I am an 18-year-old who recently migrated to the UK. Due to family problems, I am unable to enroll in a computer science course or pursue any degree-related studies. However, despite this setback, I am determined to center my lifestyle around programming. I am willing to devote years of my life to learning programming languages and fundamentals so that when I enter my early twenties, I will be ready to tackle real-world jobs.
I have been researching front-end, back-end, and full-stack developers. However, I am aware that without a degree, I have better chances of landing a job as a front-end developer. At the same time, I am concerned that there have been a lot of ads lately promoting the building of websites without the need to learn coding, and that the front-end industry may be over-saturated, as it is referred to as the “next race to the bottom.” Is this true, and why? Should I focus on specializing as a back-end developer?
I would appreciate any advice from professionals in the industry. I may have made statements that could be deemed foolish, but I am open to criticism and eager to learn. Kindly share your thoughts on this or anything that could help me as a beginner who wants to learn programming and make it a part of my life.
Firstly, welcome to the forum! I can understand your concern here as there have been several posts in that last week of people concerned that AI is going to get rid of all the programming jobs. Take everything you read online with a grain of salt, I have seen articles for years about people worrying that a new technology is going to be created and take away all the jobs, and yet here we all are. Now, companies may use these new resources to better enhance the products they are delivering, but they are still going to need to people to code and use these technologies, right? So, I wouldn’t be very concerned about that at the moment. Plus, just because a new technology comes out does not mean every single company everywhere is going to use it.
As far as this goes
That is entirely up to you. Everyone here can give you the cons and pros of front end vs backend, but in the end its up to you and what you like. Me personally, I like the frontend a lot more than the backend. I have learned some backend stuff, but for work they usually have me working on front end side. The FCC curriculum offers both challenges in the front end and the backend so you can try out both and see which one you think you like to do more. You can view the curriculum here
I love to see this part here.
I think its great that you already have this mindset, and are ready to go start your adventure in programming. If you decide to work through the curriculum here, you can of course use the forum to ask any questions you might have. They dont have to be just questions on the curriculum, but they can be general questions you have about programming at any time.
When working through the challenges, you will see either a ask for help button or a question mark button that pops up once you submit a challenge and it fails two or three times. When you click on this button it will auto generate a post in the forum for you along with the link to the challenge, and all of your code so those looking will be able to help right away
I love the attitude you have because I think its what is going to make you successful. Coding is not easy by any means, and it is not quick to learn either. The fact that you are starting at 18 is great. Along with the idea of you being ready for real world jobs at your early twenties is a great plan.
I will offer some advice here, as I said that coding is not easy and everyone gets frustrated with it at some point or another. Just whatever you do, do not stop. It is ok to take a break and step away for a day or two but you need to be real committed because it get harder if you take several weeks off, and you try to come back to it.
Second, always ask questions. If you are working on a challenge, and you are still after an hour then you need to ask a question here on the forum. There is nothing to be gained from wasting several hours on an issue you have, and getting frustrated. That’s why the forum here exists to help those who are having challenges. There are a lor of active members who volunteer their time to answering questions, and helping out newcomers like yourself, and the responses are usually pretty fast.
Thirdly, and I think this jut as big as the second one. Do not think you can memorize all of this stuff. Its not possible, there is just way too much here for anyone to memorize, and anyone who says they can is a liar. When I am working I have to look up documentation all the time to remind myself of stuff, or just to look up new things on how I can complete my task. The best way for you to get more familiar with this after you work your way through the challenges is to work on projects. When you are actually putting these skills to use then the more they will stick with you, and when that happens it means the less questions you will have to ask, and the less you will have to look things up. But you will still have to look things up, thats just programming lol.
These are the best tips I can give you as you are just starting out. I gave the curriculum link earlier in this long winded post lol. Be sure to check it out and get starte on your journey! Any questions just ask here and we will help you the best we can. You have a positive and committed attitude so I think you will do great here
Sorry for taking a while to reply. Your message was really helpful and I appreciate how well you represented the freecodecamp community. Your advice has given me a better idea of where to start and what to focus on when it comes to programming. I’m going to start putting in some work and wanted to let you know that you’ve been a huge help in overcoming my blocks in this industry.
Looking forward to interacting with you or other members of the community soon! Once again, thanks a ton for the detailed information you provided.
