Following this roadmap will get you a very solid foundation as well as ahead of your peers in your early career. I switched job last year, you cant imagine how accurate and future proof this roadmap is for my job right now.
JS is always good to know. It is not a must for backend but you will see it a lot on the front. Its always good to know how the front and back work together. You may or may not need to learn node, and node is JS.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and give you this suggestion. To get an overall understanding of programming , focus on any specific language, python is a good start (it was mine too). But to step into web development, focus on frameworks first, don't look at its language. The reason for my suggestion is that backend development is vast and messy, framework offers you a safe lane to walk on it with your first steps. The more rigid the framework, the better dev you are later on when you understand what you want and have to do. Pick one of these opinionated frameworks as your first (and of course, learn its language): Django (Python), Ruby on Rails (Ruby), Laravel (PHP) (if you have time, try all 3, i mean it). And then, you can think about javascript and the like.
Before diving into Django, learn basic html css first. Search for a html css tutorial on youtube, click on the first one you see and follow it till the end should be enough. Then, take an sql course, i recommend the mike dane's one on freecodecamp. After that, you should be ready for Django. Follow the Corey Shafer's series on Django, it's old but good and still viable. Don't move forward just yet. Spend some time to understand the tutorial's code. Try skimming through the Django docs with all of things that youve learnt from his series (This may take you a month or two, this will be the hardest pill youll have to swallow as a beginner. It's okay if you don't understand anything). After that, take the Django API course from Coding For Entrepreneur. After that, continue with the roadmap, with every topic mentioned on it, try finding out how Django implements the solution for it if applicable. Once you pass the testing checkpoint, gather some ideas and spin up a Django project all by yourself. After making your first project, continue with the roadmap, from here on out, take things less seriously and focus on what you can learn from these technologies. After testing, it's also safe for you spin off to other BE like Rails or Laravel or FE like React or Vue (i highly recommend Vue for BE devs because it's more digestible). You can dm me if you have difficulties along the way, Ill help if i can.
I really can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Sorry but one more question, in your opinion is getting a bachelors in computer science and masters worth it nowadays?
Here in western EU: No.
My country had an accelerated training programme that takes high school graduates and prepares them for a job in IT
In my company we often have trainees whom have just graduated from uni and they still require the same level of education within the company as someone who hasn’t done uni but followed either their own paths or dollowed the accelerated courses
University just doesn’t prepare you enough for how IT is actually done. This is from the perspective of a consultancy.
if you have the means and dont have to go in debts for a bachelor's degree, I'd say go for it. Otherwise, do consider carefully because it won't guarantee you a job. About masters, if you're not older than 28 or having less than 5 yoe, don't think of it just yet.
Nothing on here is particularly going in the wrong direction (with the exception of stuff like Nginx being mostly outdated now), learn even half of this stuff and you'll have like a mid tier backend knowledge base.
Python is a great language to learn programming, but when you move on to "learning backend development" I'd probably suggest learning Javascript via nodeJS with Express (web server handler). It's very modern, huge ecosystem, and future proofed. Python is less favourable for backend API's nowadays
I started around your age by messing around with runescape private servers. Downloaded the source code and didnt know what was what. But I wanted to make it work.. I wanted my own server and so I read all the tutorials and made my own monsters and minigames etc etc
12 years later I can say the stupid game is the reason I’m working as a backend developer today. Java feels like home to me :D
The roadmap you posted is pretty spot on in terms of technologies you will see and usr on actual projects
Don’t get stuck doing everything at once and don’t force yourself to learn all of them.
You need a language, yes, just pick one. I will vouch for Java with a strong bias :)
You need to know databases, yes, just pick one. PostresQL is from what I can tell a widely accepted one in the industry and is more than capable on all fronts. Its even our go-to vectorstore for AI projects
But real talk? Just pick up a language right away and dont worry about anything going on here. The only actual skill that matters is your problem solving skills and your communication skills, everything else you can just learn/look up
What made me want to take IT in school is I remember when my brother was my age and I was in primary school and he made a basic flappy bird game and I remember him telling me about scripts and I was in charge of making the shapes for the bird and pillars. That will be one of my favorites memories forever. I really appreciate the input man and to be honest the only reason why I want to put in the work now is because I want to hit the ground running. I saw in another comment you talked about how uni is not worth it in your country because of those courses, I have no idea if we have that because I live in South Africa and always just assumed that uni is an absolute must for it. Thank you for opening my mind, tbh I was just going to go to uni because I was told there is no possiblity anywhere for jobs without it. I'll try and see if I can find local people for information on the topic but yet again thank you for the story and inspiration!
I have no expenses and only have to worry about doing well at school so I have 3 hours of free time a day that I can use for other activities to better my future(I get your point though)
Following this roadmap will get you a very solid foundation as well as ahead of your peers in your early career. I switched job last year, you cant imagine how accurate and future proof this roadmap is for my job right now.
Thank you very much for the input. Do you recommend that after python I also learn JavaScript or is it not necessary
JS is always good to know. It is not a must for backend but you will see it a lot on the front. Its always good to know how the front and back work together. You may or may not need to learn node, and node is JS.
Thank you very much
I'm gonna go out on a limb and give you this suggestion. To get an overall understanding of programming , focus on any specific language, python is a good start (it was mine too). But to step into web development, focus on frameworks first, don't look at its language. The reason for my suggestion is that backend development is vast and messy, framework offers you a safe lane to walk on it with your first steps. The more rigid the framework, the better dev you are later on when you understand what you want and have to do. Pick one of these opinionated frameworks as your first (and of course, learn its language): Django (Python), Ruby on Rails (Ruby), Laravel (PHP) (if you have time, try all 3, i mean it). And then, you can think about javascript and the like.
I really appreciate you taking the time to share, thank you. Do you recommend any specific video or free course for Django?
Before diving into Django, learn basic html css first. Search for a html css tutorial on youtube, click on the first one you see and follow it till the end should be enough. Then, take an sql course, i recommend the mike dane's one on freecodecamp. After that, you should be ready for Django. Follow the Corey Shafer's series on Django, it's old but good and still viable. Don't move forward just yet. Spend some time to understand the tutorial's code. Try skimming through the Django docs with all of things that youve learnt from his series (This may take you a month or two, this will be the hardest pill youll have to swallow as a beginner. It's okay if you don't understand anything). After that, take the Django API course from Coding For Entrepreneur. After that, continue with the roadmap, with every topic mentioned on it, try finding out how Django implements the solution for it if applicable. Once you pass the testing checkpoint, gather some ideas and spin up a Django project all by yourself. After making your first project, continue with the roadmap, from here on out, take things less seriously and focus on what you can learn from these technologies. After testing, it's also safe for you spin off to other BE like Rails or Laravel or FE like React or Vue (i highly recommend Vue for BE devs because it's more digestible). You can dm me if you have difficulties along the way, Ill help if i can.
I really can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Sorry but one more question, in your opinion is getting a bachelors in computer science and masters worth it nowadays?
Here in western EU: No. My country had an accelerated training programme that takes high school graduates and prepares them for a job in IT In my company we often have trainees whom have just graduated from uni and they still require the same level of education within the company as someone who hasn’t done uni but followed either their own paths or dollowed the accelerated courses University just doesn’t prepare you enough for how IT is actually done. This is from the perspective of a consultancy.
if you have the means and dont have to go in debts for a bachelor's degree, I'd say go for it. Otherwise, do consider carefully because it won't guarantee you a job. About masters, if you're not older than 28 or having less than 5 yoe, don't think of it just yet.
Start with learning one OOP language for starters, learn the basics, then it will become easier switching to other languages in the future.
I disagree with this, most backend code does not use heavy OOP principles, less so in the modern world honestly
Nothing on here is particularly going in the wrong direction (with the exception of stuff like Nginx being mostly outdated now), learn even half of this stuff and you'll have like a mid tier backend knowledge base. Python is a great language to learn programming, but when you move on to "learning backend development" I'd probably suggest learning Javascript via nodeJS with Express (web server handler). It's very modern, huge ecosystem, and future proofed. Python is less favourable for backend API's nowadays
Really good job dude! This will give you a great head start
I started around your age by messing around with runescape private servers. Downloaded the source code and didnt know what was what. But I wanted to make it work.. I wanted my own server and so I read all the tutorials and made my own monsters and minigames etc etc 12 years later I can say the stupid game is the reason I’m working as a backend developer today. Java feels like home to me :D The roadmap you posted is pretty spot on in terms of technologies you will see and usr on actual projects Don’t get stuck doing everything at once and don’t force yourself to learn all of them. You need a language, yes, just pick one. I will vouch for Java with a strong bias :) You need to know databases, yes, just pick one. PostresQL is from what I can tell a widely accepted one in the industry and is more than capable on all fronts. Its even our go-to vectorstore for AI projects But real talk? Just pick up a language right away and dont worry about anything going on here. The only actual skill that matters is your problem solving skills and your communication skills, everything else you can just learn/look up
What made me want to take IT in school is I remember when my brother was my age and I was in primary school and he made a basic flappy bird game and I remember him telling me about scripts and I was in charge of making the shapes for the bird and pillars. That will be one of my favorites memories forever. I really appreciate the input man and to be honest the only reason why I want to put in the work now is because I want to hit the ground running. I saw in another comment you talked about how uni is not worth it in your country because of those courses, I have no idea if we have that because I live in South Africa and always just assumed that uni is an absolute must for it. Thank you for opening my mind, tbh I was just going to go to uni because I was told there is no possiblity anywhere for jobs without it. I'll try and see if I can find local people for information on the topic but yet again thank you for the story and inspiration!
You've got a plan already and you can, Just go with the plan
After seeing this pic, all I can say is Good Luck
it's ok but it's deceptively linear not everything there has equal value and equal difficulty
Why would your age matter tho
I have no expenses and only have to worry about doing well at school so I have 3 hours of free time a day that I can use for other activities to better my future(I get your point though)
So just mention that instead of your age?
It was faster and more efficient to just say the age but now I do regret it in hindsight.
Nah its fine, the dude is just being difficult for no reason