Being Self Taught
31st December 2024
This is my first post so im just going to go over what its like (trying) to be a self taught Software Developer. I have been learning to code for about 5 months now and I have to say I never knew something so difficult could be so rewarding. I have always been interested in technology and how things work so I thought why not give it a go.
Getting started and planning
The thing about being self taught is that you just throw yourself into the field with no guidlines, filters or anything. You have to be the one to decide what you want to learn and if you spend your time learning the wrong thing or spend too much time on one thing you could be wasting your time. I was fortunate enough to have found a roadmap that I could follow. This roadmap was a guide to what I should learn in chronological order. I have to say that this roadmap has been a life saver and I would recommend it to anyone. I will say though I did not follow it to the letter, I did deviate from some of the linked resources if they were not a fit for me and I would use either YouTube or FreeCodeCamp intead.
Time management
I would personally say that I was able to fit in about 2 hours a day to learn to code. I would aim to do this before I went to work so I would be able to learn with a clear and relaxed mind. Instead of coming home tired and trying to learn. I had the goal of coding only 2 hours a day, but everyday consistently. This way I would be able to make coding a part of life, and a habit.
Career Goals / Education
After finishing college I decided I did not want to go university so the apprenticeship applications began. I applied to about 10 different apprenticeships and I was rejected from all of them. Getting an apprenticeship is hard. I then decided to begin my self taught journey to becoming a Software Developer so I could apply for a junior role. However, I am still applying to apprenticeships but now with every application I am learning more and more about the field and I am able to talk about my experiences and what I have learnt.
Currently
I can confidently say I have HTML, CSS and JavaScript (still a novice) under my belt. Before I move onto Git, Tailwind and React I want to build a few more vanilla projects to solidify my knowledge. After this I plan to add backend technologies to my skillset such as Node.js and postgreSQL. Once Im a hardened fullstack developer I want to focus on maybe 1-3 fullstack projects that I can show off to employers and maybe even deploy them. Im still appying for Junior roles and apprenticeships so we'll see where I end up.
Thanks for reading my first blog post.
-Yusuf