How to become a self-made developer – Frontend vs Backend

Posted on March 5, 2015November 25, 2020 Budimir Budimir i Uroš Mirić IT for Beginners - Introduction to programming

The programming, as one of the highest paying jobs, has motivated a lot of people to enter the IT industry. The main question is – How to begin?

Today, with all the billboards and banners saying things like: “Find a well-paying job as a programmer, sign up for our course for this large amount of money!”, more and more (often young) people see that as a solution to their existential problems. Some of those courses really can teach you the important things you should know in order to begin an exciting IT career, but nowadays, with regard to the young people’s financial situation, the key question is – “Is it really necessary to pay (so much) money to learn programming?”

Throughout this article you’ll see not only that it’s not essential to have the “beginning capital”, but also that the beginners even should, if they don’t have the formal university education, choose the option of learning programming online.

Actually, that’s not even so hard, since everything that’s needed for learning how to code in any programming language is publicly available – the books, tutorials, documentation, websites, etc. The more resources you use, the better.

Do you need the experience in order to begin?

Sure, it’s always better to have some preliminary knowledge, but it’s possible to enter the programming world regardless of your previous experience or years. If you focus on something for long enough, you’ll master it with no problems.

To become a programmer, first of all you need the desire for learning. But I’ve deliberately never mentioned the famous “learn it yourself”. The Internet community has with time grown to be so powerful that it’s replacing the governments, setting the business trends, and it’s become the backbone of everyday life for all people. I guarantee that this very internet community will help you learn. That’s why it’s crucial that you start, even from the introduction to programming, with the notion that you’re not alone. Tens of thousands of programmers worldwide are at your disposal.

The technologies are constantly advancing and what a programmer knows today won’t be enough after some time. It’s always required to expand and refresh the knowledge, and also to learn new technologies. It’s vital to follow what’s new, browse the Internet in search of new stuff that might be pretty important for the development of a programmer and her or his abilities.

In the Region and in our country, many gatherings are often organised where you can hear experienced programmers speak, and there is always something useful to hear, such as the forthcoming ITkonekt, which will be held on the 23rd and 24th of May in the hotel Crowne Plaza.

Where to start learning programming?

Every web developer, weather Frontend or Backend, should know HTML and CSS. What I’d highly recommend to the future self-made developers as an ideal starting point for these, as well as certain other (basic Javascript and jQuery) technologies, is the website CodeCademy. Their platform doesn’t contain video content, which it more than compensates for with its interactive learning system and various everyday and very common example problems. They also have a rather strong community with more than 24 million users, which will be at your disposal if you have a problem or a dilemma, and this sets them apart from most of the other similar platforms more focused on “completing the story” with REST APIs and kindred technologies, although today they really are necessary. Last but not least – all the content is completely free.

Considering that it’s difficult for one platform to cover all that’s necessary and still get to the core of the technologies, it’s best not to be limited to one source only. Besides, every platform for learning programming has its benefits and it’s always interesting to look upon a problem from different angles. A great addition to these lessons is CodeSchool. The potential of this platform and the content it offers is attested by the fact that it was sold earlier this year for 36 million dollars to the company Pluralsight. Anyhow, I would highly recommend the courses “JavaScript Path” and “HTML/CSS Path”. Unlike CodeCademy, CodeSchool offers great lessons on Sass CSS preprocessor, Responsive Web Design, Bootstrap HTML5 framework, and always useful lessons on introduction to testing and working with “version control” systems. Most of the content is charged ($29 a month) but some courses are free. Anyway, I believe that some of the readers have already thought of alternative methods to accessing this content.

All of the above-mentioned websites cover really well the basics of programming needed for the start of a Frontend or Backend programming career. But once your career starts, that shouldn’t mean the learning process is over. Only when you’re more familiar with the programming languages and the world of coding will you see how many choices there are among the existing technologies, and the choices are expanding daily.

Which programming language to choose?

It’s not important which programming language you use, but how fast and effectively you can solve a problem. You won’t make a mistake whichever programming language you pick, all of them develop your logic. Anyway, it’s best to make the choice based on your own interests.

Top programming languages:

Java – A powerful programming language which can be written once and then used on all the platforms. – https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/
PHP – A server programming language, used mostly for web programming. – http://php.net/
C – A procedural programming language which can be used for anything, currently mostly for writing the drivers. – http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/c-tutorial.html
C++ – Also used for (almost) anything, quite difficult, mostly used for video games and applications. – http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/
Python – The easiest to learn, Python is also used for web applications and other software. – https://www.python.org/doc/
Ruby – Popular for its framework Ruby on Rails, Ruby is used in real time applications, it’s easy and clear for writing. – https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
C# – Made by Microsoft for their platforms, it’s similar to Java and used mostly for web applications. – https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/67ef8sbd.aspx

Tags: #backend #frontend #how_to_learn_programming #introduction_to_programming #programming #programming_languages #programming_for_beginners #self-made_developer #programming_basics

How To Become A Self Made Developer Frontend Vs Backend

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