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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?

#281

Post by nicwest »

jcheng wrote: post #230
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 can imagine the impact Clojure had; learning about Lisp had a big impact on my programming journey. What was it about Go that made your Python code better, though?

Go helped me learn about designing good interfaces, and how to write tests using dependency injection rather than just patching stuff out.

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

#282

Post by pragmatic »

_benj wrote: post #34

I'm a self-taught webdev too and I would strongly recommend learning SQL, not just `SELECT * ...` but really learning it! I've been digging into postgreSQL and in quite a few applications it's possible to greatly reduce the complexity of the backend by receiving exactly the data you need from the DB. It is so much so that in cases you can even "get rid" of the backend completely (yes, no writing controllers and endpo…

I thought knowledge of sql and RDBMS's was table stakes for a Web developer job? Same with html, CSS and js.

However the more I work remotely the more I find that not to be the case.

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

#283

Post by munna77 »

spanhandler wrote: post #122

Mobile or desktop dev (not Electron or React Native). See how the other half lives. Last I checked Apple TV recommends a markup+JavaScript development process for standard TV streaming applications. It's not a web environment, but it should feel pretty familiar. Easy transition, knock out a demo app and you could start pulling contracts for that, maybe. Dunno how hot that market is. I'd second others with leveling up…

Any specific resources you recommmend for learning react

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

#284

Post by munna77 »

breytex wrote: post #14

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…

Any specific resources you recommend for learning react, gatsby, devops and stuff

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

#286

Post by spanhandler »

munna77 wrote: post #283
spanhandler wrote: post #122

Mobile or desktop dev (not Electron or React Native). See how the other half lives. Last I checked Apple TV recommends a markup+JavaScript development process for standard TV streaming applications. It's not a web environment, but it should feel pretty familiar. Easy transition, knock out a demo app and you could start pulling contracts for that, maybe. Dunno how hot that market is. I'd second others with leveling up…

Any specific resources you recommmend for learning react

Well I wrote not React Native for mobile dev, but I'm the wrong person to ask in any case. I learn best by starting a project with something I'm totally unfamiliar with and just... going. In fact I find learning other ways almost intolerably dull and am unable to stay focused, when it comes to computer stuff (other topics, I don't have that problem). So from my perspective, the answer to "how best do I learn this computer thing?" is going to be "just start a project—ideally one that pays" about 95% of the time. Or pick a simple-enough-looking but not-dead project in the tech on GitHub and start contributing.

I gather other people like reading docs (OK, that's alright) or tech books (ugh) or watching videos (double ugh) or listening to podcasts (triple ugh) to learn computer things. I almost never do most of that (aside from consulting docs), especially not when first approaching something. I am, therefore, just about the worst person to ask about resources for learning any computer thing.

My only suggestions other than that would be to use Create React App, because the alternative is the sheer cosmic horror or a complex JavaScript build, and that goes at least double if you're doing React Native rather than browser-targeted React, and to start a React project with TypeScript because without it JavaScript is kinda miserable, and there's little reason not to.

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

#288

Post by wyclif »

andai wrote: post #43
haspok wrote: post #35

How about getting back to the basics? You know, taking some maths classes, CS fundamentals, algorithms, data structures, that kind of stuff. It is timeless, and if you are self-taught, I can guarantee you that you have massive holes in your knowledge. Also, might sound off topic, but learning a new language (not programming, human) could be an amazing step forward, in ways you cannot even imagine now.

Re: human languages I recently discovered that it is possible to learn Latin by listening to it. I struggle getting through written material so I had given up on my dream of learning Latin, until I found out there's audiobooks [0] and even YouTube channels where people speak it! [1] [0]: Lingua Latina per se illustrata by Hans Ørberg, also available in audio -- this one's entirely in Latin, yet I could understand the…

Luke Ranieri has some of the best advice on learning Latin. But note, even though Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata is one of the best Latin books available, he doesn't recommend starting with that. It's more effective to first learn your noun, accusative, dative, genitive, and ablative cases, plus verb tenses and moods, by brute memorisation. Then move on to the Ørberg readers: http://wcdrutgers.net/Latin.htm

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

#289

Post by ifarhanp »

colmvp wrote: post #145
ifarhanp wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm a mobile application developer aspiring to learn backend. will this be a good read for me if i have negligible experience on server side of things?

Just my two cents: I'm a front-end dev, and I found this book to connect with me a lot more once I also learned some backend. Earlier this year, I read a few chapters of the book, and it was really abstract to me, so I stopped reading it. On a whim, I had two developers teach me SQL and relational database theory. I spent a few weeks creating a few databases and connecting them to the front end to mimic real life app…

thanks, makes sense to me.

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

#290

Post by ifarhanp »

nwsm wrote: post #109
ifarhanp wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm a mobile application developer aspiring to learn backend. will this be a good read for me if i have negligible experience on server side of things?

You would definitely benefit from doing general backend side projects and reading before reading this book. I don't think you'll have enough context for it otherwise. However, the book is definitely relevant to mobile applications. The backends for all the most popular apps are built with systems described in it.

thanks for the suggestion.
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