Okay so… I just entered my final year and ngl I’m lowkey panicking. I wasted my last 3 years doing basically nothing. I don’t know programming properly, never built a single real-world project, and now placements are around the corner.

Like fr, is there still any chance for me to pick up a skill, actually build stuff, and somehow get job-ready before it’s too late? Or should I just accept my fate lol.

Also random question (pls don’t roast me): is there even a platform where you can:

  • buy projects (so I can at least see how things work)
  • get mentorship/teaching from people who know their stuff
  • and later maybe even sell my own projects when I get better

Basically like a one-stop place to learn + build + get guidance. Does that even exist or am I just daydreaming here?

Any advice would be a lifesaver 🙏—

  • kescusay@lemmy.world
    2·
    16 days ago

    You’re studying to be a programmer, right? You don’t mention your comfort language, so I’m going to try to keep this language agnostic.

    Here’s what you do:

    1. Figure out the absolute simplest application you could possibly build. I’m going to suggest a to-do app, because it’s traditional and it’s a dead simple concept.
    2. Figure out the absolute simplest version of that application. I’m thinking it just renders a hard-coded list of to-dos with exactly one piece of interactivity, a button to cross off an entry.
    3. Add another piece of interactivity: Make the rendered text of a to-do entry editable.
    4. Add another piece of interactivity: Make the list resettable, so your edits and cross-offs vanish.
    5. Add another piece of interactivity: Make it possible to add entries to the list.
    6. Add another piece of interactivity: Make it possible to turn the list green.
    7. Add another piece of interactivity: Make it possible to remove entries from the list.
    8. Keep adding visible features until the frontend is the best goddamn to-do list you can make.
    9. Create a backend. Your backend has a database (such as MySQL). It has one table, which contains every to-do.
    10. Your backend should expose a REST API. If you don’t know what that is, read up on it. They’re very simple. Long story short, it’s a means of sending and receiving structured JSON.
    11. Here’s where your app gets real: The REST API can read from and write to the database. That means no more hard-coded entries on the frontend. Your frontend will now read from the REST API when it loads, and populate the to-do list from it. When you delete an entry, it will be removed from the database. When you cross one off or turn it green, it will change in the database.
    12. Congratulations, you’ve built a rudimentary real-world application!