This is relatable to my current situation in so many ways. In a former life (circa 2003) I was an amateur web developer. To become proficient at this I learned the following skills; HTML, bare bones Css to style elements and rudimentary PHP/MySQL for things like form mail. (If I remember correctly using JavaScript during this period carried mandatory minimums). From this self-taught skill set I was able to earn a little cash on the side creating web sites for small businesses. Here is the kicker though. I LOVED every single second of it.

Jump ahead 12 years and because I’ve become partially disabled I decided to get serious about programming and attempt to make it a career.

As I jumped in I found out quickly I was out of my depth before I ever wrote a line of code. While I’m sure the new tools, frameworks etc. have made coding so much more dynamic they left me with a major headache to the point I wanted to give up before starting. For the simple fact is *I had no idea where to start* and even if I did what do I start with? JavaOOCSS+- pre-proccessers on Rails with a repository on Github? Or that other thing?

I spent 20 years coaching basketball so fundamentals and doing the little things right are ingrained. While one would think that makes things easier the opposite is true. I want to do it the right way. But what the hell is the “right way”? I’m sure there is no one answer to that question, but how would I know?