Full-Stack Engineer

Welcome to the Full-Stack Engineer Career Path! Get an overview of the journey ahead of you, save some helpful resources, and join our community. Then dive into the field of web development and the exciting opportunities ahead.

HTML provides the structure for all web pages you visit. Learn the elements that you'll use to piece together this structure and best semantic practices associated with building out a web page.

Add some flair to your sites with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). You'll learn the fundamentals, which include: how to create rulesets, styling, position, layouts, and more to make your sites stand out.

Part of becoming a developer means you'll need the skills to create websites on your own computer. Use tools like text editors and Chrome Devtools to work out how to build websites locally.

Once you have your site, you'll want to share it — which means you'll need to host and deploy it. Use the command line and GitHub pages to make this deployment process seamless.

Learn how to incorporate colors, typography, links, buttons, and more to take your CSS to the next level. Then take your skills and incorporate wireframing to provide a vision for your site.

Sites show up on all different types of devices, like: desktops, cellphones, laptops, etc. Incorporate responsive design to create a site that adapts to your users' different screen sizes.

JavaScript empowers you to add logic to your website and create a truly interactive site. Start with the basics of variables, data types, conditionals, functions, and scope.

Build off your knowledge of JavaScript to implement even more functionality. Learn to utilize arrays, loops, objects, interators, errors, and debugging.

Git is a quintessential tool for version control. Use it along with GitHub to share your code and enable a collaborative workflow with other developers.

Bring together your knowledge of JavaScript, Git, and GitHub to create a project that can showcase your skills and be worthy of adding to your personal portfolio site.

The Document Object Model (DOM) represents the different parts of a website. Use JavaScript to manipulate the DOM and create a interctive site.

The web has become a tool to connect people from all over the globe. Learn how to make the web an even more accessible tool for all in this unit.

One important tool for displaying your skills will be your own personal portfolio site. Use your knowledge of web development and establish your own web presence.

Further your knowledge of JavaScript and implement classes, modules, and error handling. Once you're done, test yourself with the provided code challenges.

Learn what asynchronous code is and how it allows you to use JavaScript to smoothly handle actions that might otherwise block your app and make your users wait.

Confused about web pages, websites, and web apps? Take this unit to differentiate between these different terminologies and what a Single Page Application (SPA) is.

Be introduced to React, a popular JavaScript library, to build out the front-end of your apps. This library will build upon your JavaScript knowledge and teach you core React syntax.

Continue with React to learn how different components interact with each other using props, state, hooks, and use React Router, as well as testing with Jest and Enzyme.

Redux is a popular state management library that pairs well with React to create scalable front-end apps that enable you to use a centralized store to pass on data to your components.

Further your knowledge of Git and GitHub to streamline your processes for working collaboratively with others through forking, branching, merging conflicts, and making pull requests.

Combine your knowledge of React and Redux to create the front-end of an application like Reddit. Use this chance to also work collaboratively with others and add it to your portfolio.

Dive into the world of back-end development using your knowledge of Javascript to work in Node.js. You'll implement modules and utilize the Node Package Manager (npm).

Express.js is a popular Node application framework that enables you to quickly build out core back-end functionality straight out of the box.

Authentication means verifying that your users are who they say they are and authorization determines what permissions they have. Learn how to Implement these key features.

Testing on the back-end is also very important. See how test-driven development (TDD) is used to test features as well as the server in this unit.

Databases store the information that your app uses to function. Learn about different types of databases, how to work with a relational database, and how to locally set up PostgreSQL.

In this unit, you'll learn how to work more in-depth with databases, creating more sophisticated SQL queries and calculations to build data-intensive applications.

The design of a well-organized database can better facilitate the interactions of your application. Learn best practices to set up your PostgreSQL database.

Optimizing a database can make storage and retrieval of information faster — learn how to implement techniques that will let your database work efficiently.

Learn how to pair your database with your Node and Express back-end. This functionality will enable your app to serve up custom experiences for your users.

Your API is only as good as its documentation — learn how to document your API using OpenAPI and Swagger so that others can benefit from your work.

Pull together your Node, Express, PostgreSQL, OpenAPI, and Swagger skills to build out an e-commerce RESTful API worthy of your portfolio. Remember to work with others along the way.

You've learned front-end and back-end development, now learn how to combine the two to build out a full-stack app. You'll also learn how to structure your apps using MVC architecture.

Use Render to deploy your full-stack PERN app and share it with the world.

Web security is becoming increasingly important. Learn the fundamentals of what web security is and prevention techniques for common threats.

Data should only be shared with its intended recipients. Learn to secure your data using Transport Layer Security (TLS), Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and more!

There are common patterns that are used to attack web apps. Learn how to prevent the most common attacks like cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injections, and more.

Operating systems play a key role in how browsers, apps, and user interactions play out. Learn about core operating system functionality to get an under-the-hood look at the OS.

Development Operations (DevOps) is a culture supported by practices and tools. Get acquainted with the basics of how to support and maintain the development of apps.

Technical interviews are a staple used to gauge your programming skills. Learn what these interviews entail and how to best represent yourself.

Begin interview preparation by learning the fundamentals of linear data structures such as singly-linked lists, doubly-linked lists, queues, and stacks.

Continue your interview preparation by learning advanced applications that include data structures such as hash maps, trees, heaps, and graphs.

Another part of what's tested during the technical interview is algorithms. Learn what algorithms are, asymptotic notation, and different types of sorting algorithms.

Continue to build off your understanding of algorithms by diving into search algorithms that involve: binary search, search trees, and graph traversals.

Review some key technical interview topics such as whiteboarding and code challenges as well as soft skills which employers are looking for in potential candidates.

Highlight your skills and showcase your creativity by creating a full-stack PERN app of your choosing. Feature this project in your portfolio project and don't be shy about collaboration.