Dev Retro 2022 — My Journey to Becoming a Full-Stuck Developer in 2022

Introduction

I was 15 when my interest in coding and programming started, back then I took my first programming course which was a C programming language for beginners-course, during that course I discovered the power of programming and realized my beloved field to get into and expand my knowledge on this field.

As you know, when you want to become a programmer/coder there are a lot of paths you can follow and master in one field like Web development, Game development, AI, Machine Learning and a lot more...

I did my research about all of them and tried any of them separately, eventually, I found my skills and some more abilities while doing Web development, so I decided to follow this path and focus on this path as much as possible.

My Journey

I don't want to write down my whole story here, which will take too much time to read, so I want to tell you just about my 2022, how the year 2022 started, and what my progress and struggles were this year. And how it ended up.

I started 2022 with zero knowledge of CSS and JavaScript, which are the backbones of a website (you won't be able to build and design your ideal website without these two basic languages).

My Very First Course in Web Development (CSS)

First, I fell in love with CSS, which is used for designing a website. I saw developers sharing their projects (frontend) in Facebook groups, and that motivated me to learn CSS from scratch and master CSS to design my ideal projects the way I wanted them to look. I had finished learning CSS and wasn't able to design my projects the way I wanted, so I tried a brand-new CSS course this time on Udemy by Jonas Schmedtmann, where the main goal of the course was just to focus and master CSS. The instructor gave you some practices with some simple website projects to clone as exercises, and while practising those projects, I discovered YouTube to help me build some real examples and learn new techniques and technologies within CSS, such as Bootstrap to design a website more stand, and this process was both, fun and beneficial that helped me to master CSS.

PS: Coding isn't difficult; the problem is you. If you don't put what you've learned into practice, if you don't create your ideal projects, you won't be able to learn programming or a new programming language by simply watching course content. Instead, use the input-output method to turn your knowledge into a real-world project.

Leveling up to JavaScript

After learning CSS, I thought it would be more fun to learn JavaScript to add more functionality to the websites and projects I develop. I already had some programming experience from Angela Yu's Web Development Bootcamp, but I forgot everything while learning CSS, so this time I made a daily schedule to practice my CSS skills while also learning JavaScript. I came up with one of the bestselling courses on Udemy by Jonas Schemedtmann, which helped me learn JavaScript in the right and efficient way.

After discovering the power of JavaScript, I felt like a Web developer and built many awesome projects, including Tic Tac Toe, Dice, Multiplayer Web Games, and more fun projects.

Learning JavaScript was hard and challenging for me, but since I had the experience to keep practicing and building stuff by myself as much as possible, I was able to learn it the fun way. Hopefully, there are also 100% FREE online resources to help you level up your knowledge; some of those that helped me were/are YouTube, Stack Overflow, W3 School, and MDN (Mozilla Developer Network), and I'm sure you, too, use these helpful websites as a developer.

One thing to bear in mind is that the courses you pay for or learn from absolutely matter. I remember when I paid for the Web Development Full Bootcamp by Angela Yu, I thought after finishing this course I would become a full-stack web developer, as the course was described, but the end wasn't as expected; I wasn't even able to develop a simple project.

PS: One thing at a time. Try to focus on one thing if you want to master it. For example, if you begin a Web development bootcamp, the instructor's goal is to teach you the entire bootcamp in 40 to 60 hours, and the focus is on several topics at the same time. As I discovered, DO NOT BELIEVE FULL BOOTCAMP TUTORIALS; instead, master each section individually.

Git and GitHub were Way More Fun

I started to learn about Git and GitHub once I realized how helpful they are. I built some projects and wanted to put them on my GitHub account, and after some time I found a great website (Good First Issue) for contributing to an open-source project, and that was life-changing for me, I contributed to many open-source projects, and that process of contributing to real projects and helping them get rid of the bugs in their projects helped me master my JavaScript skills.

PS: I wish I knew about GitHub sooner when I learned CSS. If I knew that earlier while learning CSS, I would have had more skills than I have currently.

Starting With The God of Web Dev (ReactJS)

After I felt comfortable using JavaScript in my projects and built some fun projects, the files were getting bigger and bigger, and the more codes you have, the more you'll face a lot of bugs, I wanted to continue Web development with JavaScript because I was so comfortable with it after developing many projects with it, but I needed to start ReactJS to build bigger and more dynamic projects in less time, and that was the time to get started with ReactJS, and I'm still learning it to master it.

You may be asking why you didn't start with some other frameworks like VueJS or AngularJS. The point is that once you understand the power of ReactJS, you'll start learning it right away. After much searching through various courses on Udemy, I came across one of the golden courses by Maximilian Schwarzmuller, one of the best in the industry right now.

PS: There are several options for continuing after you have fully mastered JavaScript, such as VueJS, AngularJS, and others, but in my research, I discovered that ReactJS is far more strongly recommended by many instructors and professional developers and has a bright future. Bear in mind, ReactJS is getting bigger and bigger day by day!

Learning the Most Beloved CSS Framework for Developers (Tailwindcss)

Recently, after improving my React.js skills, I felt that I could now build amazing projects. I was shocked when I discovered why every developer is using Tailwindcss in their React projects to make projects more modern and dynamic, so I started to learn Tailwindcss, learning Tailwind was quick and easy, and now I'm designing my projects, which is simple and amazing, these days when I get into the building and practising my web development skills, I really can't build my projects unless I have Tailwind CSS installed.

PS: Tailwindcss is the most used and modern framework, plus it's absolutely easy to learn, so give it a shot, and you’ll never be regretful about it.

Goals for 2023

There are a lot of goals to reach in the next year, 2023. I have 365 days to reach my goals, and that's a lot of time. You can accomplish anything if you get started. I don't want to list all my goals in this topic because they're unlimited, but one goal that's my priority to focus on is NextJS.

My First-priority Goal for 2023

When I master React.js, I will get into the most convenient framework, which is Next.js. Next.js is a backend-react.js framework that is a great combination for someone who already has knowledge of React.js and wants to get into the backend easily. So, just by learning React.js and Next.js, you would become a full-stack web developer.

Final Thoughts

My goals are infinite; I have a lot of tasks and goals to reach and expand my knowledge on as I age, and as you see every month or year, there is a new technology for web developers to make web development easier for us, and the concept of learning will never end; as you go further, you will face more comfortable solutions for web development. Consistency is the key to success; keep going and never lose hope!

I hope this article helped you learn from the positive and negative moves I tried throughout the year 2022, as well as learn from my mistakes so you can avoid them when you encounter them on your web development journey 😜.

Happy Coding :)

GOOD LUCK! 👍