6 Month Learning Plan

You Can Do This!
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Hello!

I’ve completed the Responsive Web Design and JavaScript certifications, almost done with the Frontend Library Cert.

My goal is to start applying for frontend developer jobs on September 1st and have put together a six-month learning plan to get ready and have a portfolio. I’m posting it here for feedback, suggestions, and the like. Let me know if I am missing and “must-have” skills, or including unimportant things.

The first couple of weeks I filled in the courses I expect to follow and will fill in more details as I go on.

Last, I want to keep track of my progress and blog on LinkedIn while starting to network on that site.

I’m budgeting about 20 hours a week and know I can at least do that. Is this enough time to learn and complete the portfolio?

Thank you!
Six Month Frontend Web Developer Curriculum

  • March 1st to March 15: FCC Front End Library Certification – 40hrs Available (35hrs planned)
    • Finish Front End Libraries Certification on FreeCodeCamp – 20hrs
    • FreeCodeCamp YouTube 5 Hour React Course – 10hrs
    • If Time: FreeCodeCamp YouTube Redux Tutorial – 5hrs
  • March 16 to April 1: Review HTML/CSS & AdobeXD – 56hrs Available (50hrs planned)
    • Review HTML/CSS with Bootstrap5 & SASS Emphasis - 36hrs
      • FCC HTML YouTube Tutorial – 6hrs
      • FCC CSS YouTube Tutorial – 6hrs
      • FCC SASS YouTube Tutorial – 4hrs
      • FCC Bootstrap YouTube Tutorial – 6hrs
      • FCC YouTube Bootstrap5 / SASS Portfolio Project - 14hrs
    • Learn Adobe XD for wire framing and prototyping – 20hrs
      • Adobe XD YouTube Tutorial (Wireframe and Prototype Project) – 7hrs
      • Google UX Adobe XD Course – 7hrs
      • Wireframe & Prototype Portfolio Projects – 6hrs
  • April 2 to May 1: JS, React, Redux, and React Bootstrap – 80hrs Availalbe
    • Review more in depth JavaScript, React, Redux, and learn React Bootstrap
    • Find tutorials and relevant projects
  • May 2 to May 15: GIT/GitHub, VS Code Emmet, Website Deployment - 40hrs Available
    • Learn best practices for GitHub and Mock process for website development
    • Learn Emmet on VSCode
    • Determine and introduce solutions for:
      • Package Management
      • Deployment
      • DNS registration
      • Hosting
  • May 16 to June 1: Hosting setup, Testing, NextJS – 40hrs Available
    • Determine and set up solution for hosting
    • Determine and introduce E2E testing tools
    • Introduce NextJS
    • If Time: Introduce HeadlessCMS, JamStack
  • June 2 to August 31 - 240 hrs Available
    • Build Test Deploy
      • Single Page Web Development Personal Portfolio Site
      • Ecommerce Website
      • Business Services Website
1 Like
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Hi @MoxElliot !

Here are my thoughts :grinning:

I would definitely start now with networking and building up those connections in the industry. That way when you do apply for jobs, you can reach out to your network for potential job leads.

Linkedin is really good for connecting with developers, hiring managers and recruiters.
Make sure your profile is top notch and attracts recruiters attention.
I would advise you to look at Danny Thompson’s YouTube series on how to effectively use Linkedin to help you land a job.

I would also strongly advise you to be active on twitter if you are not already.
There are a lot of valuable twitter spaces to be apart of, especially if you are a early career junior developer.

There are also a lot of great developers on there that you can connect with and expand your network.
That would be a good place to share your progress and projects.
You never know who will see your posts. :grinning:

After you have built the front end library projects, you should have a good foundation in the basics.
You might not need to do all 15 hours of the youtube course.
If you are feeling comfortable with react after the projects, then you might just want to use portions of the youtube videos to spend more time on areas you are weaker in.

This is a lot of time spent watching videos.
Your time will be better spent working on your own projects using HTML and CSS.
I think you will learn more that way and you can use portions of those videos to work on areas you are weaker in.

Also, I don’t think it is going to take you 6 hrs to learn bootstrap.
The docs are pretty clear on how to set it up with a project and start using it. :grinning:

I think this is useful to learn but right now I don’t think you need to be spending 20 hours learning it.
Maybe just do one of those options.

At this point, you will probably have a good starting foundation in all of these technologies.
I would pivot away from walk through tutorial videos and start building projects on your own.
That will give you good practice for reading through error messages, googling for answers and reading through the docs because that is what you will be doing on the job anyway :grinning:

The highest priority on this list would be learning git and getting comfortable with.
The goal is to walk into the job already familiar with using git so you can effectively work in a team environment.

The other thing you should consider is getting comfortable working with the dev tools.
You will want to install the react develop tools

On the job, you will be using the developer tools a lot so it would be good to get used to it now.

I would suggestion starting these projects a lot earlier.
So maybe start them in April or sooner.

Here are the reasons why:

  1. Projects ALWAYS take longer to build then you think. You want that extra time to build it out, refactor, test, deploy, ask for feedback, work on cleaning up bugs, etc.
  2. Life happens and you don’t want to create a super tight schedule with no wiggle room to complete your tasks.

As for NextJS, I don’t know if you should spend a whole lot of time learning that right now.
I would argue that learning how to write tests is more important than NextJS.

There is nothing wrong with NextJS, but don’t feel the pressure to learn a whole bunch of libraries and framework for your first job.

Remember that employers are not looking for you to have a whole of bunch of experience in dozens of technologies.
It is much better to developer a strong foundation in a set of core technologies and demonstrate to your employer that you are able and willing to learn on the job.

In my current job, I walked in primarily working with React and a little bit of TypeScript.
On my first day, they told me I was going to be working on a project with RxJS.

I had never even worked with that but I had to figure it out using the docs, stackoverflow and youtube.

Your employer just wants to know that you can learn on the job and will be up for the challenge.

Good luck and hope that helps! :grinning:

1 Like
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Thank you SO much for the thoughtful response. I will take your advice to heart.

I agree about not watching too many videos. The times I listed are estimates for watching, following along in VS Code, and completing any exercise. That said, I’d rather find projects to do and then research solutions.

Do you have any suggested resources to find projects to put in the curriculum instead of videos?

Thank you again!

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You can google javascript, html, css, react, bootstrap, etc projects and you will get tons of results for potential ideas.

You can take one of those ideas and try building the project on your own instead of a walk through video tutorial.

That way you can focus on your problem solving skills, debugging skills, reading docs, etc.
That will allow to grow more as a developer :grinning:

1 Like
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I’ve revised the plan a bit taking in the above advice. Instead of doing a lot of small youtube tutorials I will find an introduction to the topic and focus on learning through a project. Some of the learning objectives will be learned while completing a project, kind of “one the job” such as the Chrome developer tools.

Also, I’m not adding in any new solutions (e.g. NextJS, HeadlessCMS) but focusing on what I’ve got so far. So at the end of this I hope to have a solid understanding of:

  • HTML
  • CSS, Bootstrap5, SASS
  • JS, React/Redux
  • Git/Github, VSCode, AdobeXD
  • Packaging & Hosting a website

Last I will start the portfolio projects earlier and add a month to the back. My goal is to still apply for jobs on September 1, even if I’m still working on one of the projects.

Six Month Frontend Web Developer Curriculum

  • March 1st to March 22: FCC Front End Library Certification – 56hrs Available
  • March 23 to April 1: Review HTML/CSS & AdobeXD – 40hrs Available (40hrs planned)
    • Review HTML/CSS with Bootstrap5 & SASS Emphasis – 13hrs
      • FCC Bootstrap5 SASS portfolio project
        • YouTube video 3hrs
        • Project 10hrs
    • Learn Adobe XD for wire framing and prototyping – 6hrs
      • Adobe XD YouTube Tutorial (Wireframe and Prototype Project) – 2hrs
      • Project 4-hr
    • Determine and set-up solutions for: - 10hrs
      • Package Management
      • Deployment
      • DNS registration
      • Hosting
    • Learn best practices for GitHub and Mock process for website development -8hrs
  • April 2 to May 15: JS, React/Redux, and React Bootstrap – 40hrs Available
    • React Bootstrap Introduction – 8hrs
    • Relevant projects – 32hrs
  • May 15 to September 31 – Detailed Breakdown TBD
    • Build Test Deploy
      • Single Page Web Development Personal Portfolio Site
      • Ecommerce Website
      • Business Services Website
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