Should You Quit Your Job To Study Code?! (And Other Reddit Responses)

1. Is FreeCodeCamp enough to get you a job??

FCC is a great resource and if you had perfect recall, it would be all you need. But if you're anything like me, you don't have that. When I was learning to code, I liked learning from multiple sources (FCC, The Odin Project, Youtube, or my HTML & CSS Course). Usually if something doesn't click with one person's way of teaching, it does with another. Also you learn things twice which help drill it down in your mind. The last reason I reccomend multiple sources is more projects to build. They more projects you build on your own, the better you're going to get at this.

2. How Do I Start A Website Portfolio?

For this you need to know HTML and CSS at least (See previous question answer for ways to do this). After you've got that down, the question becomes 'Where do I host my portfolio'? For that, you've got a few options.  First, get a domain name (www.facebook.com, www.selftaught-dev.com, www.google.com) from GoDaddy, or Google domains. Next you need somewhere to host your site (Store your site files and make them available to the web). If you just have a static site, I'd use GitHub pages (Free). We're not going to get into the nitty gritty of how to get the filed hosted there in this post, but that should be enough to get you started if you google it.

The next option is Netlify. This is what I'd use if your portfolio is a react app or something that has a build process. They've got a generous free tier and it's always been fun to use.

3) Can You become a self taught IOS developer?

Absolutely. While this might be a little harder, it's possible. I'm tempted to recommend going down the web developer route first, and then pivoting to IOS development once you've got a little experience in the tech industry, but my recommendation somewhat depends on how plentiful jobs as a web developer are vs jobs as an IOS developer at the time you read this. Hop on LinkedIn jobs and see what's more popular where you live, and decide based on that.

4) Is it still worth it to become a developer in the current market & what route is the best?

Is it still worth it? That depends on why you want to become a developer. Do you actually like coding? Then yes it's worth it. Have you just been trying to become a dev for the money? Then I'd probably look for a different route.

5) Should you quit your job to study code?

So you want to want to quit your job because you hate it and think studying all day long will help you become a dev faster? I'd advise against it. Why? Because most people won't actually spend the extra time they gained studying.

You'll probably study for 4-6 hours, then fk around and waste time (At least that's what I probably would have done. If you seriously think you'll spend 10+ hours a day studying, then it might be worth it).

You could have had a job and still had income, used your job as negative emotional leverage to get yourself to study 4-6 hours every day anyway, then use it to study extra on the weekends. I'd just prefer to play it a little safer. You don't know how long it'll actually take to get your first job as a dev. I'd assume a year (Although I did it in 8 months, and other people have done it in less than that, I prefer conservative estimates, particularly in the upcoming economic environment).

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There are a few other questions answered in the video, although those aren't really big enough to write about in here. If you have any questions feel free to reach out!

-Garrett