Hello! I’ve recently started freeCodeCamp (half way through responsive web design) and I was thinking about the things I need to do or work on to develop my portfolio/resume and was feeling thrown off course. In addition to learning to code, the following things are revolving around in my brain:
Learning to code
Projects for portfolio
Company research
Open source
Networking
YouTube channel
Freelancing
This is not the first time this has happened. I’ve been through this cycle countless number of times. I’m extremely confused and not able to plan or visualise a way forward. But I intend to push through this time and I need help. Any advice/suggestion would be immensely appreciated.
Assuming that “(half way through responsive web design” sums up your experience level, I wouldn’t worry about anything at this point but learning to code. That is your job right now. Learn to code.
Next on the list I think would be the portfolio. Really, you aren’t even going to be building anything worthy of a portfolio until after you’ve done the FE libraries stuff, and more realistically until you can build a basic backend.
Don’t worry about all that other stuff at this point. You’re at least 6 months away from needing to worry about that stuff, maybe more depending on how hard you dig in.
Thanks for the reply @kevinSmith.
I agree.
I just see these youtube videos, articles and stories of other people who did so many things to get a job and I’m reminded that I’m not doing any of these.
If you want to teach someone to read and write, you start them with the alphabet. You tell them not to worry about people writing sonnets and doing crossword puzzles. You tell them to focus on the basics and to work there way up to those other things.
And also be wary of what you hear on the internet and social media. People get attention by saying shocking things. And they get a lot of attention (for some reason) by making people feel inadequate.
Step 1 is “Learn to code”. When you get far enough along in that journey, you will probably start building some projects that are course-projects or tutorial projects. The ones that you see through to something you’re proud of as a showcase of your skill can be added to a portfolio or resume eventually.
When you need a mental break from learning to code, you might like to do some industry research to learn more about the technical job market, the daily life of developers, salary ranges in your area, etc. I wouldn’t worry about researching individual companies until you are actively interviewing with them.
Contributing to open source is a great way to get involved in real-world development and to transition your skills from “student” to “semi-professional”. But again, you need to learn how to code first.
Network at your level. Participating in the freeCodeCamp forum is networking. There are also other chat servers for people who are learning to code. Don’t consciously worry about networking as some sort of a career advancement tool. Just find a community where you can go to get and offer support. It helps build communication skills for talking to fellow developers, describing technical problems and technical solutions, and getting familiar with jargon. It’s not a secret society or anything.
If you want to make a YouTube channel, then … ok? Go for it? That sounds time-consuming, but if you enjoy it then go ahead.
Freelancing is again something you don’t really need to consider until you’ve built a professional level of programming skill.
Thanks for the great advice @ArielLeslie and @kevinSmith.
I will put full focus on learning to code properly first and then worry about the other things. Regarding starting a YouTube channel, I’m learning to code full-time and there are three reasons I want to do it. First, I have an idea of how to explain things based on how I like things to be explained. Second, I feel like it would improve my understanding of the concept I’m learning here. Third, I want to improve my verbal communication. I know it would be a little uncomfortable but I must also learn to handle pressure.
For next 2 quarters minimum just concentrate on below
Learning to code
Projects for portfolio
Once you’re super confident then goto next steps ( come back to this thread for more help ), otherwise you will feel stressed out and loose motivation.
Just have plans for each quarter and work towards execution of that plan/s.