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Being a software developer is one of the highest paying jobs in the world. Therefore, you may want to become a software developer. JavaScript is one of the most popular and versatile programming languages in the world, so it makes sense to learn that first.

In this article, we’ll look at how you can become a successful JavaScript developer.

Learning How to Solve Problems

Software development is all about solving problems. So we have to get good at that.

JavaScript language, frameworks, and libraries are just ways to solve problems. We’re just using JavaScript to solve our problems if we’re a JavaScript developer.

Therefore, we should learn how to solve problems before we learn JavaScript. Learn some basic algorithms and data structures like lists and arrays. Also, brush up on basic math so that we can use them later.

Geeks for Geeks is a good site to look at learning algorithms and data structure as there’re many problems on those topics, from beginner to advanced levels.

Just look at the general principles for now until you learn some programming languages.

Learn JavaScript Basics

After learning how to solve problems, it’s time to learn how to solve them with JavaScript.

To do that, we can read books, take courses, or watch videos from YouTube. There’re courses of sites like edX and Coursera that are free if we’re just auditing them.

Therefore, they’re probably worth a try to see if it’s a bit. There’re also courses offline of course in schools.

The most important thing is that plenty of practice is required. Whatever you do, you have to practice solving problems you found in books and online

The basics include JavaScript variables and functions. Once you learn that, then learn about objects, classes, and methods.

These are all for storing data. You also need to learn about JavaScript operators so you can do something with the data in variables and objects.

Then learn about arrays and loops which lets us store data in a list.

Also, you need to learn about strings to know how to store text data.

Be sure to learn the latest JavaScript syntax since they’re better than the old syntax in most cases. They include things like spread operator, destructuring, let and const and more.

Learn the JavaScript Standard Library

After learning the basics, you should learn about things that help make our lives easier.

There’re lots of methods in the standard library that helps us like array and string manipulation methods.

Also, handling dates is also important. JavaScript has a built-in Date constructor to help us do that.

Learn About HTML, CSS, and DOM Manipulation

HTML and CSS let us put items on a web page and style them respectively. Therefore, it’s important to learn that if you’re going to become a JavaScript developer.

Once you know that, then you can learn how to manipulate HTML and CSS with JavaScript.

The browser parses HTML and CSS into by putting everything in a document object model (DOM) tree, which is a tree of all the parent and child elements.

This is important for front end development since DOM manipulation is the most basic operation of front end development. To learn DOM manipulation, you’ve to learn how to add and remove objects from the DOM tree.

Also, you’ve to learn how to style things dynamically with JavaScript.

If you’re proficient at this, then learning front end frameworks would be a breeze.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Node.js

Node.js is a runtime environment for running Node.js code on the server. It’s used for back end development and anything else other than web front end development.

Therefore, it’s also important to learn about Node.js. For back end development, Express is a simple web framework that’s popular. It’s simple enough that simple apps can be built without much effort.

To build a server-side app, it’s also important to know things like how to manipulate files on the server with the standard fs module, and how to save stuff to a database.

Conclusion

Becoming a JavaScript developer can be done for free as long as you have the aptitude and drive to learn all the basic knowledge. Also, plenty of practice is required to get good at JavaScript development so that’s also important.

If you want to become a successful developer, you have to learn more than writing code to become successful.

In this article, we’ll look at some technical skills that you need to become a successful developer.

Data Structure and Algorithms

Most of the time, developers are thinking about how to solve problems, and data structures and algorithms are the basic building blocks of solving problems with code.

They’re also needed to pass interviews if you ever want to get a job, where you may need to solve some data structure and algorithms on the fly.

Therefore, we all need to know about basic data structures like linked lists, arrays, and trees.

Basic algorithms like sorting, recursion, and iteration are also must learn skills.

To practice them, go to Geeks for Geeks or LeetCode for plenty of problems to solve.

Popular Programming Languages

Learn some popular programming languages so that you can start using them anywhere. They’re popular because they’re used by companies to develop their software, so it’s time to learn them by practicing at home.

You may also be asked some trivial questions about them in interviews, so it couldn’t hurt to learn them.

Popular languages like JavaScript and SQL are used by web apps a lot, and Python is used for data science.

JavaScript is the only programming language for front-end development and SQL is the most popular query language for databases.

Java is popular for enterprise apps. So at least those are worth learning somewhat.

Source Control

Source control is needed to keep track of changes in codebases so that we can revert bad changes and merge everyone’s changes together.

Git is probably the most popular version control system. It’s a decentralized version control system so that the code repositories are distributed in people’s computers.

With decentralized version control systems, we have to learn how to check-in and check out code. Also, we have to learn how to push and pull code from remote repositories.

Also, we have to learn how to fork and make pull requests to make a copy of other people’s repositories and to ask others for review before merging code respectively.

Text Editors

Text editors are used for editor source code. Many projects can be written with just text editors alone.

Projects that are written in interpreted languages can be written with text editors, while ones that are compiled like Java may need an IDE.

Learning keyboard shortcuts for them is also important for speeding up development with text editors.

Popular text editors include Notepd++, Visual Studio Code, Sublime, Atom, etc. So take your pick and see which one is right for you.

Integrated Development Environments

Integrated development environments (IDEs) lets us create and modify code projects and files. We can also run and debug code with it.

They provide all the tools to write, debug, and compile code all in one program. They are especially useful for projects that are done with compiled languages like Java and C#.

Popular IDEs include Visual Studio, Netbeans, and IntelliJ.

Databases

Most programs have to save data. And a lot of data are saved in databases. We have to learn databases to save data and then update them.

SQL is the most popular query language for creating, updating, reading, and deleting data.

Therefore, we should learn them fast. To make our job easier, we should learn about SQL queries, including nested queries, grouping, etc.

Popular database management systems include MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.

NoSQL database is also used in some situations like caching. They may save data as JSON or key-value pairs. Popular ones in this category include MongoDB and Redis.

Operating System

Whether we’re working with operating systems in a job or not, we’ve to know some basic things about operating systems like CPU usage, memory allocation, threading, etc.

We also have to learn how to write programs that are efficient on resources so that users won’t be frustrated with our programs.

Also, we’ve to learn about operating system shortcuts for our favorite operating system like Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc. so that we can work faster.

Conclusion

These are some basic technical skills to learn. It’ll take lots of time to practice and learn them.

If we want to be successful, we’ve to learn them all and practice everything.

Software is a skill that not everyone has and it’s useful. Therefore, it’s a skill that’s worth money.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some ways that we can make money as a developer using our skills.

Writing

We can write about what we know as a developer to share our knowledge on sites like Medium.

Medium has a partner program that gives us money if we write and someone reads our stuff if we join it.

Also, we can write to other people’s blogs. Some blogs pay for guest posts. They can be found online by finding keywords like ‘write for us’ or ‘pad guest posts’.

They’re also ones that don’t advertise that they’re accepting guest posts. In that case, we can inquire about them or waiting for them to reach us.

We shouldn’t overlook sites that don’t pay for posts but have lots of reads. Sites like dev.to have lots of readers and some of them will want our help if they find us.

They don’t pay, but they may give us opportunities.

App Development

We can make web apps and mobile apps to make money. For mobile apps, iOS has great potential to make money either with ads or as a paid app.

For web apps, people will pay if the app we make if of any use to them.

However, we shouldn’t go all-in on making apps and spend all our time coding. Instead, we should build a quick prototype to gauge the interest of our potential users before doing anything.

This way, we can build many of them and find one that sticks. Then we can double down on that one instead of wasting our time and taxing our brain on something that no one wants to pay for.

Freelancing

Freelancing means we’re offering our programming skills on a per-project basis to people that are near where we live or online.

We can do that one website like Upwork or Freelaner.com, or we can reach out to people in meetups or small business so that we can have more personal interaction.

To find remote opportunities, we should have a big online presence so that we’re promoting ourselves and being visible to others around the world.

This is probably a better bet than competing on bids on freelancing websites.

Also, reaching out to local businesses is a great idea to make some extra money. They often have software related issues that they want to help with.

For example, many small businesses don’t have money or time to maintain their website and we can help them with that.

Also, they may have custom systems like e-commerce or project management that they may need help fixing.

If we get some happy clients under our belt then they’ll refer us to more clients.

So we should do what we’re good at like making websites and offer our service to them.

It comes with a lot of benefits like being flexible with time and also works wherever we want.

However, it does come with lots of risks like projects being canceled or the client doesn’t want us anymore.

Then we have to go find ourselves more clients again. Each client is more like our bosses in regular jobs so that’s another downside.

Theme and Plugins for Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems (CMSs) don’t come with lots of functionality out of the box. This is why the themes and plugins market is thriving for popular CMSs like WordPress.

Therefore, it’s a great opportunity for us to step in and develop great looking themes and useful plugins that people can add easily to their CMS installations.

The only thing bad here is that the most popular CMSs are all written in plain PHP so that working with that isn’t the most pleasant experience for developers.

People need many things like donation buttons, responsive themes, analytics, automatic backups and much more.

Conclusion

There’re lots of ways for developers to make money. Writing can pay dividends since not everyone can share their knowledge.

Also, we can write software for other people like small businesses and clients online to make some money.

Finally, we can also write themes and plugins for popular content management systems like WordPress.

In these uncertain times, saving money is a must to weather through any storm.

In this article, we’ll look at how developers can save money by following some easy to follow habits.

Cut Cable TV

Cable TV isn’t all that useful since we all have to sit and wait for ads and our program to be on according to the TV station’s schedule.

Also, it’s quite expensive as it can get up to $100 a month easily.

Because of the low value that it brings but with a high price, this should definitely go.

Use Lower-Tier Internet Plans

The Internet is pretty fast nowadays. Even cheap plans are OK.

Unless we’re uploading high-def videos or using lots of upload or download bandwidth for commercial purposes, we really don’t need such an expensive Internet connection.

Even if we’re working at home every day, most people only deal with textual data, which doesn’t take much bandwidth.

Also, we definitely don’t 4K videos for any reason. Regular HD videos are already pretty clear.

And most of the time, watching dramas and movies in standard def resolution is still OK.

We really don’t need the excessively high resolution for videos.

Therefore, unless we need super-high bandwidth for work, we definitely can go for a lower-tier Internet plan.

Downloads can wait a bit and we can forego the 4K streaming.

Eat Out Less

Eating out less will save us a lot of money. We can buy food in bulk and make many deals with all the ingredients we’ve bought.

Also, we don’t need to eat 3 meals a day. Just eat when we’re hungry.

We aren’t going to run out of food in this world if production continues and supply chains are strong.

This can also save us money.

We can always as for a second opinion if we aren’t sure about how many meals we should eat.

Try Other Options When Eating Out

There’re many options when it comes to restaurant choices.

We can save money by thinking out of the box like trying ethnic food. They’re often more affordable than the regular restaurant chains and fancy restaurants that people go to.

They may even if more affordable than fast-food restaurants. The quality is often comparable to mainstream options, but the price is much lower.

If we go out to eat, then we got to think outside the box and try different things.

Buy Older Generation Electronics

Older and newer generation electronics aren’t that different. Things like cell phones, computers, etc. haven’t changed that much for the last few years.

Therefore, even if something is 2–3 years old, it’s still pretty much the same as the newest, shiniest gadgets.

It’s just that the older ones are much cheaper.

For instance, it’s pretty hard to tell the difference between the last few versions of Android.

They all look similar and do similar things. Android has really matured.

Also, developer machines can also live for a few more years. Many developers write CRUD apps that don’t take that many resources.

We can run Linux on Windows with Windows 10 as an app or as a full-fledged VM in the near future, so we don’t really need a Mac for running Linux programs.

Most apps are deployed to Linux VMs or containers, so we can just use Linux instead of Macs except in some rare cases.

Therefore, since PCs can run Windows and Linux, we can just use a PC that is much more affordable than Macs.

The performance is comparable and there’s no vendor lock-in.

It might not be as polished as a Mac, but we can forego that after comparing the price tags.

PCs are way cheaper than Macs for the same hardware.

Pay Off Credit Cards

Credit card balances are meant to be paid off every month. Never forget to pay off our credit card bills.

Otherwise, the interests and late fees will shock anyone looking at their bill.

The interest rate is often more than 10%, and it also is more than 20%.

Therefore, we got to remember to pay our credit card bill every month.

Conclusion

There’re lots of ways for developers to save money. We can choose older electronics.

We never need the newest phone since the hardware and software didn’t change that much in most cases.

Also, PCs are sufficient for most cases and it’s much cheaper than Macs.

Finally, the slower Internet is sufficient for most people. And cable TV isn’t all that useful for most people.

In these uncertain times, saving money is a must to weather through any storm.

In this article, we’ll look at how developers can save money by following some easy to follow habits.

An Emergency Fund is a Must

We should never take any income source for granted. Finding a job may be hard, layoffs can happen, and business revenue can vanish overnight.

Therefore, we all need to save money no matter what we’re doing for income.

Just put some money in our savings account and don’t touch it.

Even with interest rates as low as it is today, we still get interest accrued from putting money in our savings accounts.

Anything will grow big over time because of compounding interest. Even if we put only a little bit in, we can save a lot if we’re patient.

Like anything that worth our time pursuing, saving money is going to be a long marathon.

Since most developers make more money than people in many other jobs, saving for an emergency is a must.

There’s just no excuse not to do it.

Create a Budget

We should create a budget based on what we make. This means that we should budget to spend less than we spend.

I know that’s easier than done. But we can all do it. We can save on rent by living with roommates.

We can eat out less, cancel cable, go for cheaper Internet and phone plans, etc.

If we want to save money, we can’t have fun too much outside. The minute we step out of our home is the moment that we start spending money most of the time.

Unless we’re just walking around our neighborhood, we’re going to spend money.

We’ve to pay to take the bus, drive, go for drinks, eat out, skiing, etc.

As soon as we go out, money flies out of our wallets. Therefore, it’s time to forego some things so that we can enjoy ourselves when we’re older and jobs are harder and harder to find.

Instead of going for a vacation far away, stay nearby, and don’t go so far. Also, sleeping in at home is also a great way to spend our vacations.

It’s also important if we want to retire. Leave the vacations for when we retire.

Stash Our Cash in Envelopes

We can also stash away cash in envelopes and don’t touch them. This way, we won’t spend them.

Also, we do the same with the money that we’re going to spend.

Swiping cards takes no effort and we can’t see what we’re spending directly when we’re spending them.

That’s bad because it’s very likely that we’ll overspend as we can’t see what we’ve spent.

Therefore, it’s better to spend cash instead of using debit and credit cards.

Credit cards are the worst because the interest rates for overdraft is insane. The interest rate that we have to pay for late-payments and overdrafts are double-digit high, so we shouldn’t use it much.

Save Automatically

We can set up an automatic transfer to a savings account under our name automatically.

This way, we always stash away money there.

Then we shouldn’t touch our savings account ever unless we’ve got a real emergency.

We got to do this for our own good.

Start Small But Think Big

Saving money is a marathon. We got to appreciate every small win.

Otherwise, we’ll give up very easily.

Since developers make more money that a lot of people, small wins can also be big wins.

We’ve to resist the urge to spend and stash money away. Then we pat ourselves on the back every time that we save a portion of our paycheck.

If that’s not enough to motivate us, think about the fact that we can retire earlier and be free to do whatever we want earlier we save now.

Start Saving For Our Retirement

The software development career generally isn’t too long-lasting. There just aren’t too many 60+-year-old developers writing Ruby or JavaScript code.

With all the young developers that can do the same thing for fraction of the pay, it’s no wonder that most places aren’t hiring many older developers for things that entry and mid-level developers can do.

Therefore, we may retire earlier than we expect. This means that we should start saving today.

Conclusion

We just got to save money as developers. It’s not going to be a long-lasting career for a lot of people.

Therefore, we got to prepare for retirement whether we want to or not.

Also, we got to save for a rainy day. If we don’t want to save anything, think about how we can use the money we stashed away to enjoy retirement sooner.