How do you become a front-end developer?
Learning a new profession is a demanding process, and one where you need to weigh the risks. So how do you become a front-end developer and find a job in tech?
First, let's work out what front-end actually means. The front end is the part a user interacts with — input checkboxes and everything else you see in front of you when you visit a favourite site such as Facebook or Instagram.
When you type data into a site, you are touching the work of a front-end developer. It is worth saying that front-end is an engineering discipline. You will have to learn to write code. It is not especially hard, but there is no way around it.
You will need to learn a programming language, and that language will be JavaScript. JavaScript is an idiosyncratic language, but an interesting one.
It is not hard to learn, and you can get the basics down — loops and conditionals, arrays, objects, functions. That will take you about a month. In a month you can pick up the fundamentals of programming in JavaScript, and they will serve you later if you go on to study any other language, Python or Java.
JavaScript is a foundation you can apply in other languages too. At PASV — Programming Academy in Silicon Valley — there is a JavaScript Syntax course aimed at complete beginners.
JavaScript for beginners is a free course for programmers, delivered as video lessons with checks along the way that the material has stuck. You can take the course with an instructor for just $99.
It is better to start with JavaScript, because it is a good indicator of how well you will manage the harder tech professions. Start there rather than with HTML or CSS, and the rest will come more easily afterwards.
If you find JavaScript comes naturally, carry on with JavaScript Syntax. Particular attention goes to the array methods, because arrays come up constantly and you will need them in a great many places.
Interviews also ask you to manipulate an array or the data inside it.
We set aside at least two to three months for this detailed work on each method. That is enough to understand how JavaScript works, and after it you will be ready to move on.
What else can you take, either alongside it or afterwards?
Probably HTML and CSS, alongside. A week is more than enough to understand them. Understanding every subtlety and detail will take considerably longer, so practice is essential. Once you have JavaScript down, you can move on to React.
Why React?
- It is comprehensible and versatile.
- The American job market asks for it.
What do we study, and which tools do we use? Jira Confluence, GitHub, Slack, Postman and WebStorm.
Good luck on the way into your new profession.