Learn How to Code and Be Job Ready With These Resources
Learn to Code
If you have an interest in coding, but don’t want to dish out the money to go to a boot camp, check out these resources for free coding training. These resources will get you up and running to being a front-end website developer in no time!
Learn From Websites
Codecademy
Learn these skills:
CodeSchool
Learn these skills:
Udacity
Learn these skills:
Yes, these are actual courses with coding challenges where you dive head first into coding. It’s going to take time; it’s going to be difficult. But, the payoff is so rewarding.
Take A Challenge
Jennifer Dewalt made 180 websites in 180 days. Check out her progress!
Thoungvu Ho took the Giveit100 challenge and made 100 websites in 100 days. Check out his website!
These challenges are a little extreme, but it got the job done. Try modifying their challenge into something doable for you such as: make one website every week for a year.
Be Job Ready
Employers nowadays are not looking for candidates with a prestigious school listed on their resume. They are more interested if you can actually do the work and code. Here are some ways to show employers what you have been up to and to prove that you have what it takes to be a web developer.
Portfolio
Having a portfolio is the number one way to show employers that you can make websites. Creating your own website that showcases projects you have been working on, demonstrates your skills.
Examples
Tips
- As you’re learning how to code, apply those skills to a big project (many examples above are actually projects you can include on your portfolio).
- Make sure it’s your best work. Spell check, test the site for broken links, etc.
- Keep the number of projects between 3–5.
- Treat each portfolio project as if it’s a real website.
Github
Using a Github account is an excellent way to showcase the actual code that is behind your portfolio projects. Learn how to use Github here.
Resume
So, now you’ve learned all these skills and want to show employers your new qualifications and education. But, you didn’t go to school to learn these skills. How should your resume look? There’s a couple of ways to do this.
Adding a New Section
You can make a new section called “Projects,” “Coursework” or “Career Development.” Then, you can add in your independent studies. For example:
Coding Coursework:
Making a Website (Jan 2016) — Codecademy
Responsive Images (Feb 2016) — Udacity
Updating the Education
As long as you don’t claim to have a degree or diploma, adding coursework to the education section is fair game. For example:
Coding independent coursework (2016 — present) — Codecademy, Udacity, CodeSchool, etc.
Using MOOCs (massive open online courses), learned a variety of programming languages including: HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery.
Adding to Another Section
Other sections that could include learning would be: “Activities,” “Projects,” or “Other Experience.”
Updating LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great tool to host your resume online. Updating LinkedIn by adding to the “Courses,” “Projects” and “Education” sections, is a great way to noticed! Just make sure to put “independent coursework,” to let people know that you’re doing this on your own and not to lead people on that you may be going to school.
For example, on my LinkedIn page, I added this to my education section:
Computer Science Independent Study
Computer Science
2014
And, I updated my “Courses” section as so:
Computer Science Independent Study
jQuery (Codecademy / Code School)
SEO Basics (Treehouse)
How to Make a Website (Treehouse)
If You Need More Structure
Learning to code on your own is great! It shows that you’re committed, dedicated and that you have drive and enthusiasm towards learning new skills. But, sometimes, and a lot of times, people fall off track. They set up a plan, dedicate time and enroll in a class. But, they second-guess themselves.
Am I learning the right material? Should I be learning in this order? What should come next? What other skills are employers looking for? Can I learn everything college students are learning in school? I’ve asked these questions myself. A reason for these questions is that online learning platforms and MOOCs usually don’t have any structure to them. For the most part, there are just thousands of courses floating out there randomly. Some are a part of a series, but if you’re wanting to learn on a massive scale, say getting the same knowledge people get when they go to school, you want many series. In fact, you want a curriculum.
I’m developing a website that will piece together a whole college education into a structured format where you can learn to code in a sensible order. I have an Associate’s degree in web development, and I am taking almost every course I took and making it into a self-paced, online learning environment. You will learn all the skills needed in order to become a front-end website developer. Starting from orientation, to coding, to building a portfolio, to resumes, to starting a business, you will be able to learn everything going at your own pace.
I’m calling it DECODEING school because in today’s technology with MOOCs and boot camps, we are decoding the structure of traditional education. And, making it more available, affordable and valuable.
The website is set to launch early 2018. Join our newsletter and check out our website for updates and more information.
I’m @katelyncresmer, and I’m an entrepreneur. I have a website development company servicing small businesses and individuals, I write about minimalism and how you can simplify your life, and I’m giving people a college education without the huge expense.
