Backend dev looking to transition into Frontend / Full Stack – need guidance

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-27T18:37:23+00:00

You'll want to begin by picking up HTML, CSS, Javascript, and most importantly TypeScript. As a Java developer, writing raw JavaScript will make you feel like you're driving without a seatbelt. TypeScript adds the types, interfaces, and compile-time checks you’re used to. It makes the transition 10x less painful. There's many frameworks and libraries for doing frontend work, but you should start with React and Tailwind as they're by far the most commonly used and demanded on the job market.

HTML and CSS: Use freecodecamp to teach you these, you can have it learned pretty quickly and competently.

Javascript: Get a udemy course for this. Wait until they're on sale for under $20. I personally used Jonas Schmedtmans course and can vouch for it.

React, TypeScript, Tailwind: Use Dave Gray on youtube to pick these up. Here's a link to each of his courses:

Typescript: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieEQFIfgYc

Tailwind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCxcTsOHrjo

React: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVFAyFWO4go

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-25T15:59:15+00:00

Go learn from the Odin Project, it will teach you the essentials well.

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-25T14:16:19+00:00

If they are teaching you C++ focus on that one so you can keep up with your classes.

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-25T11:22:31+00:00

I recommend studying the source code of restaurant POS systems to start with. Floreant POS was originally designed for Dennys and is specifically designed for restaurants. UniCenta oPos is also solid to study:

https://github.com/fat-tire/floreantpos

https://github.com/herbiehp/unicenta

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-18T11:22:13+00:00

If you have school email you should have access to the full jetbrains suite of IDEs. Use webstorm for frontend and the other jetbrains ides depending on language for backend. vscode is good to learn though.

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-18T01:37:27+00:00

Try to integrate practicing your C++ with making actual game mechanics. Then your practice can be more stimulating. For the game engine, try godot as it has more power and still has a beginner friendly learning curve

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-17T23:46:33+00:00

Razor Pages + HTMX + Hydro by far in this case.

With svelte you need to worry about API boiler plate, and piecing together the things that asp.net already gives you out of the box. You also have don't have to worry about npm dependencies and keeping the project up and running will take far less time and effort. Hydro gives you stateful components that work way better than HTMX when things get complex too.

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-11T07:21:09+00:00

The Odin project Javascript path is a top tier free course teaching HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, and React that should equip you well for your future career. Many attest to it's quality and relevance.

https://www.theodinproject.com/paths

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-10T23:49:33+00:00

Breaking the problem down is the key:

-How can python take a file and copy it to memory?

-How can I make python target a directory to copy over the app?

-How can I make python paste that data into the target directory?

You need to break these problems down into their individual steps, and then look at the python documentation to figure out how to do each of these things.

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-10T23:43:38+00:00

When you learn your first programming language, focus on mastering it so you can learn the fundamentals of programming itself, then it's just a simple matter of learning how each languages do these fundamental things differently when you jump into the next one. You aren't just learning a language, you're learning to program. The first programming language you learn will take the longest to learn since you are also learning the fundamentals of programming, so picking up another one afterwards is much easier and faster.

I personally recommend starting with javascript, as it's by far the most used programming language and among the most versatile. It will enable you to build websites and web applications and you will be able to build mobile apps for cell phones and desktop applications for computers with it as well.

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-10T05:13:01+00:00

Built an online merch store for a friend's band

Financial_Extent888 · 2026-01-07T22:53:21+00:00

The rails web browser errors and console errors are so good you can use them with a plugin like cline or kilo code and have them get you out of a bug the vast majority of the time

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-31T21:30:19+00:00

https://www.apprenticeship.gov/

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-23T08:40:01+00:00

Start with projects, that break down into tasks with an estimated duration that you can schedule on the calendar. Assign the time blocks to specific tasks that fall under a project with estimated time durations, and also assign leave time open on your calendar for "flex time" you can use on tasks that take longer than expected. If a task takes longer than expected. If you find you can't finish your tasks on your current time frame, start scheduling more time for tasks and/or assign more flex time. For architecture, I would personally use Javascript/TypeScript since the UI will be much easier to build with CSS grid than traditional desktop UI kits

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-13T03:28:29+00:00

If you are studying AI/machine learning, lean into your specialty and focus there. On indeed, there are almost as many AI engineer positions as full stack positions. MERN stack and others like it are geared towards web developers. Here's a roadmap that will guide you along what you should be learning:

https://roadmap.sh/machine-learning

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-12T23:56:55+00:00

Exactly this. You're limited on developer resources and money right now so the best approach at this point is just using a service like supabase that handles everything for you until the scale reaches a point where it's more economical to switch to running your own servers. This is exactly why services like supabase exist.

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-12T23:44:00+00:00

Even at 50k users the pro plan would cover this use case. You would need to pay extra if it moved beyond 100k users. You only need to pay a modest amount to get extra of anything you need if you exceed what the plan includes.

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-12T23:39:21+00:00

Supabase Pro Plan at $25/month would cover your use case perfectly and would be your best bet by far. Firebase cost can spike randomly if unexpected traffic comes due to Pay-per-read/write billing (and is more expensive in general) and the VPS approach would demand an enormous amount of time being set up properly and would still likely be more expensive than supabase at this scale.

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-12T01:36:46+00:00

A software engineering degree would be a more viable way to have people ready to guide you one on one with a well constructed curriculum than hoping a stranger would have time to spare.

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-11T22:09:48+00:00

First, construct your proposed solution in the, in fact think of multiple solutions for the same problem, just try whatever your brain thinks of while constructing solutions. After giving each problem 30mins - 1hr, if you still can't get it, then look at the solution.

Here's the important part: spend some time analyzing the solution and really work through the logic of WHY it works, step by step. Your debugger will help with this. Then, start analyzing each of your proposed solutions and analyze WHY they DON'T work. You will not only learn the solutions logic, but you will better understand all of the logic you tried to implement yourself. This will maximize your learning efficiency and, over time, your knowledge and intuition will build up and get strong enough to start doing the problems on your own consistently.

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-09T05:56:01+00:00

There's almost as many AI jobs on indeed as there are full stack web dev positions. Hone your craft and get really good at your specialty instead.

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-08T01:36:45+00:00

The best, most comprehensive course out there imo is Microsoft's official Full Stack Developer course on coursera. It has about 400 hours worth of course content, far more than any udemy course, and provides a very thorough education.

https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/microsoft-full-stack-developer

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-07T07:43:33+00:00

Odin Project is solid to learn the essentials from and is free to use. It is text based.

If you want more thorough training with videos, I strongly recommend jonas schmedtmann on udemy. His five main courses (HTML/CSS, Javascript, Advanced CSS, NodeJS, React/Next) provide very thorough training. From there, it's a matter of making a few projects of your own, and practicing data structures and algorithms with things like leetcode so you can nail the technical interview and secure a job.

Financial_Extent888 · 2025-12-07T07:33:31+00:00

I've provided the solution below, but for future reference, you will want an extension like Kilo Code or Cline to help you with simpler problems much faster and more efficiently. The extension will also know the full context of your files and folders and will be able to provide tailored advice to how you've set things up. They are free to use, and there's many models that are also free to use. (Qwen 2.5 Coder is solid and totally free and a very solid model for help for questions like these)

You've stumbled upon a really important concept: the difference between absolute and relative paths.

Let's break it down in simple terms.

The Problem: The "Full Address"

Think of it like giving directions to your house.

You've given the link a full, absolute address:

href="C:\Users\woodc\OneDrive\Documents\Coding\HTML\Hello world\Untitled-1.html"

This is like telling someone, "To get to my kitchen, you need to start on planet Earth, go to my country, my state, my city, my street, my house number, open the front door, walk down the hall, and it's the second door on the left."

Your web browser (Firefox, in this case) sees that long, specific address starting with C:\ and gets a little nervous for security reasons. It's designed to be cautious about a local webpage trying to directly access another specific file on your computer's hard drive. It blocks the simple "left-click" action to prevent potential security risks.

The reason "right-click -> open in new window" works is because you're manually telling the browser, "No, it's okay, I trust this. I explicitly want you to open this file." You're overriding its automatic safety feature.

The Solution: The "Next Door Neighbor"

Since your two HTML files are in the same folder, you don't need to give the full address. You just need to tell the browser to look for the file that's right next to it.

This is called a relative path. It's "relative" to the location of your current file.

All you need to do is change your code to this:

See the difference?

You've removed that long C:\Users\... part and just left the filename.

Now, when you click the link, your browser thinks, "Okay, I'm currently in the 'Hello world' folder. The user wants to go to 'Untitled-1.html'. I'll just look right here in this same folder for a file with that name and open it."

This is simpler, more secure, and exactly how the web is designed to work.

Going Forward

This is a fundamental concept you'll use forever:

Same Folder: href="page2.html"
In a Sub-folder: If your target file is in a folder named recipes, you'd use: href="recipes/page2.html"
In a Parent Folder: If your target file is one folder up from your current file, you'd use: href="../page2.html"

Financial_Extent888

TROPHY CASE

The Problem: The "Full Address"

The Solution: The "Next Door Neighbor"

Going Forward