My start was as a WordPress developer, and although I was quite adept at the more difficult aspects of working with WordPress, I was still just seen as a 'guy that made websites.'
My 2 cents: you need to build a portfolio that makes it clear you're not just a guy that makes websites. Here in Ottawa, Canada (a major tech hub in Canada), guys that do websites aren't paid well. Guys who do websites aren't even seen as developers / programmers.
I highly recommend you put together a portfolio of applications not websites. Since you're so strong on the front end, I would spend time getting familiar enough with the backend that you can set up a basic REST API and build fully working apps.
Find a good course on creating a full app with React and either MongoDB or MySQL, and learn how to deploy that app on a service like DigitalOcean or Heroku. Personally, I think DigitalOcean and MySQL are worth learning, but you'll know best what you can handle right now.
You're far more likely to get a junior gig if you have a decent mental model for the backend even if you're not super experienced with it.
My start was as a WordPress developer, and although I was quite adept at the more difficult aspects of working with WordPress, I was still just seen as a 'guy that made websites.'
My 2 cents: you need to build a portfolio that makes it clear you're not just a guy that makes websites. Here in Ottawa, Canada (a major tech hub in Canada), guys that do websites aren't paid well. Guys who do websites aren't even seen as developers / programmers.
I highly recommend you put together a portfolio of applications not websites. Since you're so strong on the front end, I would spend time getting familiar enough with the backend that you can set up a basic REST API and build fully working apps.
Find a good course on creating a full app with React and either MongoDB or MySQL, and learn how to deploy that app on a service like DigitalOcean or Heroku. Personally, I think DigitalOcean and MySQL are worth learning, but you'll know best what you can handle right now.
You're far more likely to get a junior gig if you have a decent mental model for the backend even if you're not super experienced with it.
I can do that.
I have done that. I can add that functionality to all the sites I listed above.
I have played with Heroku but never with DigitalOcean
Years back I did play with wordpress, but it was a time when I didn't use git and so those projects are lost
So I should focus on converting those static pages to retrieve the data from the REST API.
Do you think I can overcome the 6 year employment gap if I do that?
That 6 year gap is the paralysing thing at the moment. It's the main reason I'm asking these questions