Before getting into much detail if you really want to learn JavaScript for free check out FreeCodeCamp, read throw this if you want some details on how to walk the path the easy way.
Since I wrote the article “Why Learn JavaScript?” It has become inevitable for me to write how to become a JavaScript developer. I am a proud Full stack JavaScript Developer but there are some mistakes that I made in my journey in becoming a JavaScript developer and I don’t want you to repeat the same mistakes that I did.
First things first a little history lesson about JavaScript. JavaScript was created in 1995 in 10 days (amazing right) by Brendan Eich at Netscape Communication Corporation for Netscape Navigator a web browser, so generally, JavaScript was developed/created for the browser. Initially, it wasn’t called JavaScript it was called Mocha, then the name was changed to LiveScript and for some reason, it was named JavaScript.
In 1996 JavaScript was standardized by a body called European Computer Manufacturers Association (E.C.M.A.) and the language was handed over to this body and to date they are the ones who maintain and standardize it. When it was handed to E.C.M.A. JavaScript was renamed to ECMAScript but people still call it JavaScript I think because it's catchy. I'm going to stop here you can learn more about JavaScript History sorry I mean ECMAScript here.
As you can see from the history JavaScript was meant for the browser i.e. web i.e. internet, so you have to become a web developer to some extent and being a JavaScript developer means you are a web developer. A good starting place to get to know all your web development is FreeCodeCamp, it is a totally free learning platform and it is very comprehensive. The main advantage of FreeCodeCamp is that you will be certified after completing projects for a specific section of learning.
So now you started your FreeCodeCamp courses and you know a little JavaScript you are certified or not yet but you know JavaScript at this point I urge you to go by JavaScript 30 by Wes Bos . It is a 30 projects in 30 days challenge created for beginner, intermediate and expert JavaScript developers so that they can sharpen their knowledge and become more skilled by immediately implementing what they just learned.
After JavaScript 30 and freecodecamp, you would be familiar and good with your JavaScript so it would be appropriate to start learning some JavaScript frontend frameworks and there are a lot out there just google Javascript Frameworks and see for yourself. Depending on what you want, you can choose to learn just one framework or two or more depending on your capacity but I suggest learning two and really grasp how they work because with two you will be able to choose a tool stack depending on project requirements. In the industry, React is very popular if you go through freeCodeCamp you will be taught this framework. The other popular framework in the industry is Angular this is also one of the best frameworks. So if you are to learn two best frameworks I recommend these two because they are widely used in the industry but I strongly recommend starting to learn React because of its linear learning curve its not as steep as Angular because in Angular there something called TypeScript.
Besides React and Angular, there is another framework that you should consider if you like simple stuff and that VueJs. VueJs is like a mirror image/child of React because almost every concept in React is available in VueJs and is usually simpler to understand. These two frameworks React and VueJs complement each other so learning the two will help you understand one or the other framework this is a personal observation.
If you follow this path in your journey of becoming a JavaScript developer, you would now be a frontend javascript developer. Now you should know that a web application can not run with just frontend especially if you need to store and process data, for that you need backend.
The Backend: This is where your data is stored, processed and given back to the frontend for it to be displayed to the user. The backend runs on a server and frontend runs on the client i.e. browser.
For your backend you need to learn NodeJs, server-side javascript I would go deeper with this but this is a topic on its own. NodeJs is also taught on freecodecamp that’s why I said its comprehensive.
When you now know your NodeJs, React/Vue/Angular you can proudly call yourself a Fullstack Developer. The journey is long my best advice is to brace yourself and be persistent.
Here if a list of resources for your free learning
- FreeCodeCamp
- JavaScript30
- TravesyMedia (free YouTube tutotrials)
- The Net Ninja (free youtube tutorials and there is also premium content)
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