JavaScript is one of the most popular and widely used programming language in the world. If you are confused about where to start learning JavaScript this article provides a roadmap recommended by industry professionals of the field.
1. Prerequisites
JavaScript can be a fun language to learn it’s easy and you get to build multiple cool web projects along the way but before you dive deep into JavaScript you must have good understanding of
- HTML
- CSS
- BOOTSTRAP
If you know how to structure and design a web page you’ll have no problem integrating JavaScript in your websites. You don’t have to be full fledged front end developer but it’s a plus if you can design responsive web pages.
You can use W3school.org to find documentation of HTML and CSS
I’ll recommend watching a code along video on YouTube where you use HTML CSS AND BOOTSTRAP to build a responsive website it will give you an idea of how these technologies work together.
Some projects that i built was
- Resume using HTML & CSS (not responsive)
- Portfolio Website
You can deploy these projects on GitHub pages or Netlify because heroku decide to go rogue and paid
2. Learning JavaScript
You will find a lot of JavaScript basics tutorial online that are as short as 10 mins and as longs as 20 hours. You need to find the one which suits you and your pace i did the mistake of learning from multiple tutorials and starting all over again and again. The approach I’ll recommend is
STICK TO ONE TUTORIAL AND IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND SOMETHING CHATGPT IT AND ASK IT TO TEACH THAT TOPIC WITH EXAMPLES
One prompt I use is “teach me like I’m 5” and it simplifies the topic.
You can use W3school.org to find documentation of JavaScript as well
Basics JavaScript concept covers
- Variables and Data Types
- Operators and Expressions
- Conditional Statements (if/else)
- Loops (for/while)
- Functions
- Arrays
- Objects
- Events and Event Listeners
- DOM Manipulation
- Basic Error Handling
After getting a hold of basics you should move to the advanced concetps of javascript
- advanced Functions (closures, callbacks, promises)
- Prototypes and Inheritance
- Asynchronous Programming (async/await, callbacks, promises)
- Regular Expressions
- Error Handling (try/catch)
- Functional Programming
- Higher Order Functions
- Modules and Libraries
- ES6 and beyond (Arrow functions, let/const, template literals, destructuring, spread/rest operators)
- Advanced DOM Manipulation (animation, drag and drop, canvas)
What is the Best Resource to Learn?
Learn JavaScript for free Interactive Course
Scrimba is the best place to learn JavaScript where you can directly interact with the code written by your instructor you will make projects in this tutorial that you can add in resume and instructor will ask you to solve different problems after teaching you the concept.
Again it’s a personal choice doesn’t matter which tutorial/guide you follow the goal is to have a good understanding of concepts.
3. Behind the Scenes + Interview Preparation
Covering and practicing JavaScript is one thing but you also need to understand behind the scenes working of javascript. You need to graps the topics such as lexial enviornments , closures, promises and other advance concepts to help you in interviews.
This playlist is one of its kind and will make it much easier for you to grasp difficult concept of JavaScript with ease.
THE BEST RESOURCE for understanding the behind the scenes of JavaScript.
This will be the most important playlist you’ll ever cover in your JavaScript learning phase and it will surely make you part of the upper echelon JavaScript developer and land a job.
4. Create a lot of Projects
Project building approach is the best approach for learning JavaScript and you will create ton of things to add on your resume when applying for job or gig you can apply the concepts you have learn to these projects.
Do not Blindly Follow YouTube Tutorials in fact try to create your own logic for the projects and if you get stuck somewhere then ask for help or google things
Some projects that i created were
I believe these are the best projects to create because you will cover a lot of JavaScript concepts from event listeners to CRUD operations to Fetching API’s data I’ll recommend you to add your touch to these projects.
5. Choose A Framework
It can be hectic if you want to create a full fledged web app using javascript only also called vanilla JavaScript. One of the best and most used framework is React well it’s typically a library.
Where to Learn React?
React Tutorial: Learn React JS – Interactive Tutorial
Scrimba also has a react course in which you not only understands the basic of react from ground up but also create multiple projects to add in your resume.
But then again learn from wherever you are comfortable with.
Okay but where’s the money?
Congrats after following this roadmap you can add any kind of logic and action in a website. You can build logical apps and single page website which will be fast and efficient. There are multiple ways to monetize your newly acquired JavaScript skills
- Get a developer Job (Create a notification on LinkedIn for new job alerts in front end developer so you apply to them as the come)
- Start Your Agency : Since you can build websites on your own you can make websites for people in need for one. (Join Facebook Groups for web developer freelancing and with your resume it’ll be easy to land jobs)
- Fiverr : You can provide multiple services like teaching, bugs fixing, website development on fiverr. (Create description from chatgpt and attractive images from canva you can create a gig in an hour with little reasearch)
Some Words of Wisdom to Not lose Track
- Enjoy the Process and if it’s get tough take a break come back later
- Your end game shouldn’t be making money because you won’t be making much in the start in fact your goal should be to be a competent developer who likes to code money will follow 😉
- CODE EVERYDAY: No matter if you write a semi colon you should don’t lose the streak even if you do get back on track ASAP.
Additional Skills:
- Git/GitHub for version control and team development.
- Focus of Self branding let people on social media know who you are and what you can do.
- Practice Leet Code if you want to prep for Technical Interviews.
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