A Chicagoans first steps towards becoming a web developer

So I’ll start off by saying that the title is slightly misleading. This is by design. For the past 3 years I have been teaching myself the set of languages needed to become a proficient web developer. HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Ruby, the works. I acquired tons of information, techniques and essentials to create standard static websites, simple web apps and dabble a little with CRUD based applications. The biggest problem I ran into during that time was having a set structure that would help me put all these technologies together towards becoming a complete full-stack developer. I’ve looked into various online apprenticeships such as bloc.io, but at the moment it is not within my budget to pursue this path. While scouring the web for a more structured learning path I ran across an open-sourced resource called The Odin Project. It is very much created in the same vain as many of the online apprenticeships that are popping up, but what differentiates it is the fact that it is a free open-sourced project that uses free resources from around the net, structured in a linear fashion to level up your learning as you progress. Before I delve further into The Odin Project, my goals and what I want to accomplish with this blog, let me first properly introduce myself!

Just a kid from Chicago #

My name is Julian Feliciano. I grew up on the Northwest side of Chicago with a love for the Cubs, vintage automobiles and computers. My family didn’t purchase our first computer till I was about 10 years old, but that didn’t stop me from messing around with computers at my middle school at Hanson Park. At the time I wasn’t sure why I was so drawn to playing with different programs and increasing my typing speed. In all honesty, I just found being on a computer fun no matter what the activity was. It wasn’t till my family moved out to the northern suburbs that I started to delve further into how the programs I was working with were built. During my senior year in high school I had become very interested in web development, messing around with customizing myspace templates and reading into HTML & CSS. My career focus was towards Mechanical Engineering and never though that I could pursue a career writing code. While attending college, I realized that my true passion was in creating web pages and web apps, and not with mechanical engineering. From that point forward, I have made the decision to self teach myself all that is needed to become a Full-Stack Web Developer. Now, I find
myself prepared to take on the next chapter of my web development career of applying and acquiring my first developer job.

So, why start a blog now? #

My main goals for this blog is to track my progress throughout the Odin Project and write about the steps and hurdles towards getting my first developer job. There is plenty of material on learning web development, but a lack of real world experiences from people like me who are self taught and looking to get into the industry. Hopefully, I can give more insight into the process and help potential web developers in their endeavors as well. With the help of the Odin Project, I plan to build a substantial amount of projects that I can use as portfolio pieces, as well as use their tips to steer me in the proper direction while applying for jobs. With a bit of grit and determination, I plan to have a development job in Chicago before the end of summer. So on that note, I’ve got some coding to do. Until next time!

Keep coding!