Hello, welcome to today’s edition on ICT related topics and programming in general. This article is geared towards inspiring new programmers out there who just got into the industry and wishes to make a career out of it. In addition, most of the ideas here are of a personal opinion and not in anyway a criteria for anything whatsoever. And of course, we are all in titled to our various opinions. Lets join right in and consider the things you need to know in order to become a web developer this 2021.
Maybe you are out there and wishing to become a developer but considering the roadmap and all it would take you to achieve this becomes very tedious and overwhelming. Well, my arm in this article is to simplify the roadmap for you so that you can start immediately to achieving that dream of being a programmer or perhaps, you know someone who needs this article, kindly share it with them so that they can get direction and also be motivated to do so.
So what are the minimum requirements? Well, you have to know HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Those are the minimum requirement. Did you know, you can even get a job, by just knowing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript very well. You can also build responsive, interactive front-end applications without any framework, by just mastering these minimum requirements very well.
The mistake that most young developers do is to first start by learning frameworks before having a grasp on the actual language itself. And that’s very wrong.
Infact, even with just HTML and CSS, and by understanding the HTML5 Semantic tags, CSS flexbox, grid system, animations, transform, pseudo elements and classes, filters, and even media query, one can still do pretty amazing designs that are very responsive too. Although, I will strongly recommend learning JavaScript and in doing that consider learning the newer ES6 modern JavaScript like Arrow-function, Promises, Async/Await , Destructing, Classes, Higher Order Array Methods and Functions. Also learn how to fetch data from an external source using the Fetch API or AXIOS. Another thing you need to understand is JSON and AJAX, sending data back and forth through your application. And ofcourse, you can check out our website and/or YouTube channel for free courses/tutorials to help you out on that.
Now the best advice I can give you here is “BUILD THINGS”. Just learning and studying these materials isn’t gonna help you out. Create your portfolio website and add projects to it. Create an idea on your own and build it. When you get stock, debug using debugging tools or google search engine. Google is a developers best friend. These can really be a great way for you to master your skills as a programmer and also to improve on your problem solving skills. And ofcourse, you will also need to make friends who are programmers as well. There are a lot of online platforms where you can meet a lot of people in the same industry. Start conversation with them and share your ideas and taught. Before you know it, you might have more interest in programming than you earlier thought you could.
Now, even if you get want to be a back-end developer, you will still need to learn HTML and CSS. Because for the most part, they are the building blocks of the web. Secondly, because in working on the back-end, you will still need to connect to the front-end inorder to send or retrieve data from the UI(user-interface).
Again, you dont just jump into any language and start learning, choose a language that is relevant in your region. Don’t just pick any language because of its popularity or paycheck globally, but consider the companies you might work for if you learn the language and the worth of the language in your local environment, unless ofcourse you are planning to migrate to a different location, then consider that location instead. And you don’t have to worry about picking the wrong language because once you have learnt your first language, its much earlier to learn a second one. Most programming language have a lot of similarities.
Where to find jobs online:
- Linkedin
- Upwork
- Twitter
- GitHub
- JobBait
- Careercloud
- StackOverFlow
- CareerBuilder
- Jibberjobber
- Glassdoor
When to start applying for jobs:
Well, as soon as your are comfortable with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Just start applying because you definitely need to start somewhere and besides, there is always a first time for everything. Even if you did not meet the requirements, or maybe you cannot check off all the demands of the company/client, still apply. Guess what? “No one really meets all those requirements, a company never finds someone who meets all their requirements, it never just happens, right?.” but if you do, it means you are applying for the wrong job then you should go for something higher than what you are applying for because then, it will mean you have out-grown that one. Para-venture you didn’t get thee job, you would have known your mistakes and also have the experience of going through a job interview. So put your head up and apply for another and another and another, until you get what you want.
Nevertheless, there are atleast nine other ways you can make money as a developer, apart from going into Professional Development. They include:
- Freelancing
- Blogging
- YouTube
- Live Coding
- 1-On-1 Mentoring
- Creating Courses
- Digital Products
- Open Source
- Creating a SaaS (Software as a Service) ...
Make sure to check out other articles on our blog and our website ; also on our YouTube channel to learn more on this topics. Always remember that you are good enough, keep practicing, keep pushing and never give up.
Till next edition, HaPpY CODinG...
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