My current job goal is to get a job as a Jr. Front End Web Developer by learning HTML & CSS. I have almost completed the Responsive Web Design certification and have been learning HTML and CSS.
I have come to realize that I will need to learn JavaScript as well, in order to get employed as a Web developer.
My real concern, is the fact that there are many other areas that I will have to learn before I am job ready. For example, as a complete beginner, I am struggling to learn how to use the VS code editor, along with other areas such as file management, etc.
I am worried that I will learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript very well, but not know anything else, or what I should learn next, since I am self teaching myself without any knowledge. How do you know that you are job ready? How do you learn the extra skills that aren’t included in FCC that are required to be job ready?
The most important metric is your able to learn what you need as you go. If your able to learn the fundamentals of HTML/CSS/JS, good you learned the 3 foundational technologies the web is built on. Next, you increase what you know of those three by using them. As you said you will need to learn probably other things, like how to use VSCode, or other libraries and what not. The process of being able to learn and continue learning is the most important “job ready” skill. As it means you can learn what the job requires as you go.
There isn’t a point where you learn something 100% and your done now and forever. As in tech things change over time, you will need to keep learning and growing.
The fact you realize this now is important, as realizing that becoming a web developer doesn’t mean you learn X, Y, Z and your done. It’s a lot harder than that, as you must continue to learn as things change, and you learn about more and more to learn. This doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it just means it will take time and effort to get up to speed and stay up to speed over time.
As long as your fine with this reality, your well on your way and just need to continue walking down the path of learning what you need as you march on to your goals.
I have come to realize that I will need to learn JavaScript as well, in order to get employed as a Web developer.
Yup.
My real concern, is the fact that there are many other areas that I will have to learn before I am job ready.
A lot of this depends on what you mean by “job ready”. For some jobs, HTML, CSS, and JS are enough, but not many. I try to think of it as making myself increasingly attractive to employers so that as I keep increasing my skills, I am increasing my odds.
For example, as a complete beginner, I am struggling to learn how to use the VS code editor, along with other areas such as file management, etc.
And don’t beat yourself up - I’m still learning features on VSC.
How do you learn the extra skills that aren’t included in FCC that are required to be job ready?
You’re going to have to be more specific. A lot of these you will pick up as you build more complex projects. Some of these things you can only really learn on the job.
I wouldn’t worry too much about “the other skills” yet. If you want to pick up a book on git, agile, web design, etc. Go for it. I think interviewing and crafting a good resume is good too. And I can’t tell you how many developers I know that can’t properly type. Maybe after you get some skills, work on some projects with some friends to understand how projects are managed and git flows.
But a lot of these “other” computer skills are a lot easier to learn. Just keep learning and building things. If you get some skills and build a nice portfolio, most employers won’t care that you don’t know how a scrum board works or how to do a git rebase - they’ll be happy to take the 5 minutes to teach it to you.
I’m pretty much in the same boat as yourself, learning HTML/CSS funnily enough had a bash at a bit of javascript the other day smallest task honestly had zero idea what I was doing but I got the gist in the end from googling and reading.
Don’t sweat the list of stuff that you might need to learn as mentioned, just learn each bit well in turn and keep practicing to keep it fresh in your mind so you don’t forget.
Im probably studying to much at once ( FCC, Uni, Udemy and reading stuff like I don’t know what) I came across VS code as a recommended IDE and found it a bit crazy when I first installed it, but its great, I’d have a look on YouTube some beginners guide to how to use it etc, or Udemy if you prefer, install a couple of well recommended extensions and just get coding. I found setting up GitHub more of a nightmare and I’m a mega distro hopper haha.
Everybody’s slightly different when it comes to methods of learning, so what might be a good resource for me might be the worst for you, but a combination of FCC, Udemy course or two and a couple of reference books doesn’t hurt.
