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General Discussion

Hesam Alavi
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Hesam Alavi
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 2,280 Points
Posted by Hesam Alavi
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Hesam Alavi
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 2,280 Points

I have an agency that will build me a website for my startup and need some helpful advice please:))

I have an agency that will build me a website for my startup. They will use Ruby on Rails, HTML5,CSS, JAVASCRIPT and Bootstrap. I would like to be able to have full control over the website in 6 to 12 months. I have very basic knowledge of MATLAB and C++ since I use it for my PhD research. I also have very basic knowledge of HTML as well. Could you kindly tell me what might be the best way for me to tackle this issue. Should I jump right away to Ruby on Rails, or learn other things along the way. Your help and advice is very appreciated. Regards, Hesam

2 Answers

Tony Brackins
Tony Brackins
28,766 Points
Tony Brackins
Tony Brackins
28,766 Points

Hello Hesam,

I'd learn HTML,CSS, JAVASCRIPT first. With these you'd be able to understand how your page is setup and how to manage it. After these I'd jump into Rails. Because you have knowledge of C++ I'm going to imagine that you'd get through JS and Rails pretty quick..

Gunjeet Hattar
Gunjeet Hattar
14,483 Points
Gunjeet Hattar
Gunjeet Hattar
14,483 Points

If you are already keen in learning how to build a website from scratch, why do you want to pay an agency? Yes, it will not be of high quality at first, but then it will be yours in a sense. You will already have control.

On the other hand, if an agency is building your website, then you could get all the files from them, but it will take some time before you can finally decode all of the logic behind. Also you can learn a few key areas in 12 months, but knowing all is being a little over optimistic.

I am a researcher myself and knowing Matlab and C++ is fine in developing general concepts, but not really website friendly, if you know what I mean.

Don't jump into learning everything in 6-12 months. Take up a particular area and dig into it. Since you already know some html, brush it up and head towards css and java script. These alone will take some time to establish a professional working knowledge.

Hope this helps!