How to immerse yourself into the tech world when you are just starting out?
For many of us, who want to turn our lives around and change our career path to IT, the first steps are frightening.
I know it from my own experience.
I switched to frontend development a few years ago, and when I made the decision to learn to code, after a couple of days of pure joy and excitement, I felt like I bumped into the wall.
Ok, I will be a developer. Woohoo!
And now what?
Where do I start? Which tools and resources should I use? Which ones are good and which ones are bad?
In this post, I put together my favorite resources that I used to learn web development.
If you are just starting out and looking for a way to immerse yourself in the tech world, I truly believe these might be useful for you too.
So you wouldn’t have to wander in the dark as I did in the beginning.
My favorite tech educators
I loved learning from real people, as it made the learning process fun and lively. For example:
1. Kevin Powell,
or as we call him in the front-end developer communities — the CSS God. Believe me, this guy knows a lot about CSS. It feels like he knows so much as if he actually invented it.
Check out his website where he shares his tips, tutorials, and an extensive list of valuable resources for aspiring web developers.
I am also a subscriber of his newsletter, where he regularly shares the newest updates about the new CSS features or interesting solutions to common web development problems.
Also, Kevin Powell has a true gift of explaining complex things easily, so if you haven’t seen any of his videos, take a look at his youtube channel.
2. Maximilian Schwarzmüller
was my go-to person when I was figuring out the basics of JavaScript.
I love his tutorials on youtube. When he explains something, he tries to grasp the main concept first and only then dives deeper into the details. It seems that he truly wants the viewers to understand the reasons and intentions behind the code.
A couple of months ago I struggled with my first attempt to put together the right webpack configuration.
Where did I find the solution?
In one of his webpack tutorials. 😺
I also follow him on Linkedin and I highly recommend you do the same.
3. Ania Kubow
is an inspiring web development teacher and I love the tutorials she creates.
I truly believe that web development is a craft, a skill, like driving a car or making a skirt.
The more you drive, the better driver you become. The more you code, the better developer you become, too.
My favorite tutorial from Ania was the NOKIA 3310 Snake game. It was super fun to do and I learned the basics of Vanilla JS, which deepened my overall understanding of the language and how to look at the problem from an engineer's perspective.
Ania projects could serve you well when you are building your portfolio projects.
Follow Ania on Linkedin.
My favorite tech lifestyle bloggers
I have no idea if this is the correct title for these two extraordinary people I follow on youtube, but for me, it seems the most adequate description of what they talk about.
They don’t normally share tutorials on web development, but listening to them widens up the general knowledge of the life of a developer, what are the salaries and the job markets, how to deal with common developer struggles like keeping your focus at work, and many more.
My favorite FREE resources to get the basics of web development
I have seen many, many lists of free courses and tutorials for beginners. But my goal today is to present you with the least possible choices, so you could focus on sharpening your skills instead of going from one resource to another.
Less is more, right?
I believe these are the best places to get the basics in web development.
- W3Schools for CSS and HTML.
- FreeCodeCamp JavaScript course for JS.
Got stuck, need advice or you are simply lost in this new career path? Don’t hesitate to message me 📧.
The best thing about the developers’ community is that it is a super friendly, welcoming, and supportive one.
