I learned a lot of new things in 2019. I switched myself into a Full Stack JavaScript developer from a Full Stack PHP developer. I’m going to tell you how I did it. It is a personal story if you don’t want to know about my journey then simply skip it. 

In the first part of the year, I was jobless and looking for a job because my startup plan didn’t work. My tech stack was in January 2019

  • Laravel (PHP)
  • A little bit about JavaScript
  • Bootstrap, Materialize
  • Html & CSS

Extra

  • Python a bit
  • UI Design 
  • Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop

I was gaining more knowledge about all the stuff, so it took time to get me job-ready and working again. 

going up
um trying to be good developer in 2019 (giphy)

Lets divided my year how I’ve spent it. I can break my year into three parts. Let’s call it – First phage, second phage, third phage, and fourth phage. 

wow!
um laughing at my naming skills (giphy)

My naming skills are awesome. Please don’t laugh!

First Phage (January – February)

In January I mainly researched the local job market and listed down the skills I need to get for a good job. I mean a job which is not junior and salary is a little bit better than my last job. Also In January, I convert my girlfriend into my wife. So there was a wedding vibe all month and finally, I admitted to masters in January.

positive vibes
Newly married vibes (giphy)

In February I make my portfolio better and listed some dummy projects to show the recruiters. So I make some projects and start applying to jobs. I was making a good Laravel project so that I can show it to the company and get a Laravel job. So I spend all the time spending on creating some dummy projects and applying to a job. I made a new resume too in this phage. 

resume selection
my best friend is freepik.com when I need a new resume

In this phage, I was making myself ready for the market again. Because I left my last job in Sept 2018. 

Main points of this phage are

  • Good resume
  • Good Linkedin Profile
  • Some dummy project for showcasing

Second Phage (March to June)

I divided this into a phage because I got a job in March and left it in June. When I gave the interview they selected me for the PHP programming and they send me to another office for working as a MAGENTO developer. While I didn’t even know how to run a MAGENTO website.

got the job
finally got the job (giphy)

But the recruiter said that I can learn while job, so I give a try on MAGENTO, but I hated it. Even hated it so much that I’ve written a blog on it. You can read it from https://blog.nerdjfpb.com/why-i-dont-like-magento-2/ here.

f**k the job
my feeling when I run magento on a 4gb old laptop in my office(giphy)

In April my Upwork profile got accepted! I was so excited to work on the Upwork and when I came into Upwork I saw there is less job on the PHP side and people hire to work on React, Node and some other technologies. So I started to learn about the React. This is where all started. I was never excited too much about JavaScript because I was in more interested Python. Python looks cool to me but when I see the job posts and everything I decided to learn JavaScript new frameworks. 

oh yes
me after getting upwork profile approved(giphy)

I started to learn React JS without knowing proper JavaScript. I never worked so much with JavaScript so it was hard for me when started. I followed many tutorials. I tried to make websites as fast as I can because I was trying to move from my job. Because MAGENTO was so painful. Finally, I left my job in June and focus on my Upwork and Fiverr profile.

In this phage, I decided to move from PHP. Reasons are 

  1. In my country without having 3-5 experience on your resume, you’ll never get a good salary job. You’ll get a low salary job which is equal to a React junior job. This thing buzzes me a lot.
  2. The trend is going to javascript so I thought I can give a try.
  3. I can get a remote job because there are many positions on React and Node.
  4. Magento made me hate PHP. Because of the project I’ve worked on Magento, it took a lot of time to load on the local machine. It was so hard to work on. So I choose to leave PHP.
why!!
I was like why god why I need to learn again from zerooooooo! (giphy)

Main points of this phage are

  • Deciding to leave PHP and start JavaScript
  • Upwork profile
  • Decided to work from home and learn more things

Third Phage (July – September)

This is a sad phage for me honestly. Because Upwork changed their rule at this time. So I had to buy connects for applying in the job. Also, the market was really unstable at the time. So it was really hard for me to make profile better. But I did and got the RISING Talent Badge on the Upwork, but In September Upwork banned me. They didn’t tell me the exact reason, they just give a message and I applied again but they didn’t approve. So I had to left my Upwork and focus on building my social media so that I can get a project offer from any social media. I had my Fiverr profile also, but I wasn’t getting any orders from there. So it was hard in September. But it changed my last phage.

When Upwork profile got banned and I didn’t even know the exact reason (giphy)

Because I’ve already gained some knowledge. My tech stack was in September

  • React
  • Node
  • Express js
  • MongoDB

Main points of this phage are

  • Got banned from Upwork. Which help me to focus on social media and building community
  • Learned more about MERN stack
  • Start learning a lot of different things in this phage because I wasn’t doing a 10-6 job. I had the time and invested it in my skills to grow.

Fourth Phage (October – December)

This is the last phage of this year. I worked hard on this part to use more what I’ve learned.

working hard
Um working so hard to use my knowledge fully (giphy)

I am working with a senior developer on his project so that I had to learn GraphQL also and I love the idea of GraphQL. This can save a lot of time. But also everything comes with pros and cons! So my final tech stack is 

  • React
  • Express
  • SQL and NoSQL
  • Graphql

Main points of this phage are

  • Starting doing a mini-series on Node (learn node in 30days)
  • Start posting on Instagram, Linkedin & Twitter regularly
  • Focusing on learning more in next year
  • Also focusing on teaching while learning

So now I am going to discuss more how I’ve changed myself into a Full Stack Javascript developer. 

I going to give some resources what I’ve follower.
animation by https://dribbble.com/damirperic

Frontend (React JS Learning)

First I’ve started with learning the frontend. I learned about React JS then I start making some dummy projects on React JS. I’ve added those into my profile. finally, I started to work on some client react project. I watched a lot of tutorials on React JS, from youtube, from udemy. I did a lot of research and learned how React JS works, why we used it, what problems it solved and many more. 

I’ve like to mention some courses and things you can use for learning 

If you think this is a lot, I did all over around 6 months, so be patient and remember this is marathon. (giphy)

Backend (Node JS & Express Learning)

After learning a bit of React, I understand that I need to learn about Node too. I can choose python(Django) but I wanted to stay in JavaScript . So I choose Node JS and start learning.

I’ve like to mention some courses and things you can use for learning 

This is hard
so many packages (giphy)

Databases 

I learned about the database by working. While taking the node courses, I learned about MongoDB and loved it. Then for a client project, I learned about PostgreSQL but I think there is a lot of things to learn.

having good knowledge on database is needed to be better backend developer, so if possible work on this side too.
designed by https://dribbble.com/mishatsvetkov

Rest API & GraphQL

Before this year, I didn’t know much about API. Because when I worked with Laravel and my old projects, I didn’t have to use API. So I didn’t know much about it. I learned it this year properly and finally know about GraphQL too. I used youtube mostly to learn about Graphql. 

I’ve like to mention some courses and things you can use for learning 

yes
Yes! You need to learn about graphql and rest api to be a better developer now a days. work on it (giphy)

I want to mention some people & resources which help to gain all this knowledge. 

(All these are paid)

  • Andrei Neagoie I am a big fan of him. Love the way he teaches and explains. He has some awesome tutorials on Udemy. You can check out – https://www.udemy.com/user/andrei-neagoie/
  • Mosh Hamedani tutorials look great. But I think there can be improved in React & Node courses. Like he never showed how to work with files and other stuff. But he wrote about it on the blog, I found it later. Check this out – https://programmingwithmosh.com/
  • Andrei Mead is my new found, I’m loving his tutorials. I didn’t start so much, but I’m going to start in 2020. Check this out – https://www.udemy.com/user/andrewmead/

(Free)

(Some conference videos I liked)

So this is the story of how I changed myself into a JavaScript full stack from a PHP full-stack.

over
finally. it’s over! (giphy)

This is not all the tutorials and stuff I watched and learned this year. I learned about some design too. Because I think design is needed to be a better full stack developer. If you have time, you can learn some designing too.

If you need me for anything you can always message me. You can easily find me on linkedin or twitter or instagram.

Let’s connect and learn together more!

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