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Programming with Shahan
Programming with Shahan

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The Roadmap to Frontend Developer in 6 Months

Let me give you a simple 🚦Roadmap to know where you are, and where you should go next.

🔑Key Concepts

Every website has two parts. A Frontend, and a Backend.

Understanding this two fundamental parts of a website is more important than code.

Frontend refers to the visible and interactive part of a website, all its visual elements.

Backend, on the other hand, operates behind the scenes, managing data storage and databases, providing the necessary information to the frontend.

🌐Jobs

Web development jobs typically fall into three categories:

  1. Front-end development.
  2. Back-end development.
  3. Full-stack development, which combines both frontend and backend development.

👨‍💻Front-end Development

Front-end developers use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build the user interface and experience. Let's learn more about it.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): HTML serves as the foundation for structuring web pages.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): CSS is instrumental in styling webpages, enhancing their visual appeal.

JavaScript: JavaScript is scripting language which allow us to run webpages with interactivity and functionality.

🔻A Real-World Example

picture showing instagram like button

Suppose you're asked to build an application similar to Instagram. Each post in this application consists of various elements, such as images, text, icons for likes, comments, and shares, and more.

HTML & CSS come into play here:

  • HTML is used to define the structural components of the Instagram layout.
  • Then you will use CSS to add visual effects, ranging from fonts and shapes to colors and animations.

Finally, you will use JavaScript to make it interactive (possible to like a post and perform other dynamic actions).

It's important to note that while HTML and CSS define the structure and appearance, JavaScript adds functionality and behavior.

Every webpage on the internet is built using these three core languages. The better you grasp of these languages and their features, the better you'll be at frontend development.

🚦Front-end Developer in 6 Months

complete roadmap of frontend development image
Starting your frontend development journey is possible by anyone. By dedicating 3-5 hours a day to study and coding, you should achieve a solid understanding of these languages within about a month and a half.

After acquiring proficiency in HTML and CSS, the next step is to tackle JavaScript, which might take another six weeks (1.5 months). While you won't become a JavaScript expert in this short span, you'll have a strong foundation and will continue learning as you work on diverse projects.

So, the initial three months are all about fundamentals.

🛠Frameworks
Website development often require repetitive tasks. To reduce this process, frontend frameworks and libraries comes into place, offering reusable code for faster development.

Frameworks such as React, Angular, and Vue are widely used in the industry. However, you don't need to learn them all at once. Different projects may require different tools, so it's advisable to adapt and learn as needed.

⚛React
For beginners, focusing on React is a smart choice, its one of the most popular frameworks. You will attain solid knowledge about react by dedicating one to two months.

💫Version Control System
Next on your journey, become familiar with version control systems. These systems help track project history and enable collaborative work with others.

🔌Git
Git is the most widely used version control system, employed by over 70% of software development teams. It's a must-know tool, and allocating around two weeks for learning Git is advisable.

🤖🦾Figjam AI:

Finally, as a front-end developer, we often need design tools to reuse design components or prototypes. So, if you need a quick design for a presentation or website, FigJam AI (recently released) has ready-made templates. And it works smoothly with Figma, your favorite design platform. Just tell it what you want, draw a little, and boom – your idea comes alive!

The majority (90% or more) of UI designers use Figma (Figjam, Figjam AI included) to create web and mobile app blueprints and share them with others. Given this tendency, front-end developers need to familiarize themselves with Figma to work with UI/UX designers.

Figjam AI image

It also gives you tips to make your designs look great, and it does boring tasks for you. Give FigJam AI a try and it's currently free for all.

👏Conclusion

So becoming a frontend developer definitely requires learning these skills. You'll find these skills listed in every job description.

Remember, in your pursuit of frontend development mastery, focus on these core skills. Avoid the temptation to rush and learn too many things too quickly; this will only lead to wasted time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article.

You can follow me on X for latest updates on programming.


You can watch this video to understand this article better:

Top comments (16)

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kevintss profile image
Kevin Tassi

I like it thanks for sharing 💪

I'll use to teach Git before, so even students doesn't understand directly the purpose of git when starting a journey into web development it helps a lot. See the following:

  1. 1 week of git, very basic, in order to be able to push lonely (not collaborate)
  2. Learn HTML by pushing everything to learn on git (with GitHub, GitLab or else)
  3. Repeat for CSS and JS

At the end you'll be able to handle git by practising. Just note that is important to teach the philosophy which is to learn how to solve problems and not stick to "stuck state" when you don't know something.

Interesting to have feedback on this methodology

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codewithshahan profile image
Programming with Shahan

That's a great idea too. Learning by doing is the key.

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metalbest101 profile image
Codebalance600

A complete road map guide..

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codewithshahan profile image
Programming with Shahan

Yep.

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kc900201 profile image
KC

HI @codewithshahan, thanks for this comprehensive article. I also read your another article on roadmap to become a backend developer in another platform. Would u be open to create a Notion list on the roadmap for becoming a FE developer, just like the one you created for backend?

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codewithshahan profile image
Programming with Shahan

yes, I am working on it. I will create a post after finishing FE roadmap Notion.

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kc900201 profile image
KC • Edited

Can't wait for it to complete! Thanks for the update @codewithshahan

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adrienne_c_2a927e473fac9e profile image
Adrienne C

Hello, Army Veteran here. I am extremely grateful and interested in learning to code. I am over 40 and want something different and challenging. I want to create websites and or applications. I have been reading and researching where and what to start with for approximately 2 months now. So much bs 😒 out there 😆. I have an old macbook pro 2013 and a dream to learn programming. I'd like to get started working in the field, after a 6-8 month period of study that I have allotted for learning like it's a job. Seriously. The most effective way to learn a "thing" is by doing a "thing". I don't want to go into debt to learn a skill. Makes no sense to me.
Thank you so much for the roadmap. It has given me a starting point. Now to find a course or curriculum that's going to really teach me something and not waste my time! If you have any suggestions I am open to try. So far I've heard of freecodecamp and the odin project and cs50 I think 🤔 I'm just wondering if I'll really learn what I need to learn to land a job as either front end developer or back end developer. My goal is to learn AWS devops engineering. Also wondering what is a good starting point to learn AWS devops engineering. I'd rather learn AWS devops but am unclear if I need to do this in a specific order since I don't know a thing about coding/programming?
Have a magnificent day from NYC with ❤️

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antonkobelev profile image
AntonKobelev

👍 thanks!

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codewithshahan profile image
Programming with Shahan

Welcome.

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gigigder profile image
Pham

thanks for sharing

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codewithshahan profile image
Programming with Shahan

you're welcome.

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hariomop12 profile image
coder09

Superb explanation

you cleared my concepts

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codewithshahan profile image
Programming with Shahan

So glad it helped you!

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dovah profile image
Johan RINCON BRAZILLIER

For those who want a more detail roadmap, here is one I made on Notion : notion.so/developer-roadmap/Roadma...

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allexwang profile image
zhigang

You can take a look at AI-related analysis at bestaiproductlist.com/