding boot-camp from CareerFoundry that marked the beginning of my journey toward becoming a full-stack developer. Like many others fresh out of boot-camp, I faced a tough job market and went through several failed attempts to land a developer position. Each setback taught me something new, but after a while, I realized I needed to take a step back and refocus.
At that time, my family and I had another goal in mind: buying a new house. So, I shifted my focus to saving money at my current job, pausing my coding journey for a bit while we worked toward that goal. Now, after finally accomplishing that and settling into our new home, I'm ready to refocus on my path to becoming a better developer.
Refocusing on Backend Development
Right now, my attention is back on backend development, specifically using the MERN stack. Over the summer, I invested time in improving my front-end skills by taking a course in Sass and CSS, which helped me better understand styling and modern web design principles. Now, I'm diving deeper into the backend again.
Recently, I've been revisiting Node.js and Express, and to my surprise, everything is coming back much easier than it did the first time around. The concepts that felt overwhelming at the beginning are now clearer, and I'm developing a more comprehensive understanding of how everything fits together. This is exciting for me because it's helping me build confidence in my backend abilities.
Natours Project: Back in the Saddle
To get back on track, I'm currently working on the Natours project from a Udemy course. It's a great way to refresh my memory and relearn some important concepts before jumping into personal projects. This project is helping me get back in the saddle and sharpen my skills with real-world examples. I'm using this opportunity to dive deep into everything from routing and middleware to setting up API endpoints, which has been invaluable as I continue to grow my understanding of full-stack development.
Next Steps and Goals
I'm planning to start working on my own projects soon, but for now, I'm focused on refreshing my knowledge and becoming comfortable with the technologies I'll be using. After I tackle the backend, my next goal is to gain a deeper understanding of React with Next.js. This will help me round out my full-stack skills and better prepare me for modern web development environments.
The purpose of blogging from this point forward is to track my progress and showcase what I'm learning along the way. It's my way of staying accountable, documenting my journey, and, most importantly, making myself more hireable in the coming months.
By sharing what I've learned, I hope to connect with others in the development community and show potential employers my growth and dedication to becoming a proficient developer. I know this path isn't easy, but I'm excited to continue learning and improving. Feel free to visit my GitHub at https://github.com/jahend412 as well.
Stay tuned to hear me explain what I am learning as I continue this journey.