Choosing Learning Path

                   Choosing Learning Path

When you first enter the world of technology, you may find yourself drowning in a sea of knowledge and tutorials. Choosing the best learning route and specific languages/tools can be difficult.

Of course, there is no such thing as a correct or incorrect way. It’s possible that one path will not be suitable for everyone. Each person may find a different approach of teaching beneficial, but I wanted to share my experience because it seemed to have worked for me.

The steps I took were as follows:

• Before deciding to pursue a tech profession, I consulted with folks who were already working in the sector. We talked about what they do on a daily basis, what they like and dislike about programming, and what abilities they believe are essential. This allowed me to determine if I was a good fit.
• I looked up videos on YouTube, and a Google search for “becoming a self-taught developer” gives you a whole bunch of inspiring videos. One thing this forewarned me, was the fact that it wouldn’t be simple. It takes a lot of dedication and desire for someone with a non-tech background to learn to code from the bottom up.
• I narrowed down the role I wanted to pursue, the language I wanted to learn, and the path I wanted to take. Again, it’s preferable to discuss with someone already in the field, since this could save you days of research. There is of course a wealth of material available online. I enjoyed designing and witnessing my code come to life. As a result, I chose front-end web development.
• Now all that remains is to get started!!! I looked at various YouTube tutorials on everything I needed to know to get a job as a web developer. It obviously listed HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as the fundamentals, as well as other frameworks and tools. So I created a learning checklist with an estimated timeline.

• I began learning HTML, CSS, and other coding languages through Codecademy and a YouTube channel. Each of these topics has an excellent ‘crash course for beginners’. I can’t emphasize how important it was for me to practice as I was learning.
• However, once I reached JavaScript, the crash course appeared difficult for me to understand, so I began with ‘freecodecamp’ to better understand the fundamentals. Later, I decided to purchase Andrei Neagoie’s ‘The Complete Web Developer in 2022: Zero to Mastery’ course on Udemy. It was going well until I got to the advanced topics. They were difficult for me to grasp because I didn’t have enough practice with the fundamentals. At this point, I was almost ready to give up.
• I decided to try a different course and purchased Jonas Schmedtmann’s Udemy course ‘The complete JavaScript course 2022’. This course was relatively user-friendly for me as a beginner.
• After finishing this, I decided to learn React because, after looking on LinkedIn, I discovered that most front-end jobs had this on their requirement list and there was a lot of documentation available for the same.

• I started learning React from ‘w3schools.com’ and ‘reactjs.org’ also found video tutorials on ‘You Tube’.
• I chose another tool like Git/Github to help me find a job or work on my portfolio site. Most of the tutorials on YouTube are for beginners, but I decided to study only the basics to understand how to use them.

• I created a responsive website for my portfolio and added all the projects I did while studying and the skills I learned in the process. I used github for version control and uploaded all the projects.
• I also came across Tanay Pratap’s beginner’s course on YouTube, which included tutorials and projects that I completed to ensure I got more coding practice.
• To introduce myself, I updated my LinkedIn page. I’d like to apply for a job or firm that interests me right away in order to land my dream job.