Basic Front End: Armed and Dangerous
August 07, 2020
Its been about 2.5 months since I set the initial goal of finishing all of my introductory web development classes in 10 weeks and after that period of time, I can say I have finished just about 95% of my 2 more relevant classes but I have not yet begun my shorter, less relevant 3rd class. \ \ I am not really interested in slapping pass/fail labels on the education process because there never really is an “end” to your learning, especially in tech fields like web development (I am new to the field, but even someone outside the industry can see that) but if I am being honest with myself, I think I am a little disappointed with my performance in completing these 3 classes. I would have loved to get all ~50 hours of classes done but these past few weeks especially have had many challenges and its difficult to balance everything. \ \
I have 2 takeaways from these last few weeks:
1) I am armed and dangerous and ready to start making websites right now.
2) Managing this hobby/side job is going to require more time management than I initially thought, but I am here for it.
Let’s start with that first point. \ \ An entry level front end web developer, according to a ton of different articles I have seen online, should have the following in their tool belt.
The skills I have learned in the first few weeks are as follows:
- HTML & CSS (Strong, well developed skillset)
- Javascript (Decent exposure, definitely the area I want to focus on the most)
- Version control software (I’ll be using Git with GitHub)
- Responsive Design (Decent exposure as well)
- CSS Preprocessing (I’ll be using Sass)
- Dev tools (Chrome dev tools)
- Terminal (I currently have a mac and can get around with the terminal)
- And familiarity with a framework or two (Bootstrap library and Materialize for CSS, Jquery for Javascript as well as some knowledge of Gatsby, the extension I am using for this blog for the React framework)
These 40 or so hours of class have given me the tools I need to make some impressive looking and functioning websites considering I am using mostly vanilla web programming techniques.
I want to take a second to step away from learning new material and instead focus on honing the skills I have developed and then get back to learning when I have something to show for it. What better way to better learn how to make websites than to make websites!
I will be looking to make 3 different sites focusing on various topics:
- To-Do-List website: This will be a basic web app that I can use to demonstrate my functional understanding of javascript and slowly begin crafting a brand. I will use Jquery and Bootstrap as well (to demonstrate functional knowledge of these basic frameworks/libraries) and may look to incorporate
- Fitness app: An ambitious project for me focusing on Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD) functionality using local storage and displaying it with the ChartJS javascript framework and I would also like to bring in Anime.js as a CSS/JS framework for smooth, energetic animations. I would like this to be a project I return to later on and link up a MySQL database with NodeJS and the Express framework once I get a better understanding of server side web development (MERN/MEAN stack minus the front end frameworks… I’ll call this the MEN stack.)
- A Portfolio Website: I want this to be the cream of the crop and emblematic of my brand as a web developer: beautiful, functional front end capabilities that don’t just show who I am but instill the feeling of what I am looking to do in the viewer. This should be a culmination of my HTML and CSS knowledge, a simple task for my JS capabilities, and an opportunity to over perform by utilizing Anime.JS to beautify my site with complex and elegant animations. I will use it as a demonstration of all the basic abilities a front end developer should have and use it to find work for myself in the future.
Once I get the above projects complete I think I will be ready to start applying to some small time web developer positions/freelance work. This is a good transition for my second part of this post tho. I need to be aware of the energy and time I am using on my web development work and manage it so that other parts of my life don’t suffer in the process.
My father is a professional artist. He made enough to support our family through a 9-5, but made life better for himself and for us by learning additional skills and selling his labor as a freelancer. The same is true of my mother who is a craftswoman, creating jewelry with her own two hands and selling it on her home business. I am always happy to see someone desire something from their life, but I am inspired when others put in the effort to attain their dreams. In the process though, they have both shown me the importance of balance and the value of rest. I have been working 50 hour weeks for my day job lately, then taking a few hours of classes, maintaining my health, my garden, other hobbies, and my social life at the expense of my sleep and a bit to my mental health. I can feel the stress already and I don’t even have clients yet. \ \ I am writing this here as a way to cement in my mind what I need to do: find the balance between creating a side business and maintaining a life of quality.
Its now midnight. I am going to start on that balance by sleeping.
Godspeed.
Written by Thomas Ogden, a hobbiest who dabbles in a lot of random junk.