The field of software development is booming with opportunity. There are many different paths to becoming a junior developer, and it's important to choose the one that will help you learn and grow as quickly as possible. In this blog post, we'll explore what you need to do in order to become a junior software developer.
Learn to code
This is the core of becoming a junior developer. You need to know how to build things with code, and you'll learn this by doing it! There are many different ways to do this, including online courses, books or coding bootcamps. If you're just getting started, we recommend Codecademy or Treehouse.
However, it would be best if you also focused on learning one programming language really well so that you can build things with it and become fluent in its syntax and idioms.
If your goal is to be a developer as quickly as possible, then this may not be the best option for you because there's no way to skip this step! Learning how to code will take time, but it's definitely worth doing right from the start if becoming a junior dev is your long-term career goal. Once you have learned some basic concepts about coding, you are ready for the next steps, too.
Practice a lot
Once you've learned the basics, it's time to get your hands dirty and start practising. Some things that will help with this include:
● Find small projects (e.g., fixing a bug in an open-source library)
● Join freeCodeCamp and work through their curriculum (don't worry if some concepts seem hard at first - they'll make sense as you keep going!)
● Build something of your own from scratch! You can do it even while learning new skills because programming is all about applying what we already know to solve problems. It's totally fine not to understand everything; just try different things out! Don't give up because you will learn new things on the way.
Join Tech communities
When you're done with all of the above, it's time to start hanging out in tech communities. This is where you'll build relationships and learn from other developers, as well as hear about industry news and job opportunities first. The field of software developers is booming with opportunities. There are many different paths to becoming a junior developer, and it's important to choose the one that will help you learn and grow as quickly as possible.
Build your portfolio
Once you're a good developer, it's important to start building your portfolio. This will help you get more opportunities and land jobs faster because employers want to see that developers have experience working on real projects. We recommend focusing first on freeCodeCamp, as this is where most of your practice should be coming from at this point.
Once you feel comfortable with the concepts, build some projects using what you've learned so far! Once they are ready, publish them online somewhere and add a link in your profile description. If there is an open-source repository for something similar to what you built, we highly recommend submitting a pull request and making your project available for everyone.