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General Discussion

Dina Hafez
Dina Hafez
14,454 Points
Posted by Dina Hafez
Dina Hafez
14,454 Points

Lost in the world of Front-End Development! Need Help & Advices Please!

Hello Treehouse teachers & colleagues,

I am currently enrolled in Front-End Development Track and I have finished How to make a website and CSS Basics courses.

I was about to start Javascript but suddenly LinkedIn Week of Learning popped up in front of my eyes on my LinkedIn account so I thought it is good to take advantage of it! I have started Wordpress Essentials Learning course which I am still doing, even after the week of Learning has finished, with Lynda (free trial and it is exactly the same course on both platforms). Planning to finish it by next week.

Here are my main questions:

  1. What is the best learning process with my track? Do I continue in the same order Treehouse have on the track or for ex. do other courses in the track related to CSS maybe??

  2. I don't know the starting point regarding building my portfolio! So now I know HTML/CSS but of course I don't know everything in these languages and also what if I want to make things interactive but that requires Javascript that I still haven't started!

Please I need some advices in here :D I am trying to aim for a full-time job by Jan/Feb!

Sorry for the very long post! I just want to make things clear.

Thank you!

3 Answers

John Ireland
John Ireland
6,585 Points
John Ireland
John Ireland
6,585 Points

If you are looking to get employed as a front end developer, my advice would be to stick with the Front End Development Track, and go all the way through it. It's probably the clearest path to a front end dev job right now. I went off to the side and completed some php courses as well, but only because I wanted to! Make sure you do all the provided examples, and exercises, and code along every single word with your instructor, and with about 4 hours a day of studying a day(don't burn out!), you can make your goal around that time. As for your portfolio, it'll look way better after you finish the track! Good luck!!!

Dina Hafez
Dina Hafez
14,454 Points
Dina Hafez
Dina Hafez
14,454 Points

John Ireland First of all, thank you for your help!

Second, that is what I was planning to do till I have started with Wordpress and maybe the reason I see lots of Front-End Developers' job description that requires CMS and mostly Wordpress. But I think you are right cause since I have started the Wordpress I haven't continued with my track and also I haven't practised any coding/building static websites. Also I feel a bit confused and always asking myself "Where is my starting point to build my portfolio and of course that involves practising!?".

I don't completely agree with the last sentence because the track is huge with lots of info and codes and if you just do the exercises within each course of the track it won't be enough to remember all after I believe 62 hours! Have you done that or do you know anyone who just practised during the track examples/exercises without doing any practising outside of that timeframe?

John Ireland
John Ireland
6,585 Points
John Ireland
John Ireland
6,585 Points

I would say the starting point is now, if you don't already have one going! As long as you have the basics of HTML and CSS, try taking Layout Basics too, and skip ahead to Bootstrap. With just those tools(bootstrap optional) I'd say you could get a good looking portfolio online within a few days. Your portfolio will be something you rebuild many times as you learn more, as well. Sorry, didn't mean to deter you from making one without completing the track, to rephrase it I meant it'll look awesome by the end of it!

I'd say each time you complete a new course, make another page to your portfolio that shows what you've learned. An excellent place to start.

I been going through the tutorials, and as I would learn something I felt I could put in my portfolio, I would go add that too. Hope that is a bit more specific!

Dina Hafez
Dina Hafez
14,454 Points
Dina Hafez
Dina Hafez
14,454 Points

John Ireland Hello,

Yes, that is what I was trying to explain lol

No I haven't started one yet! Like I said I am a bit lost and didn't know what kind of project I should start with, but building an online portfolio from scratch is the best thing to practise my skills and experiment.

I have done that before, during uni cause my major is Graphic Design, and I really loved learning HTML/CSS back at that time but not any other languages! My website wasn't responsive and to be honest back then it was just for the purpose of putting up all my work and the site doesn't have to be great... I wasn't thinking that one day I am going for a web designer/developer career!

Those are great advices! and now I know my starting point :D Thank you so much John :)