Hi all
I’ve coded all sorts of stuff in many languages over the last few decades but have never had any formal training, which is why I’ve signed up here.
I was actually searching for someone to help me develop a prototype for an idea that I have but I think I’ll have a go at it myself.
The system I’ll be developing will be a mixture of App and website based functionality and will link into Google Maps. Can anyone suggest what parts of the curriculum I should focus on to get me to my starting point as quickly as possible?
Many thanks
Michael
Firstly, welcome to the forums.
While we are primarily here to help people with their Free Code Camp progress, we are open to people on other paths, too. Some of what you are asking is pretty trivial in the Free Code Camp context, so you might find that if you’re not getting the instruction and material you need in your current studies, the FCC curriculum will really help you get started. At a modest guess I’d say investing a 4-5 hours working through the curriculum here will really pay off. You can find the curriculum at https://freecodecamp.org.
With your current questions, we don’t have enough context to know what you already know or don’t know, so it is impossible to guide you without just telling you the answer (which we won’t do).
It is pretty typical on here for people to share a codepen / jsfiddle example of what they have tried so that anyone helping has more of an idea of what help is actually helpful.
Please provide some example of what you’ve tried and I’m sure you’ll get more help.
Happy coding 
Thanks Randell
It’s hard to give any context, in part because I don’t know what I don’t know!
I guess a better way of framing the question would be to ask if there are any particular areas I should start with, or focus on, to get me working with Google maps and the basics of developing apps, probably Android?
Perhaps it’s a question that can’t be answered until I have progressed through some of the curriculum and have more specific questions?
All the best
Michael
You will need to understand HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, so I would start with the Responsive Web Design Certification part of the curriculum which starts with Basic HTML and HTML5 and works through CSS and responsive design techniques. Next, you should work through the Javascript Algorithms And Data Structures Certification and go through all sections (maybe skipping Regular Expressions if you have experience with them in another language. Once you finish the content of those two certifications, then you might be ready to work on your project or you may first want focus on a couple of the Front End Libraries Certification sections (specifically jQuery, React and Redux) which could help you simplify the overall code needed to do what you want with your project.
Keep in mind, to work through these FCC sections, you will still have to spend a lot of time doing outside research to solve many of these challenges. FCC is not comprehensive, but definitely gives you a great base to start with.
Once you have mapped out your project on paper and have some basic structure (HTML) and logic (JavaScript) written, feel free to post a link to your existing code (github, Codepen, JsFiddle, etc…) if you get stuck and need some help.
Thanks again Randell. This sees like a sensible path, I’m enjoying doing the Responsive Web Design work at the moment.
All the best
Michael