Just finished the html css and bootstrap portion of the lessons. moving onto jquery. its a little more daunting than i had originally figured. ive read about people getting a job shortly after they finish the front end development portion of it. How is it done? Do they just apply and use the projects done in the program as thier portfolio?
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Check out the “Getting a Developer Job” category on the forum. Lots of people post their stories on getting a developer job after learning on freeCodeCamp, and most of them detail their journey from beginning (starting to learn about code) to end (got a job!).
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THANKS! im new here!
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You’re welcome! We were all new here once 
. Welcome!
Good job. “Just started and finished in 10 hours”. Good, but make sure you truly understand css and html, as a solid grasp of the fundamentals can make the difference between getting a job and not. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And like the guy above me said, “Getting a developer” category has great success stories and tips
With a lot of luck. People also buy lottery tickets. Getting a great job after a few months of online classes is a crap shoot. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but it is a long shot. There are plenty of people (including myself) that have finished the entire FCC program and have having trouble finding work.
Put more stock in hard work over a long period of time than in “get a job quick” schemes.
Basically, yeah. They have a little portfolio, and if they live somewhere where the demand is high enough, or find a position that has a very low bar (and presumable low pay), or find an employer that isn’t savvy enough to know that that is not an impressive portfolio, or can charm the shine off a trailer hitch, or are just astronomically lucky - then they might get a job.
I’m not trying to discourage you. But if you think getting the FCC front end certificate is automatically going to land you a job, then you are fooling yourself - you are setting yourself up for massive disappointment.
So, be in this for the long haul. Learn, learn, learn. Code every day. Sure, put your portfolio out there - who knows? If you work hard enough, eventually, your growing skill, the market demand, and the law of averages mixed with a little luck will intersect and land you a great job. But for 99% of the people, this is a long process. A very rewarding process, but a long one.
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Agree with the above post.
Some people might be lucky enough to find a position based on the fact that they are enthusiastic enough to seem like they are willing to improve… but realistically you need more than what this front-end section offers to get a job.
It doesn’t give you any real world experience in terms of what happens when a boss/client turns round and says whatever you have done is s**t. When you are having to redraft things over and over and over… That sort of thing happens, as well as deadlines.
A portfolio is nearly everything, however a brilliant attitude and resilience will get you a considerably long way.
My advice going forward… get yourself on Github (in my mind immensely important) and get involved with open-source projects. A good starting point is something I have just created https://github.com/JABedford/Front-End-Bible. Work on a portfolio with projects you have created off your own back as well. Its one thing to say “I created this on freecodecamp”, however an employer doesnt actually know whether the only process that included was following a tutorial.
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I appreciate the info, i just finished my portfolio page, it was harder than i expected, im used to doing pages for others but not myself.
onwards to javascript!
My biggest mistake was to learn bootstrap instead of ditching more into html and css. I mean it is not copy pasting, but you need to understand what, how and why. If one of those questions are unanswered, you should read, experiment and more importantly work on your CSS skills. Furthermore I would not start with jQuery, instead of that work on your vanilla JS skills.
One thing I’ve been doing is taking tutorial projects, and then “taking it up a notch,” to quote Emril LaGasse.
For example, on the color guessing game, I added a medium level. I will also eventually give it an RGB mode and a hexidecimal mode as well as a score feature.
I think you just have to find what works for you in terms of learning, and if creating extra features to projects then that is a great idea! I recently created a Pixel Art Maker as part of the Google/Udacity scholarship, and I added extra features such as an eraser and a redo/undo button that weren’t originally on the spec. Its a great way to get you thinking on your own.
In terms of going forward and job hunting, in my mind you need a real-life project to have worked on. I got in touch with several companies, and got lucky with a fishing bait company who have ALOT of social media following but had a real basic website. This has given me a good opportunity, and is actually something to talk about in interviews.
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congrats! You definitely learned faster than I did. I got really uncomfortable with the projects and kinda skipped them to get a more solid understanding first. Im restarting again to get a better grip/familiarity, but keep it up!
One thing I would recommend working on after you finish the front-end development certification would be algorithms. It’s something that’s covered, but I don’t think it’s really enough. Sites like https://www.codewars.com
https://codefights.com
https://www.codingame.com/
should help with that.
There are some diagrams that I’ve found to be quite accurate with all the things I think you should be atleast slightly familiar with before you apply. (yellow highlighted boxes being the ones you should be familiar with)
I found the diagrams here: https://github.com/kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap
Another resource I think might be helpful for you would be: https://github.com/P1xt/p1xt-guides
But to answer your question . I don’t think most people can get a job just by doing the front end development portion. Either they’ve done things other than the certificate or they are lucky and know people that can give them the opportunity early on in their journey. Most likely it will be easier to get an unpaid internship ( or paid 
), that will atleast get your foot in the door and you won’t be expected to know as much.
Have fun programming and good luck!