31 Steps To Become A Developer

An alternative way to learn coding

Before I learned how to code I used to ask developers I met how much time it took them to learn their craft — and how the managed to do it.

They would answer stuff like 1.5 years, a bachelors degree or I just started playing around with it— none of which really satisfied my curiosity. I wanted to know specifically how much work they had put in, as I was wondering if I could ever possibly do it myself (which I doubted, as it seemed close to impossible).

Now that I’ve finally went through it and gotten a job as a developer at Xeneta, I think I’m able to give the answer I was looking for.

So if you’re an amateur wondering how much effort it takes to become a professional developer: this post is for you.

Here are all the courses and projects I’ve done since I got started, along with some advice I picked up on the way.

PHASE ONE: INTRODUCTION

I’ve divided my learning path into three phases; introduction, hobby and bootcamp.

My introductory phase started in the beginning of 2012 and lasted almost two years. The progress was slow and it all happened quite sporadically, without proper structure or goals. In hindsight, I wish I had started off more seriously, which brings me to my first advice for aspiring developers:

Remember that it’s never too early to start being serious about your learning. Your future self will thank you for this.

Codecademy

As many others I started off with Codecademy, completing four of their tracks: Javascript, HTML&CSS, jQuery, PHP. This gave me a mental model of what coding was. If you’ve never written a single line of code before, Codecademy is an excellent starting point.