One year of FCC gave me my first job as a Front End developer

Career Advice
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Hello again, fellow campers! I am here to thank everyone for all the help and the words of encouragement and feedback for each published project.

About a year ago I had no job, 33 years on my back, a newborn son, tons of bills and my laptop PC… I knew I always had some potential for computer stuff. In 2002 I quit CS in the first year. That has been forgotten until now. My comeback was a real necessity, but I din’t know anymore how to use a For Loop or where to start.

The first two months I had to turn around from a lot of ‘bad tracks’, I started studying Java, the Java promise of a easy way to find jobs. you know. “Making android app? These little tiny stuff on my phone?” I was so naive haha (nothing is easy here, by the way). I did not know what web development was, I did not know that things were so different in the programming world, I did not understand anything about HTML, I did not know that JavaScript was a famous language. I did look for some free courses because I had no money or time to go back to college, but I had that feeling of a fragmented world of technologies…that was tough.

But one day reading the Reddit r/learnprogramming/ I was lucky to hear about the FCC. @QuincyLarson gave me the light to get back on the track.

And here I am! Two weeks ago I got my first job thanks to my new portfolio(Rebuilt from my personal portfolio project!) and all the projects from the Front End course https://codepen.io/Errec/.

This is like a ******** dream. I knew it was hard to get a job as programmer and even hard to get something as a Front End without a good knowledge of the famous frameworks out there like React. But I took the risk to learn all that I could in pure JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. Front end stuff only. I knew that I had to do some pretty looking portfolio to make up for all the other things that were missing, the back-end, the frameworks… And I did it!

I know, I spent a lot of time to finish the front end course, but I learned a lot and I think it’s worth it. They spend time doing things well, make it pretty, be happy with your own work.

This is my first work (I don’t think I can share it but…) http://rarolabs.surge.sh/ and I did it all in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML :smile:

And now they are asking me to rebuild it with Vue… Time to learn some framework! haha

Thanks again, I will never forger you guys. @QuincyLarson is like a real hero to me, someday I’ll be able to pay you back. I just need to get back to orbit!

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Congratulations!

What is that site for?

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To build custom mobile apps, this is just the front end

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Congrats! How many jobs did you apply to?

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I’m not sure. Something between 10-15. I did 3 face to face interviews, 2 phone interviews, I did 2 on-line tests(small projects starwarslist.surge.sh and diariosassociados.surge.sh). Lots of emails. I got no answers from most of them. I was looking for the job since July.

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Congratulations on getting your first developer job so quickly! It sounds like you put in a ton of time and effort (and had to balance everything against your family obligations).

Getting your first developer job 15 years after quitting your computer science major must be a pretty surreal feeling!

It sounds like you’re going to get to learn a ton of new skills in your new job, and have lots of opportunities to improve your fundamentals as well.

Thanks for taking the time to share your coding journey so far with us here. I’m excited to hear how your career progresses, and the things you learn along the way!

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Congrats! This is really an inspiring story.

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Thanks all! I made a list of resources, I hope you find something useful. Just let me know if guys need any help! Thanks!

freeCodeCamp: My focus was the fron-end since ever, so I did the front end course(the data visualization is great too but I didnt had the time for it). Ive always had the intention to lear a new tecnologie/technique for every new project. Dont do it just for the certificate! Learn SASS on the next project, try to use javascript promises the next time you use Ajax, use github to share yout project! Keep evolving in each new task. Also, try to build a nice personal portfolio website here.

Reddit: Check the r/learnprogramming/ tips, course links, words of inspiration, tons of resources there, subscribe! Look for development section like webdev, javascript, programming humor. Keep up with the community.

Online courses:
Free:
1- Udacity have a great Git course: https://www.udacity.com/course/how-to-use-git-and-github--ud775 If you are new around the computer science world dont forget to grab some basics of data structure, algorithms and some logic at Havard https://cs50.harvard.edu/
2 - More data Structure at Coursera! This is a pretty tough one, be prepared. The language is Java but dont worry, the trees, liked list and the other stuffs are the same for every language - https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1 and https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part2
3 - Wes Bos https://javascript30.com/ course is just amazing for its day to day usability and the good code in it -

Cheap:
Go for the Udemy discount coupons(a quick search on google will do) and get some of the best online courses for 15 bucks or less
1 - Antony Alicea(https://www.udemy.com/user/anthonypalicea/) is amazing at teaching Javascript for begginers, intermediates or anyone who wants to learn some concepts in deep: JavaScript: Understanding the Weird Parts. Just buy it.
2 - An overview of everything in one course: https://www.udemy.com/the-web-developer-bootcamp/ 3 - If youre into framworks go for Stephen Grider(https://www.udemy.com/user/sgslo/) React courses or Maximilian Schwarzmüller(https://www.udemy.com/user/maximilian-schwarzmuller/) Vue courses(tons of videos on Youtube too) -

Expensive: Nope. I’m just too broken

Youtube Channels:
Daniel Shiffman’s Code Train(former Rainbow-Code) - https://www.youtube.com/user/shiffman
Sarah Drasner is all over Youtube teaching the SVG art
MPJ’s Funfunfunction - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1cgjhGzsSYb1rsB4bFe4Q
Look Lea Verou CSS expert talks
Travis Neilson’s DevTips - https://www.youtube.com/user/DevTipsForDesigners

Sites:




https://codepen.io/ of course lol

Podcasts:



https://www.codenewbie.org/podcast

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Hy @Errec

Thank you for sharing your Brave FIGHT in the battle ground Uncertainty and Fear.

Your story will be a catalyst for those who lose hope very easily.
As @QuincyLarson rightly said, first developer job 15 years after quitting your computer science major, shows your commitment and passion.

Not to forget the pressure of bills and new-born son though :slight_smile:

If you can do it then those who lose hope should seriously learn from you.

I hope and pray that you would gain more success with time and spread HOPE as much as you can.

Regards

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That SNES landing page is sick bro. I’ve been at it for one year and my pages look nothing like that! I tilt my hat to you my friend, you have effectively used your time.

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Thanks @s.tariq! And the fight cant stop: I’m starting to get new 8h-10h work routine. The beginning is very exhausting. I’ve never worked like that in front of the computer for so many hours. I was sad because I could not have the strength to get home and play with my son or continue doing my small personal projects. But I’m getting used to it. I think my brain is adapting haha Thanks again for your words!

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Just take some time (a lot of time actually haha) to focus on one project at time! I did that SNES page in 2.5 months and was hard like hell to build it all without any frameworks or external code. But i didn’t gave up, just keep pushing

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Congratulations!!! I am so happy to read this, It seems like I always find a story similar to yours, which is similar to my own in times when I am down and feeling like the last few years have been for not… Like you I started with Java. Thinking “If I could just make 1 decent app and sell it a millions times for 99cents” … lol you said it best when you said how naive.
Thank you for posting your story. Your success has reinvigorated my belief in myself! Just because its taken me longer than other people who get a job in mere months doesnt mean I dont know what I’m doing. It just means that I have had to take longer to achieve the same results!

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Congratulations!

Thanks for posting this, it’s just what I needed to hear. 33 with a newborn son here as well, I know I can do this :slight_smile:

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Thanks @QuincyLarson! I had to do a lot FCC challenges in the dark, with the lowest monitor brightness and and typing as quietly as possible. I had no job but sometimes the family obligations can be as exhausting as the work outside home.

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learning time is very subjective. more important is, regardless of the time it takes to learn something, to learn well. Some projects took me 2 months. I saw some ppl in the FCC community getting a certificate faster than that. But it doesn’t matter if you are capable to absorb what is necessary to be competent in that subject. Sometimes it think I was too slow for the programming career, but its ok, now i understand it in. a real world job situation the time is important, but you dont need to be a code ninja everyday

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Sure! Babies demand a lot, but if you can study one hour a day, it’s fine! Just keep going

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Congrants to you! This is very inspiring!

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Portfolio looks sick. Really nice design. Haven’t started the intermediate projects yet, but so far it can feel pretty draining.
I have a couple of questions for you?
How long did you practice/code weekly?
Did you complete all your projects before you started applying? if no, then when did you start applying?

I am running into the problem where I work full time and I have the need to work out 3-4 times a week. By the time I am ready to continue my progress I end up being tired or have limited time to work on the assignments.

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Nice!!

The best part was to find out that you also live in Belo Horizonte haha.

Great portfolio and awesome projects. Congratulations for the new job!!

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