This is what I wish I knew about when I was learning (and i'm paid to develop now). LEARN A LANGUAGE REALLY GOOD BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. The language doesn't matter but just PICK ONE and STICK WITH IT. Before I stared to really see growth in my learning I was "only gonna learn JS" but ended up seeing Angular and taking an Angular course, then seeing React and taking a React course and so on and so on. That probably stunted my growth for about 6 months. Here are my suggested ways to better yourself with javascript
The reason the above is important is because when you get really good at a language (like JS) you become a "good programmer" and can switch to most languages pretty easily. A lot of Jr. or Entry level jobs aren't looking for a master in a language but that you are good programmer and troubleshooter. Then once you get the job you can start to hone your skills to be more specific if you would like.
- Pick a well reviewed beginner course for your language AND FINISH IT. I went the Web Developer route so the well reviewed courses I like are The Web Developer Bootcamp, Javascript Bootcamp (2020) by Colt Steele and the other one is The Complete Web Developer in 2019: Zero to Mastery by Andrew Neogoie and beginningjavascript.com by Wes Bos. If you are choosing something along the python or RoR lines then find a well reviewed course for that language/framework
Step 2 should be done using the skills you learn DURING your course. Do not wait until after the course to build stuff. Build small little dumb/non sense apps that use the stuff you are currently learning in that section of w/e course you are taking. Then as you get further in the course you will start building real apps and then when you are done you will have projects to show potential employees
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This is the number one thing my mentor pushed me to do that I saw the biggest benefit with and what the people I mentor see their biggest growth with, BUILD THINGS in a "progressively learning" way. (your first 2 or 3 builds don't have to be this way cuz of how new you are but after 2 or 3 if you aren't doing this you are doing yourself a dis service) What that means is pick a project that you are comfortable with about 80% of the project and 20% is something you aren't comfortable with and will have to research, read docs and play around with. You can change the percentages but these amounts tend to be the best for me and the people I mentor because you still have the positive feedback of knowing a lot of it while still learning something. The closer you get to 50/50 and you start to feel bad cuz you don't know anything and start cutting corners or just dropping the project all together.
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These are the projects I suggest in order from easiest to hardest. I think this is the base amount you should build before picking up a framework.
- Rock paper scissors game
- Hangman game
- Simon game
- Weather App using a free weather api (or really anything using a real api)
- A restaurant site with online ordering (don't worry about persisting the data unless you want to this is more to make sure you have a good html/css/js understanding and how they work together)
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After you have learned your language with some proficiency and built 3 or 4 projects with just the language pick a framework and continue to progressively learn while building more projects.
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NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK and I mean this in person. Online is fine but the quickest way to a job as a self taught person is through networking. Hiring devs is hard and a lot of companies pay upwards into the thousands of dollars for solid referalls from it's employees. So if you make friends at a meetup and show you are fun, will get along with the team, have drive and maybe give a small beginner talk or give/ask for help that employee can take your resume and give it to the HR person instead of you applying like the other 1000 ppl trying to get a job their. NOW I understand this is tougher now with COVID and what not. A couple of things you can do is go to meetup.com and go to the calendar and go back to before COVID. A lot of groups are still running but if you were not there during the live meetups it's likely you just weren't aware. Also freecodecamp has a lot of local groups to jump into (*these tend to be less industry profressionals than meetup.com but something is better than nothing)
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Your first Jr or Entry Level job will be 3-6 months of you learning and getting onboarded so don't worry about that and the company knows this. That's why it's so important that you are not a dick or rude and show you will be a good fit for that team. Have fun Front end only jobs are becoming less and less common so if you area has a bunch of them you have a better chance of finding something quicker but in general you will need to have some full stack projects to show off if you are self taught