A journey to frontend development

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Sep 19

I learned HTML and CSS from Neopets. Seriously.

In middle school, Neopets was cool and the fact that I could get a glittering background and some css on a guild hype page made me feel like I was a genius 🤣

That curiosity eventually led to six years of some website design services. I built out Squarespace and Shopify sites for some small businesses and even started some of my own (Nora Conrad & Sister Sprouts).

My career so far has included a wide variety of skills ranging from e-commerce to logistics to project management and web design and now I think it’s time to put them all to use. I am actively learning how to code and going to make a plunge into the tech industry.

(yes, that’s the industry that’s hiring people at $300,000 salaries and then laying them off a few months later — what can I say? I like the challenge)

I am currently taking online courses to finally finish my bachelor of business administration degree, and while I do that I’m working part-time — which means it’s the perfect time to add in boot camps, certifications, and self-taught practice. Like I said before, I already have a pretty good understanding of HTML and CSS as well as some basic Javascript — but I’ve never taken a “formal” course on any of it.

I found Zero to Mastery through some recommendations and decided to take their Complete Web Developer course (af link) since it will take me through HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node.js, and some Machine Learning. I’m also working through Harvard’s CS50 course set (Computer Science, Intro to Python, Python & Javascript, and AI with Python). In addition to these coding-specific courses, I’m taking as many computer science courses as I can at my college, so that I can round out my understanding as much as possible.

My goal over the next year is to share my progress in these courses, share projects I complete with these skills and eventually share tips and recommendations for the things that help me the most. I hope to graduate in winter 2024 and be ready to jump into a tech career. I basically have one year to learn as much as I can and build out a portfolio that will get me hired.

I’m about to celebrate my 30th birthday and this feels like a great time to find work I really love.

If you are in the tech world or work as a front-end developer, I would love any advice you have to share. I am excited about this adventure and ready for the challenge of learning these new languages and using them to create cool things.