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Ask HN: Are Online Courses Enough to Become a Full Stack Web Developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Are Online Courses Enough to Become a Full Stack Web Developer?

#2

Post by novicei »

You do not need a CS degree to become a full stack developer. All you need is determination and patience. You need to write as much as code as you can. Solve problems. While having a CS degree would help in knowing the major concepts such as Algorithms, Data structure, Security and to name a few, it's not compulsory. You can take CS online courses via Udacity, CS50 and Coursera and to name a few. Know the concepts and dive into web development.

Start with HTML & CSS then Javascript and jQuery. Know Node.js and Angular.js, bootstrap etc. Pick any language for the back-end. You can either use Python, Ruby, PHP Javascript or anything other.

I recommend https://ilovecoding.org/ they have interactive courses and lessons, you can get hold of how the real world applications are made, what goes behind the scene while building practical web apps, mobile apps, games etc.

Your code is going to look horrible at start but don't give up. start dipping your toes then move all the way. DON'T procrastinate and don't give up. Good luck

Re: Ask HN: Are Online Courses Enough to Become a Full Stack Web Developer?

#4

Post by gkwelding »

I would consider myself a full stack developer, hell I've even made a decent career out of it. I don't have a CS degree, what I do have is many many years experience. I know HTML, CSS, JavaScript (including whatever the latest fad is be in jQuery, Node, Ember et al...), PHP, Python, Java, SQL (MySQL and MSSQL), NoSQL (Mongo, Elasticsearch etc...), and I can set up, secure and maintain a web server running Ubuntu, Redhat or CentOS.

You can't reliably learn all of this from an online course, although it might be a good starting point, you become a good full stack developer after years of experience.

Re: Ask HN: Are Online Courses Enough to Become a Full Stack Web Developer?

#5

Post by zhte415 »

No, you don't need a formal degree.

But don't just do courses. Have a project that you've aligned with the outline of the course you're currently on. Small at the start, then getting bigger, over several years, integrating a new skill but still applying older skills, so they don't get rusty.

And as well as the front- and back-end site, get dirty with the OS level too. The ins and outs of configuration files. Perhaps contribute to mailing lists, or have a StackOverflow profile where you start by lurking, then getting interactive. Expect to get criticized, sometimes rightfully, sometimes from armchair engineers, and learn from both - the knowledge and the tact.

As novicei stated, don't wait. Get started now! :)

Re: Ask HN: Are Online Courses Enough to Become a Full Stack Web Developer?

#8

Post by vmware505 »

Yes, you can be a very good developer quite quickly nowadays. Free tutorial like this: http://yoember.com helps to learn from very basic concept to advance features. The most important is practicing every day, you have to spend at least 2 hours, every day with programming... Sounds crazy, but you can start applying for developer jobs on the second week and you will get great tasks and tricky questions... You probably will fail a couple of times... but those tasks and questions give you new challenges what you have to chase and learn. A month later you will have a junior job where you can learn more focused solutions. You will love this new world and you want to go to learn more things, so a few years later you can go back to university part time and learn CS there, just for fun, but you will enjoy. Good luck! You have a great journey ahead. ;)

Re: Ask HN: Are Online Courses Enough to Become a Full Stack Web Developer?

#9

Post by jemani_one »

From my experience, you'll probably find a degree carries more weight with companies that are larger and further from actual tech.

Looking to do big 4 consulting? A degree will go a long way.

Looking to dive in at a start-up? A portfolio probably carries more weight - regardless of a degree.

There are always exceptions, but that's on par with what I've seen.

!mobile_disclaimer

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