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sakatagintoki
12,624 PointsFinished Web Design & Front End Web Development Track - What Next?
I'm an English graduate aiming for a career as a web developer. I finished the Web Design track back in November, and am four hours away from finishing the Front End Web Development track.
There are plenty of IT opportunities in my home town and I'm aiming to get somewhere close to a job at some point this year.
When I'm done with my final Front End Web Development course ... am I ready to start creating websites and things? Or should I learn more (e.g. Ruby & Python?)
I understand it's an odd question to ask, "Am I ready?" because you, the reader of this post, on the other side of the interwebs don't really know how well I've understood what I've learnt in my courses.
But presuming I've understood what I've been learning on Treehouse very well (pages, and pages, and pages of notes I have made) am I ready to start getting practical hands on experience and start building a portfolio of creations?
Any advice for next steps is appreciated
Thx, Jay
5 Answers
Paul Bentham
24,090 PointsHi Jay,
A portfolio would be good, have you produced anything aside from what you have completed on Treehouse? I'd say find a small project (or a few small projects) to complete and put those on your portfolio page.
I'd also recommend the PHP track on here, this helped me understand how to work with databases and websites... It would be a really good next step after what you've completed so far.
Paul
Wilson Usman
35,206 PointsI'm kind of in the same boat as you Jay. But after going into the job boards I realized I'm missing a lot of what they required for a Front-End position.
I found these to be some good resources for a Front-End developer:
http://rmurphey.com/blog/2012/04/12/a-baseline-for-front-end-developers/
Paige Jordan
7,054 PointsThese are great Wilson, thanks!
rachelweaver
15,876 PointsI would build something. I have tried applying for positions(unsuccessfully) and employers have made it clear that they want to see what you are capable of. I would start with a personal website/portfolio and go from there. I am in a similar boat, so I am building a personal website and learning framework and JavaScript.
Nafisur Rahman
2,149 PointsI know this post is quite old but the main thing is, after to have completed large tracks like these on tree house you should get a text editor and code open source projects like websites make sure they're responsive they look decent. the content on the website doesn't really matter, but you could do something creative like create a website and add a gallery of other sites screenshots of other smaller projects you created and how you learnt to code etc upload the code onto git hub and start applying for jobs. By this time you will have the proof of what you have learnt through the projects as an employers first question is "where's the proof?".
sakatagintoki
12,624 PointsGot a job now. ;) But still use this to learn things after work.
Nafisur Rahman
2,149 PointsNice, its good to hear from you since it shows what you accomplished since the question and anyone looking through this will gain some valueble advice.
Joshua Clement
2,428 PointsHey what type of job did you get and what are you doing now? I'm currently doing the web development course.
Adam Maley
5,946 PointsYes I would like to hear back from someone who completed Front End Track and got a job soon after.
sakatagintoki
12,624 Pointssakatagintoki
12,624 PointsI did Codecademy courses in September when I was deciding whether I wanted to continue pursuing academia or commit to IT, and then joined Treehouse in October. But no, other than that, haven't started any independent projects. I suppose it's the same dilemma I had when I was at college: do I read more books, or do I start my essay yet?
I'll take your advice. Create stuff, and learn stuff on the side too. :D