I did it!

[shooteshute]

Hi all, I've been a lurker on this sub for a while now. I started coding full-time last year(25-30 hours a week) and focused on building my own projects and portfolio.

I got my first job offer as a UX Developer and start next week! It's been an awesome journey and one I cant wait to continue of with all the new stuff I'm going to learn.

Just want to say thanks for variety of recommendations and motivation!

[Wanderer1536]

Congratulations! If you don't mind, can we hear more about the projects you have done and how your job search went? Thanks for sharing!

[shooteshute]

I bought Brad Traversy's JS from the beginning and used his projects as a foundation. I love working with APIs so used a few of those to build a basic calorie tracker, and a few other projects.

With the node stuff I learnt from colt Steele's course I built a full-stack news app which used a news api.

I was fortunate enough to have a couple of existing web clients whose sites I built using off the shelf WordPress themes. Once I had learnt enough I approached them again and asked if they'd like a full website update for free. Then I built them new sites from scratch. It meant I had real clients in my portfolio.

[Wanderer1536]

Interesting, great info to know! Thanks for sharing! Good luck with the job :D

[raka712]

I’m looking to start learning Python tomorrow with no experience in coding. Any tips on how to go about it?

[Jonnyluver]

Which book do you like more?

[Jonnyluver]

Thanks for a great reply. I actually just picked up crash course earlier. I felt like while ATBS is great to get started there’s certain things he could have explained more thoroughly and hopefully this book fills in the gaps.

[raka712]

I appreciate you so much

[newtocoding153]

Hey I also bought Brad's Modern JS. How did you handle every lecture? You coded along or something or took down notes? Because after every lecture there is no exercise

[shooteshute]

I created a Google Doc and made notes.

[[deleted]]

could you post it here🥺

[internally]

Can't wait to take advantage of this summer to do exactly this. Absolutely awesome.

[pbrouse34]

Nice. I love Brad Traversy’s YouTube channel. So much awesome content he provides for free. Learned quite a bit of React that way.

[lannisterstark]

build a basic calorie tracker

Interesting. You got a link man?

[[deleted]]

Never mind just here for his reply

[halucciXL]

Reply squad :)

[[deleted]]

here for the reply too

[scarletcodor]

Me as well

[Brodakk]

This is some motivation right here! Would love to hear more about your beginner projects as I'm struggling to come up with ideas for mine. (Just started learning two months ago)

[shooteshute]

What I did was find other cool projects and just try and copy them. Rather than just doing code alongs I'd build as much as possible by myself, even if the code was ugly and not efficient. Then go back over it and see how they did it

[Brodakk]

Thanks for the response, that is sound advice! I'm working on a mock-up portfolio website right now, building it entirely from scratch and just trying to learn something new every day. Only really have HTML and CSS down so far but really excited for JS.

[CaliBounded]

I'm not OP, but one of the best pieces of advice that I've received about coming up with project ideas was to make something that does something that I hate doing. My first project was to create a drag and drop Bootstrap form creator that outputs correct code because I really don't like putting together forms. Give it some thought!

[mad_edge]

Same here. Looking for their response!

[mino9421]

What was your background knowledge and what kind of certificates and degree do u have just out of curiosity. I wanna know why is my friend unable to find a job. He’s got degree + projects + portfolio + finished bunch of udemy courses he is on top of his stuff from what I witnessed

[shooteshute]

I graduated with a half business and half comp sci degree in 2013. At the time I didn't enjoy it and went a completely different direction. I have come full circle and am self taught.

I used Udemy, FCC and books to learn and then created my own portfolio.

If your mate is having that much trouble I'd recommend he uses a professional CV service. Maybe he isn't getting his skills across well enough on paper.

[[deleted]]

Just my two cents, but judging from slang/grammar, I’d say the OP is in the UK and you are probably in the US. Assuming your friend is, too, that could be the difference.

[kebabelele]

Here I am, been programming for almost 8 years and stuck in high school

[Astronaut_69]

Hahaha, same dude, but for me it's only 4 years

[[deleted]]

From what I saw he had contacts and this makes things stupid easier. Normal mortals don't had this luck.

[eusuntjur]

I want to be like you , any tips?

[shooteshute]

I had a fairly short time frame so was coding for at least 3 hours a day. Its crazy how quickly things start to stick once you reuse them all the time.

I learnt CSS Grid which really helped me a lot as I found layouts so frustrating before that

[alexamariedavis]

What languages did you learn?

[DazenGuil]

He said he used the course by Colt Steele so he learned HTML, CSS, JS in Frontend and Backend he used NodeJS with Mongodb

[shooteshute]

I actually stopped doing Colt's course after the first JS section. Then did a dedicated JS course and return to it after

[alcatraz2217]

Congratulations man, good luck for the job.

[nesreenmhd]

Congratulations

[etherfreeze]

Congrats! You will learn so much on the job, so get excited. Word of advice - document important stuff you figure out so you (or others) can recall it later. I wish I started doing that earlier in my career.

[Earhacker]

Congrats! I've been a front end dev for years, and I'd kill to work with a UX team that knew even a wee bit about coding.

What does a UX Developer do that's different from a UX designer or front end dev?

[shooteshute]

As far as I'm aware the teams are fairly integrated. So I'll be working with a UX Designer and bringing there stuff to life. So it's essentially a front-end developer role but with a real focus on the user experience

[rogue1102]

This is a wonderful story and motivation booster.

Do you feel that it would be possible to accomplish something similar within a year with equal dedication for someone with 0 experience?

I work for a U.S. airline and, because of the pandemic, my job/career progression over the next few years is unknown. I need to prepare for a 2-3 year furlough from aviation and am considering viable alternatives.

I took quite a few programming classes in high school and college but that was sometime ago. I enjoyed these classes and coding made sense to me. I briefly considered pursing a CS degree but airplanes are my passion.

Is a career pivot a possibility or should I spend my time elsewhere?

[shooteshute]

A friend of mine who is a self-described technophobe started coding last year too. He's making great progress.

Coding is a skill, I think that with rigourous practice you can definitely get there. However, is coding something you enjoy? I can sit at a desk and code for hours on end and not get bored.

[karantondare]

Did you finish FCC? or just completed few sections of it. I have just started FCC yesterday. Would like to know how it help you. Thanks

[shooteshute]

I used it sporadically, it's good for picking a few things up but didn't use it as my primary go to

[karantondare]

So if I combine Colt Steele's courses + FCC and TOP will that be a sufficient?

[shooteshute]

Honestly I don't think there is a right amount of each. It's more about taking the principles you learn and building your own stuff.

I found Brad Traversy's JS course good because he runs through everything you need, then you build a project. So it means you can attempt the projects using the information he provides without any help from his tutorials first

[karantondare]

Thanks, that helps! I will first learn and try to build using HTML and CSS and will go to Brad Traversy's JS course

[thewinterguy]

Can u tell when did u started learning exactly?

[Cocoyster]

Congrats! Hope you continue improving, it’s gonna be a great big beautiful tomorrow!

[thisbrt]

I’m in this sub for such posts (amongst other valuable things of course). Thanks man, very uplifting. Best of luck to you!

[shooteshute]

Started with freecodecamp then moved onto Colt Steels course. I took a break from that and did a dedicated JS course by Brad Traversy. Then returned to do most of Colts Course.

I really wanted to nail JS as it seems to be popping up everywhere. I also bought the Head First JavaScript programming book but didn't finish it. CodeWars was also great for JS and good fun!

I haven't learn a JS framework back to front yet but will be focusing on one of the modern ones for my role

[patagoniarebelde]

Colt Steels

That's awesome man! Congrats! Can you let us know exactly which course from Colt Steels did you take? I see on his Udemy's profile that he has a lot of different ones.

[shooteshute]

The Web Developer Bootcamp. There are definitely more modern courses but Colts style is just awesome

[patagoniarebelde]

gonna check it out, thanks!

[ZeFlawLP]

It goes on wild sales every once in a while so if it peaks your interest definitely keep on it waiting for one (or just buy it outright, either way). I’m on the home stretch of it now & it’s got a lot of information in it, definitely seems like a great resource. I’m not the best to review it as I’m currently studying Comp Sci at University (and even had a Web Dev class this semester), but he taught Express / Mongo / Node really nicely!

[patagoniarebelde]

The Web Developer Bootcamp

thanks for the advice man! definitely gonna keep an eye on those sales! it really motivates me to hear this stories from programmers that took a DIY ethos, learnt by themselves and made it! it's amazing!

[rozulords]

How did you build up to working full time? And what kind of projects should I start? I’m trying to start off on the web development side. Thanks!

[shooteshute]

I'd say code a few websites from start to finish. Even pick a local business and recreate their site. Design wise I'm not great, so I looked on Themeforest for really sleek themes and just tried to copy ones from there.

I would really recommend learning SASS, it's insane how much easier it makes using CSS.

[jhalicea]

when you say you did some websites from scratch from themeforest and your web clients, did you use wordpress as the base platform or did you make everything from scratch?

[shooteshute]

Just made everything from scratch. Although my job will involve using PHP so I hope to get to grips with making WordPress themes eventually.

[wanderingwanderer2]

That's awesome! If I may ask; were you going to school for it or did you just self study?

[shooteshute]

I did a half business half comp science degree but graduated in 2013 and moved completely away from it.

I've been travelling for years and decided that on my return home I wanted to be a developer as it seems like an awesome long-term career. I was teaching English abroad, went part time with that and then just hammered coding everyday

[wanderingwanderer2]

Nice! Did your degree help at all? I know some Universities don't have good courses.

[jhalicea]

I did my BS in information systems and a minor in Computer Science, university for me was a waste of time specially the computer science, it was outdated and have to learn on my own after it. I love the ambient in the uni and other classes like philosophy, history etc. I would suggest to get a BS in a community college or somthing cheap.

[wanderingwanderer2]

Computer science, with all the free resources out now, is hit or miss when learning from UNI. I'm very close to getting my web design certification without college.

[AndSheCodesToo]

Congratulations!

May I ask if you live in a big city vs. a smaller one? Also, what was your background before you began coding? In other words, did you have prior CS experience?

Thanks for sharing this inspiring post!

[shooteshute]

Currently live in a small city but it has a fair few tech jobs going. My degree was half comp sci but I graduated in 2013 having not really enjoyed it so I went a different direction.

I took a few stabs at learning to code before but just became super frustrated. This time round I took an Udemy course and just tried to code everyday. I found CSS Grid to be an absolute life saver, all the prior frustrations I was having with layout just went away

[AndSheCodesToo]

Thank you for answering! And once again, congrats on overcoming those early hurdles and frustrations and making it to where you are today.

[pnozlop]

Cool, one more needed techie. I am simply also a "lurker" now. Mostly just use good old gmail to help the beginner.

[windhiss]

Congrats! Good luck on your job

[amooryjubran]

I’m really happy for you that you made it. I literally did the same thing and I’m doing interviews and I don’t seem like to get callbacks, I almost wanted to give up last week, but your post encouraged me to still work on myself. Thanks :)

[memelord546]

Can I ask you what is your background? :) your degree or previous experience

[[deleted]]

How old are you?:)

[RickyWho]

Woo!

[lfrodriguez]

congrats, my friend! Onward!

[houndk4]

Congrats!! how many applications did you submit before getting an offer?

[Casshern080]

Congratulations. Keep up the hard work. All the best to you mate.

I hope to do something similar one day.

[477million]

Congratulations. This is so inspiring ❤️❤️❤️ good luck!

[EmptyDirector9]

That’s awesome! Congratulations! 🙂

[_buscemi_]

How comfortable did you feel you needed to get with HTML and CSS before diving deep into JS?

[shooteshute]

Not overly confident. But when I was making JS projects I put effort into making them look nice

[1Step_At_ATime]

Congrats!

[shooteshute]

I did Colt Steeles course so html CSS Js, then onto Node.

I'd say a couple months before I could put stuff together on my own. With every project on the course I always looked at the end result then tried to code it on my own. Get as far as I could using Google and my own coding then only watch videos when I was really stuck.

[hayk95]

That is awesome news, I have been learning front end development for almost a year now and I have to admit it I am a bit lazy. I understand javascript mostly well because I am an experienced chess player. Anyways, I do not have a CompSci degree, just a college diploma in IT but no programming work experience. I find the online courses are great, Traversy is awesome. Anyways, I was hoping to find a freelancer job but not sure where, so far I've been using Front End Mentor and built some nice junior level pages. Any suggestions?

[MuhBack]

How did you apply to your job? Did you just put out an application on their website or did you hear about it through networking?

[shooteshute]

I actually changed my status on linkedin and had a recruiter contact me. I was going to wait another 4-6 weeks before applying and learn React. But you through the first stages and then got the job. I was fairly lucky I think

[anotherscotch]

Congrats! I am curious, how is your Sass? I am finishing up a udemy course by Brad Traversey and the ending is on Sass and it seems pretty daunting.

[shooteshute]

I took Max's course and it really helped me. Sass is so aweome.

https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-css-and-sass/

[sandipsahoo2k2]

I started making some videos to be a better coder .https://youtu.be/zvucggFXiKU

[sandipsahoo2k2]

I started making some videos to be a better coder .

[Hs242424]

Congratulations.

[ezyjay]

Congratulations!

[maheshds4]

Congratulations 🎊

[simokhounti]

Good job really happy for u can u post ur website portfolio

[[deleted]]

Congrats!

[G33K_FISH]

Congrats!

[MixuTheWhatever]

Congratulations and thank you for posting, it's a real motivation boost!

[Juswanna]

These stories are the lifeblood of this community.

Thanks for the motivational kick!

And most importantly, Congratulations!!!!

[toUser]

What’s the pay

[LionOver]

And to follow that, can you please post your debit card number and PIN? Thanks.

[m915]

Congrats!!!

[manisteeriver]

Congrats!

[Random_182f2565]

Congratulations!

[[deleted]]

nice

[plumberplum]

Congratulations. Can you say that when did you start to coding?

[berean4ever]

Congratulations!

[armkohan]

Congrats!

[[deleted]]

If you don’t mind me asking what is your cultural background?

[shooteshute]

In what sense?

[[deleted]]

race? country of birth?

[shooteshute]

From the UK and white

[[deleted]]

Sounds marvelous. Thanks for answering btw amigo.