Did I make a mistake with my Front End Dev track? I'm no artist.

I too have some difficulty with creativity and design. Let's face it, not everyone is of a creative mindset. Some folks are just wired differently than others. But do not despair. There is hope. Fortunately, my wife is a graphics designer. I have learned a few things from her. She has taught me "You buy with your eyes". I have learned processes and exercises for creativity. When shopping, look at all the different packaging, logos, labels, etc. You already know what looks good and what doesn't. Look at what doesn't look good and try to understand why (wrong font, poor color choices, not enough white space, etc). Then try to think of ways it could look better. Apply those same principles to your own works. And by all means, NEVER use comic sans, impact, lobster or papyrus fonts (comic sans is the absolute worst).

All that being said, it is my humble opinion; Back-End devs need exposure, understanding, and practice in creativity. This goes a long way in working with Front-End devs and graphic designers. Otherwise, there tends to be a disconnect (if not resentment) between the three worlds.

So, I would encourage you to spend time understanding that process. Try working with InDesign (since that is where most designers reside). Remember it is a team effort. Ideally, Marketing, Graphics Department, UX, UI, Front-End, and Back-End devs all work as one.

Hope this helps.

I feel your pain, I'm very much in the same boat. I'm far more interested in the nuts and bolts of computers and programming, then in making pretty pictures on a page.

I personally started of on the web design track, since it seems that it's imperative that one has an understanding of front end HTML, CSS and JS in order to allow you're back end programming to effectively communicate with the client. I;ve since moved on to Ruby Basics and now Rails, and will likely move on after that to Java, since that also seems to be in high demand in my area.

I think you're right that entry front end work (again, in my area) is in greater demand then back end programming. Most of the listings I'm finding require a BS or 4+ years programming experience. With that said, after 3 months here, I've landed a contract (With the possibility of full time) position with a small company doing HTML/CSS coding. They're interested in me moving into the programming side of their system if I work out. So knowing the front end stuff in my case has proven very beneficial in at least getting my foot in the door to work towards my goal of programming.

Keep at it, on both sides of the development spectrum. But make sure whatever you do, follow what you enjoy doing as the goal. If you do that even when you're "working" it doesn't really feel like you're working!

So Im not the one with the job,but my plan is to finish the front end web dev track and possibly the php/full stack as well before I even start with a portfolio and then after that the techdegree here, THEN start looking for a job.

How does that compare to your experience in finding a job, Patrick?

It;s actually been four months, I started here 7/4. I found the position on Indeed, but I was checking on Dice, Monster and Remote Only(I think that's the name). I hoping at some point to land a remote position with coding but I think for an entry level position with no current relevant experience something like that is near impossible, most places aren't going to want to risk a newbie with little experience in a place that they can't easily get help. I think remote positions are a much more real possibility after some experience in the field.

I'm not going to lie, I really lucked out on finding this position, it's three miles away from where I currently work. The important thing is to try every possible search term: Entry level, front end developer, HTML, CSS, Coding, IT, Help Desk, Sys Admin, Software Support (My actual title is Software Implementation and Support Specialist). When I saw the listing, the title alone led me to believe I didn't stand a chance, but I met a number of the qualifications so I figured what the heck.

The interview was a real challenge, as I had to find a way to link my retail experience in to something that is dev and help desk related. Fortunately retail work is all about making the customer happy, so that's relevant. I've also played around with computers since the very early 80s and built web pages for fun back in the CSS1 days. I also ran a small business supporting PCs back in the 90's (Setting up home networks, Internet connections, installing software and doing hardware upgrades), even though all of those are years, if not decades, out of date, it shows a history of being around computers and an interest in doing things with computers.

Everyone's personal experience is different, but anyone here has likely spent a lot of time around technology, and probably have helped family members set up computers, learn software packages maybe even set up a web page for them. All of that is very relevant to land a "foot in the door" position.

Be open to alternate types of employment. My new employers were understandably nervous about a person with no relevant recent experience, so they asked me if I'd be open to part-time contract work to start. It wasn't an ideal choice, but I still said yes, as if nothing else, I still have my "day job" to fall back to if this doesn't work out. If I fit well with their team, and they fit with me it'll lead to a permanent position, if not, it still goes on the resume, and the reason for leaving is the contract was completed, Win-Win. I also am making far less then market rate with this part time gig, my first project which was converting 17 documents to html, is only paying a couple of hundred dollars which I was able to complete in about a week which I estimate was about 30 hours of work and research. I view it as essentially a paid internship they get my time for a large discount from market, and I get relevant work experience. I turned in the project yesterday, so we'll see if it leads to more work.

@Christopher Lebanno My personal route was to take Web Design track, after that I got a web hosting account (Dreamhost) and posted up the final project portfolio to the site (www.hagerweb.com) it's $10 a month and came with a domain name. I then took the Ruby Basics track and am now almost done with the Rails Development track. Rails Dev gives you a good amount of Ruby and the Rails framework, it also has a lot in command line, git and SQL and also a 6 hour section on Javascript. Between those you should have a good grasp of both the front and back end development environments. I'm probably going to do the Java track next since that seems to be in high demand around here.

In the interview, don't be afraid to bring up Treehouse. Sure, it's not an accredited school, however it shows a strong desire to learn and increase your skill set on your own, as opposed to being told to do something. Check out GitHub and Stack Overflow, as you might be able to join projects to hone your skills and answer questions to reinforce things in your own mind.

Boy, this ended up being a small novel. I hope it helps answer some of your questions. I'm very much a newbie myself, but with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.

Good luck to both of you in your search, and if you have any other questions just ask!