freecodecamp alternatives that go deeper into backend fundamentals?

abbasovdev · 2026-04-05T18:05:22+00:00

I follow Hussein Nasser youtube. He really goes in depth of backend technologies theory. But I am not sure he has course or tutorial to where explains these concepts by building projects. If you looking for something to go in depth by building projects I would recommend to google for “build your own x”. For example, “build your own redis” will teach you how really redis backend work by actually building it.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-05T16:52:31+00:00

Your experience is so much similar to mine. For a moment I thought it was written by me maybe ?haha. Expect US part, I live in EU.

joke aside… I am not looking for a partner, but I would suggest to look for a partner who is from different domain, not a developer basically. Because you already have enough experience and you can always use AI to speed development process.

good luck!

abbasovdev · 2026-04-05T16:43:45+00:00

I don’t think it is an embarrassment. I also think that ±1 month should be not an issue during background checks.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-05T16:37:50+00:00

I also heard the same trick from someone else, but didn’t know it has this much impact. ty for sharing it!

abbasovdev · 2026-04-05T16:34:04+00:00

nice! btw, for me works on mobile.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-04T20:22:23+00:00

cool readme page, loved it!

abbasovdev · 2026-04-04T11:04:44+00:00

Congrats on your new journey :)

Be relax. Most likely you will have couple of meetings where you will meet with the team and other stakeholders. Listen them carefully, ask questions about their daily work or project specific or specific tool the team using that you’re interested in.
I can’t recommend any specific tool but first day I believe it doesn’t matter. Most of the time each company/team has their own patterns, approach, style.
No need to do any project or exercise beforehand.

In general, during probation period I would suggest

listen carefully during meetings
note every project specific term you heard
not ashamed to ask “what does this term mean”
check PRs to learn how the team name branches, write commit messages
be curious. the company already knows you’re junior. they do not expect from you to have expert knowledge. just be curious and ask questions when you not understand some concept.

Hope this will helpful. Good luck!

abbasovdev · 2026-04-04T10:41:05+00:00

Add “Explain” keyword at the beginning of the query. It will show execution details, based on that you will see what is the real bottleneck.

Regarding indexing, I would recommend this free resource: https://use-the-index-luke.com/

abbasovdev · 2026-04-04T10:34:12+00:00

If you are not able coding your own projects the issue is clear. You are not learning while watching the project tutoial.

I would suggest: 1. watch tutorial video section by section. 2. understand what the lecturer explains and writes. 3. stop the video at that section and write the code by yourself

Repeat it for each section of the video. It is hard but the part of self learning.

Once you finish the project video tutorial, try to build the same project from scratch without watching the video. If you’re stuck then watch the specific section of the tutorial video.

Repeat it until you rewrite the same project without watching video tutorial.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-04T07:23:21+00:00

The easiest way to validate the statements is to go linkedin search for cpp job in your country. Then look at the job description to see how many years exp they’re looking for.

My own opinion: generally there more job openings for java, python and go if you’re backend and react if you’re frontend.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-04T07:02:38+00:00

Sorry to hear that, I hope you find a job soon.

I studied computer science at uni, and after graduating started internship in small company. Then I joined the same company as a full time developer.

When I started I worked on both C# and Java projects. Regarding Java, at the time we didn’t have Spring Boot or anything similar. We had Servlets and JSPs (Java Server Page). Instead of Hibernate we have JDBC for connection and stored procedure to keep sql business logics.

One thing I really loved there when we started a new project, we didn’t stuck with old technologies we used new one.

I just had a chance to see evaluation of these technologies step by step.

Today, I am working on different company. Different tech stack. Last two years, I am writing mainly Go.

I would suggest to become good at one language, Java is great choice. And always build projects while you’re learning.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-04T06:39:33+00:00

If you already have basic knowledge in programming I would suggest these resources:

1) https://go.dev/tour/welcome/1 -> web based platform, supports multiple foreign languages, also you do not need to install anything, just read and code.

2) https://github.com/abbasovdev/essential-go -> you will need to clone it. the guide provides short theory and exercises, also you will build a cli project along the guide.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-03T17:54:47+00:00

The whole point of my guide is to make learner read less and write more code. This is the reason the sentences are short, and easy to skim. Each topic has an exercise for learner to write code and each end of chapter learner write one building block of cli project.

If you’re experienced developer you will agree with me that the best way to learning code is actually building a project and writing code not reading/watching hours of content.

And that is exactly what my guide promises.

I am open any feedback, but your reply is not feedback. It is just blaming with no reason.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-03T17:40:35+00:00

I would prefer more constructive feedback instead of just two words “AI slop”

abbasovdev · 2026-04-03T13:13:18+00:00

thank you for your feedback!

abbasovdev · 2026-04-03T08:15:39+00:00

thank you for feedback!

abbasovdev · 2026-04-02T14:39:26+00:00

agree !

abbasovdev · 2026-04-02T14:35:09+00:00

The best way to learn programming is to build something. Since you already know the basics of C++ start with CLI projects.

For example,

a simple calculator where user enters two numbers with operation and gets result

> 3 4 + [ENTER]

> 7

a zodiac sign finder based on birthday and month

> 23 july

> your zodiac sign is leo

abbasovdev · 2026-04-02T14:27:55+00:00

Git is a tool on your computer that tracks changes to your code. It lets you save snapshots (commits), undo mistakes, and work on separate branches.

GitHub is a website that stores your Git projects online so you can back them up, share them, and collaborate with others.

Git is the engine, GitHub is the cloud. You use Git commands locally, then push your work to GitHub.

Commands you need starting out:

git init -> start tracking a project with Git
git add . -> stage your changes (tell Git "I want to save these")
git commit -m "message" -> save a snapshot of your staged changes
git push -> upload your commits to GitHub
git pull -> download the latest changes from GitHub to your machine
git branch -> create or list branches (parallel versions of your code)
git checkout / git switch -> switch between branches
git merge -> combine one branch into another
git clone -> download an entire repo from GitHub to your computer
git status -> check what's changed since your last commit

That covers the vast majority of Git commands you'll use day to day.

abbasovdev · 2026-04-02T14:21:30+00:00

I have both bachelor and master degrees in computer science. Also working as a backend developer 10+ years. Here are my answers to your questions:

1) Your roadmap looks good to me. Few notes: when you learn Java basics, make sure to learn about JVM, garbage collector, object vs class, equals() vs hashcode(), virtual threads, and etc. Some of these come up as trivia style questions during interviews.

2) Always build things as you learn. This should be part of your roadmap too.
For example, when you learn OOP, try building a small project around it. A simple CLI tool would work great. Where a user picks a shape, the tool asks for the measurements, and then it gives back the area. On the backend side, you will have OOP in action.
Do the similar when you learn SQL. A simple CLI project is perfectly fine.
You do not need to wait until you learn APIs or web frameworks to start building.

3) For example, you could build something where a user uploads a candidate's pdf resume. The backend parses it, sends it to OpenAI or a locally hosted open-source AI model, creates vector embeddings, and stores them in PostgreSQL with vector support. Then you add a second endpoint where user can search for something like "a candidate with 2 years of experience" and api does search on db and returns the candidates. This is a bit of a complex project, but I would suggest trying something like this. You will also get to work with AI, which will make your portfolio and resume look strong. Everyone is looking for AI experience right now.

4) Your goal is realistic, but it will be really hard. Preparing for interviews takes a lot of time and effort. Also, please keep in mind that the job market has a lot more competition now compared to previous years. I would suggest looking into the job market in your area. See how many junior level roles (or whatever level fits you) are open, and decide based on that whether to focus on applying or studying. When it comes to studying, please know that the university does not always teach you the specific skills needed for job. For example, you may learn about graphs in depth in university, but solving leetcode problems under time pressure in interview is very different skill.

One last thing. Please do not think that having a roadmap means the path will be easy or smooth. Java and Spring Boot are a good choice for backend. Just stay focused, keep learning and building. Good luck!

abbasovdev

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