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Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

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Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#11

Post by christophilus »

nicwest wrote: post #3

I found that learning and writing some Clojure and Go made me think better about the code I was writing in my main language (python). I enjoyed working through Clojure for the brave and true: https://www.braveclojure.com/clojure-for-the-brave-and-true/ and the go tour is probably the best introduction I've ever had to a language: https://tour.golang.org/welcome/1

I came here to suggest these two languages, too. On the other hand, you could focus on building something non-web. A language, a video game, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#12

Post by oropolo »

classics2 wrote: post #8

Soft skills.

Under the broad heading of soft skills you could learn how to spell and become a better writer. Most technical people aren't good communicators so taking a course in composition and storytelling would put you in better standing compared to most.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#13

Post by thatcodingdude »

ktpsns wrote: post #9

Besides all kind of data science/machine learning, what about learning the "greybeard" mastering of Unix servers? This will connect a lot of old-grown idioms (think about daemons, classical TCP services, etc.) and get you a lot of knowledge in networking (which has connections to event-based networking and thus asyncio, greenlets and all that).

That's probably the most interesting part of my job ! Making some small scripts, managing the build step, servers etc.

Although I'm not sure you can get this kind of job as a self-taught dev with no degree/certifications.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#14

Post by breytex »

I'd expand on one of your best skills you already have. The "stack" gets more and more complicated so "full stack" will stop to be a thing in the future.

If you are already good in react, learn more libraries / frameworks in that ecosystem and increase your day rate. You are a frontend architect now.

I'd start with things like nextjs, Gatsby or Redux saga.

You could also go into the devops side of Frontend. Learn the different approaches of deploying / scaling a Frontend with server-side rendering (vercel, digital Ocean, docker...)

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#15

Post by thatcodingdude »

christophilus wrote: post #11
nicwest wrote: post #3

I found that learning and writing some Clojure and Go made me think better about the code I was writing in my main language (python). I enjoyed working through Clojure for the brave and true: https://www.braveclojure.com/clojure-for-the-brave-and-true/ and the go tour is probably the best introduction I've ever had to a language: https://tour.golang.org/welcome/1

I came here to suggest these two languages, too. On the other hand, you could focus on building something non-web. A language, a video game, etc.

That's a good idea. It'd probably be great for me to start a non web-app side-project.
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