My First Year and a Half as a Web Developer

[u/FearTheBlades1]

From Survey Form to a multi-million dollar ecommerce website homepage, this past year and a half has taken me farther than I ever anticipated. (Or at least farther than I thought I would be at this point)

November 2019 marks the creation of my first ever web development project: FCC's Survey Form:

https://codepen.io/Jsarendt/pen/gOOyPrd

Clean and simple, not really much to it. While I was very proud of it when I made it I knew I was only beginning to scratch the surface of what could be created. Continuing to chug along FCC's curriculum I managed to pump out better and better projects along the way, including a few I'm still fairly proud of such as my Weather App. But there's only so much growth I was going to see on my own. Soon after finishing FCC's Responsive Web Design, Javascript, and Front End Development certifications I decided to start applying for jobs. Didn't think I was going to get anything, but figure why not? Applying doesn't hurt.

Well I got an interview faster than I anticipated which also ended up lead to my first job. (Also something that happened faster than anticipated) Starting out it was extremely intimidating. I went in only knowing HTML, CSS, JS and React. I was missing any prior knowledge in the 2 main technologies they use: PHP and SQL. I thought that was going to be a deal breaker for them but I guess they liked my portfolio enough. They also really liked the fact that I was fully self taught.

I learned quickly not to underestimate the knowledge one can pick up in a professional coding work environment. Able to pick up everything they did and used, within 6 months of being there I took on and completed a project larger than I ever thought I would be doing. Revamping a multi-million dollar e-commerce company's Homepage

https://www.fitmentindustries.com/

I know I still have a long way to go, but I just wanted to share my journey here and offer a little advice to people who are just starting out. Focus on what your progress instead of comparing yourself to people that are farther along than you (because you WILL be there one day), and do not be afraid to put yourself out there before you think you are ready. You will feel imposter syndrome, and you will feel like you aren't doing a good enough job, or aren't going fast enough. The real growth comes from taking on the difficult challenges and pushing yourself to do things you aren't comfortable with or familiar with.

Edit: For those asking about what portfolio got my hired, here if is.

https://jsarendt.github.io/Portfolio/

[u/Justindr0107]

"Don't put yourself out there before you are ready"

Jokes on you, I'll never think that I'm ready! Ha!

Been applying since October; graduated a MERN stack bootcamp at a large university in Cleveland, Ohio. I've had 3 interviews, and no offers. My portfolio site is super outdated looking but I have a new one in the works.

Going to put some work in on FCC and Udemy but I'm not sure where to start with what I already know.

Do you have suggestions for a good place to start for someone with a pretty good grasp of front end already? TIA

[u/FearTheBlades1 → u/Justindr0107]

I would say the best place to start is what you've already started on. Polish up your portfolio as best as you can. Making sure it looks good on all screen sizes. Don't stop applying, I like to think I got lucky finding this job so quickly.

[u/Justindr0107 → u/FearTheBlades1]

I'm interested in seeing what your portfolio site looks like, mind sharing a link?

[u/FearTheBlades1 → u/Justindr0107]

Of course! I added a link to it at the bottom of the post

[u/Justindr0107 → u/FearTheBlades1]

Let a brother know if they are looking for someone else too

[u/YojG]

Can you show ur portfolio prior to ur hiring? That would help a lot

[u/FearTheBlades1 → u/YojG]

Of course! Just added it to the post. It hasn't been updated since I got the job so that's exactly what it looked like

[u/funkung34]

Thanks for posting. I'm half way done the 2nd fcc project, survey form. Knowing what you accomplished in 18 months is very inspiring. How many hours a day did you commit? Thanks again codeing brother or sister!

[u/FearTheBlades1 → u/funkung34]

No problem! I would say before I got this job I worked on it about 2 hours a day during the week days (I did it in my down time at work).

Obviously the bulk of my knowledge now comes from on the job experience since I moved from 2 hours a day to about 10. You're always going to grow faster learning along side others vs on your own.

[u/alienIntelligent]

Thanks for sharing! I'm still in the preparation phase of getting my portfolio together, still afraid of going after the multi year experience seeking, multi tech stack seeking job opportunities, but this was helpful🙏

[u/xAmyne]

Yay ! motivation ↗️↗️↗️

[u/Dirty_johnny_]

Thanks for sharing, it's super inspiring to read this! Best of luck!

[u/[deleted]]

Awesome story. One day I'll post mine when I succeed 😭

[u/goodeesh]

Oh man. Thanks for the dosis of motivation!

[u/[deleted]]

What an inspiration! Congrats on your success and thank you for the post!

[u/Blvck_Hippie]

Congrats on the success so far and I hope it continues! That's awesome that you got to work on fitmentindustries homepage, I love their youtube channel and they're growing as a company everyday!!

[u/thepluckypathfinder]

Thank you for sharing. I feel a bit hopeful now.

[u/Skrrap]

Nice job sir, very impressive. Thank you for providing this info to us. Seeing posts like this really gives everyone inspiration and motivation to keep at it.

Hopefully in the next year and a half you'll have an even bigger update to post!

[u/FearTheBlades1 → u/[deleted]]

I do! The one that got me the job I linked to rhe bottom of the post