Resources for beginner developers

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Important disclaimer:

The list is not definitive. You can help by expanding it!

Getting down to business

If you don't know anything about programming and/or web development I recommend you to take a look at any of the three resources listed below. They were created with beginners in mind and will set you up for the upcoming journey of becoming a developer. I really recommend to check out the rest of this list too - it's full of great stuff!

🔥 Colt's Code Camp
🔥 Free Code Camp
🔥 Javascript30

Blogs

There are a lot of creators out there and some of them particularly focus on beginners. I regret this list is so short!

link	description
BaseCS	"Exploring the basics of computer science, every Monday, for a year."
https://dev.to/top/infinity	Just read some of the most popular blog posts listed here and you're golden!
https://randallkanna.com/blog/	A bunch of posts from the author of "The Ultimate Guide To Getting Started As A Software Engineer"
https://www.giftegwuenu.com/	Great articles and a lot of videos on many aspects of programming
We learn code	"Ali’s friendly guides to your biggest coding questions."

Blogposts

Every now and then I stumble upon a post which resonates with my inner programmer. I hope you also will find them interesting.

link	description
Am I a real software engineer yet	Interesting take on what poeple think about web developers and why should you care
Deep work	"How to master the #1 job skill that will never be obsolete"
Why learning code is so damn hard	"What every beginner absolutely needs to know about the journey ahead"
Yes, You Should Learn Vanilla JavaScript Before Fancy JS Frameworks	There's no argument it that. Read it to learn why

Books

The problem with books is while they get written, edited, printed, and optionally translated, the javascript world moves forward and they quickly stop being relevant. But if books work for you and you enjoy the smell of that freshly downloaded pdf then here's a short list of books you might find useful.

link	description
Eloquent Javascript	Probably the first book a beginner should read
You Don't Know JS Yet	Definitely the second book (series) a beginner should read because it gets very technical very quickly
The Ultimate Guide To Getting Started As A Software Engineer	"This guide will help you get started coding with low risk to your financial future and time."

Online courses

I like to have a plan of what should I learn. A step-by-step guide. Someone who will say "Welcome back!" when I log in. Online courses have it all (the 'welcome back' part depends on the good will of the presenter though).

link	description
Data Structures and Algorithms in JavaScript	"This course teaches you how to implement your first data structures and algorithms."
Getting Started with JavaScript	"Want to learn to code using JavaScript? This is a great place to start!" from the one and only Kyle Simpson
Harvard CS50	"An introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming."
Javascript30	"Build 30 things in 30 days with 30 tutorials. No Frameworks. No Compilers. No Libraries. No Boilerplate"

Gamification

Some aspects of programming can be taught by games which makes learning fun and, hopefully, quicker.

link	description
Code Combat	Students master core coding concepts such as while/for loops, functions, and algorithms all while playing a game. Unfortunately only part of it is free
CSS Diner	"It's a fun game to learn and practice CSS selectors."
CSS Grid Garden	"Write CSS code to grow your carrot garden"
Flexbox Froggy	"A game where you help Froggy and friends by writing CSS code"
Learn Git Branching	"The most visual and interactive way to learn Git on the web"
Mastery games	"Mastery through Deliberate Practice. Escape from tutorial hell"
Typing Club	The most effective way to learn how to type. Oh, you already know how to type? But do you use all 10 fingers while you type? That's what I thought!
Warrior.js	"Code your way through dungeons, prove your skills, and get hired."

Git

You will need git. Probably sooner than later so it's a good idea to grasp the basics.

link	description
Git and Github in Plain English	"This blog post aims to explain the “theory” behind version control (Git and Github) in plain English (...) No code. Nothing to download. No muss. No fuss."
Git Command Explorer	"Find the right commands you need without digging through the web."
Git Immersion	"A guided tour that walks through the fundamentals of Git, inspired by the premise that to know a thing is to do it."
Globalna konfiguracja Gita	How to make global .gitignore (it's in polish)
How to not f- up your local files with Git	Some good tips on how to use git with a team and not fudge up your files
Oh Shit, Git!?!	"Git is hard: screwing up is easy, and figuring out how to fix your mistakes is fucking impossible (...) So here are some bad situations I've gotten myself into, and how I eventually got myself out of them in plain english."
Understanding the GitHub flow	"GitHub flow is a lightweight, branch-based workflow that supports teams and projects where deployments are made regularly. This guide explains how and why GitHub flow works."

Career

Interviewing is hard. Passing an interview is even harder. Increase your chances of landing a dream job by consuming the below material.

link	description
Ace the coding interview, every time	"A practical blueprint, refined with the help of experienced Engineers, that will help you succeed in a code-intensive technical interview"
Career tips	Career tips for Software Engineers and Recruiters
Decoding the Front-end Interview Process	"Let’s take a look at the front-end development interview process and learn some tips to have successful interviews."
Get that job at Facebook	Pretty old post from a facebook engineer and interviewer
Get that job at Google	Even older post about interviewing for Google
How to fail a programming interview	A list of most common mistakes a candidate can make
How to write a killer Software Engineering résumé	"An in-depth analysis of the résumé that got me interviews at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and more."
The 30 Most Important Interview Questions to Ask This Summer	A candidate can also ask questions!
The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing	Interesting take on interviewing from the interviewer point of view
Watch technical mock interviews	"Watch technical mock interviews with engineers from Google, Amazon, and more"

Knowledge base (or brain dump)

Sometimes I need a solid source of knowledge. Reliable, up-to-date and easy to understand. So far I found these to be of that kind.

link	description
30 seconds of code	"Browse 898 short code snippets for all your development needs on 30 seconds of code."
30 seconds of interviews	"A curated collection of common web development interview questions to help you prepare for your next interview."
33 Concepts Every JavaScript Developer Should Know	"This repository was created with the intention of helping developers master their concepts in JavaScript. It is not a requirement, but a guide for future studies. "
50+ Data Structure and Algorithms Interview Questions for Programmers	"In this article, I’ll share some frequently asked programming interview questions from different interviews for programmers at different levels of experience"
BlockScoped - Random coding questions by topic and difficulty	It's all in the title
Developer Roadmaps	"Step by step guides and paths to learn different tools or technologies"
Front End Interview Handbook	"Almost complete answers to "Front-end Job Interview Questions" which you can use to interview potential candidates, test yourself or completely ignore"
Refactoring Guru	"Refactoring is a controllable process of improving code without creating new functionality. Design Patterns are typical solutions to the commonly occurring problems in software design."
SourceMaking	"Design Patterns and Refactoring articles and guides. Design Patterns video tutorials for newbies. Simple descriptions and full source code examples in Java, C++, C#, PHP and Delphi."
VS Code can do that?!	All the best things about Visual Studio Code that nobody ever bothered to tell you

Javascript

Also a lot of knowledge, this time purely about JavaScript

link	description
Guide for the daily JavaScripter	"This document is a summary of good programming practices in js in general."
JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures	"This repository contains JavaScript based examples of many popular algorithms and data structures."
JavaScript The Right Way	"A quick reference to best practices for writing JavaScript -- links to code patterns and tutorials from around the web"
JavaScript Questions	"From basic to advanced: test how well you know JavaScript, refresh your knowledge a bit, or prepare for your coding interview!"
JavaScript Visualized	First part of a great series on javascript fundamentals
The JavaScript Beginner's Handbook	The title is self-explanatory
The Modern JavaScript Tutorial	"How it's done now. From the basics to advanced topics with simple, but detailed explanations."
What the f*ck JavaScript?	"A list of funny and tricky JavaScript examples"

Online editors of things

Need to quickly put together some code? Not enough time to set up your favourite environment? The below websites come to rescue!

link	description
Code Sandbox	"An instant IDE and prototyping tool for rapid web development"
Carbon	"Create and share beautiful images of your source code."
regex101	"Free PCRE-based regular expression debugger with real time explanation, error detection and highlighting"

Learning platforms

It's all there.

link	description
Free Code Camp	"You'll learn to code by completing coding challenges and building projects. You'll also earn verified certifications along the way."
The Odin Project	"Provides a free open source coding curriculum that can be taken entirely online."

Podcasts

There are plenty of podcasts. I'm subscribed to, like, thirty but I regularly listen to one or two. Here's the ones which might be of use for the beginner developers.

link	description
CodeNewbie	"The most supportive community of programmers and people learning to code
Ladybug Podcast	"We’re debugging the tech industry."
Syntax	"A Tasty Treats Podcast for Web Developers."

Whiteboard challenges

If you're thinking of becoming a professional developer then sooner or later you're going to encounter coding challenge during an interview. Why not prepare for that in advance?

link	description
Code Wars	"Achieve code mastery through challenge"
Leet Code	"LeetCode is the best platform to help you enhance your skills, expand your knowledge and prepare for technical interviews."

link	description
Design Resources For Developers	Curated list of design and UI resources from stock photos, web templates, CSS frameworks, UI libraries, tools and much more
Here are 450 Ivy League courses you can take online right now for free	"Here are 450 Ivy League courses you can take online right now for free"
How to Hack Together Your Own CS Degree Online for Free	A list of resources related to computer science like algorithms, operating systems, maths etc.
Learn Vanilla JavaScript	Open source list of paid & free resources to learn vanilla JavaScript

Youtube channels

I wish I had the time to watch all of the videos my subscription feed is throwing at me.

Academind
Coding Blonde
Colt Steele
Fireship
mayuko
The Net Ninja
Traversy Media

Twitter people to follow

Twitter is a gold mine when it comes to talking about tech. Here's a list so you won't have to dig through hordes of people. Sorry if you're on Twitter and you're not on the list.

@_marcba
@cassidoo
@DThompsonDev
@EmmaBostian
@flaviocopes
@kentcdodds
@kvlly
@Madisonkanna
@ossia
@sarah_edo
@techgirl1908
@tlakomy
@WellPaidGeek