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So you want to be a .net developer? Web, Backend, Middle Tier? You’re asking yourself where do I start?

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So occasionally I get asked from friends and friends of friends and friends of friends of friends, I want to be a <insert, programmer, web developer, build websites, etc>.  How do I get started?

This is a loaded question. There so many directions to go and languages to choose from and then there is the college route, certification route or both. Then you have the Unix side of the house, the Microsoft side, now the all popular apple and android sides. Web platform, OS platform or mobile platform. Then you have to figure out where you like to work the most; on the front-end UI, back-end logic or maybe the database layer.

So for this article I’m going to with a bunch of assumptions.

  • You want to build web applications (You can apply this to OS applications, website and mobile later)
  • I’m assuming college doesn’t matter and is not needed (though a Computer Science degree would be awesome)
  • You aren’t doing it for the money (more on this later)
  • You’re following the Microsoft track using .NET (though the same techniques can be applied to other languages and application types, got to start somewhere)

 

You are not in it for the money:

This is my biggest pet peeve. If you are trying to be a programmer because you think they get paid a lot. Stop right now and go find something else to do.  Do what you like not because it pays a lot. Those type of programmers are the worst I ever meet. You go to work and do your job and try to get all your learning from on the job training. You go home and don’t give a crap about your job or try and don’t try to learn and enhance your skill sets at home.  You drain the life out of all the other programmers at work. I’ve seen this time and time again.

If you want to be a good programmer, or awesome, programming needs to be your hobby. You need to go home after work and continue learning.  You have to have a desire to be on the computer; programming your own projects for fun to learn new techniques after work. At home at night on the weekends. In life you should do what makes you happy and what you enjoy. Not because you think you can make a lot of money. If you don’t enjoy programming, don’t do it. I can go on about this so I’ll stop here.

 

What to Learn:

  • The Presentation Layer (or what we can the “Front-End” work): This is the visual aspects of your application and interactions. What it looks like how it functions.
    • HTML– Must Learn
    • CSS– You can get away with it if you don’t like front-end work but you should learn the basics
    • Javascript– You can get away with it if you don’t like front-end but you should learn the basics
    • jQuery– This heavenly needed for good interactions on your web application but you could get away with this if you don’t like the front-end. However, you should have a basic understanding.

Training Suggestions: On the web. Start with W3Schools. Great site, simple and straight forward. Soak in all the information you need. Always a good resource.

  1. W3Schools– For each section complete the “Basic” section. HTML, HTML5, CSS, CSS3, HTML DOM, JavasScript, jQuery,
  • The Business or Middle Tier Layer (or what we call the “Back-End”): This is the logic and heart of your application. Taking the information provided in the Presentation Layer and doing something with it. Calculations, data manipulation, saving it to the database etc..
    • .NET C# (or VB.NET but C# is more popular now a days and usually pays more (being that you are doing this even as a hobby, then yes pay is important and a side-benefit.))
    • ASP.NET MVC3 (this is newer then ASP.NET WebForms which is just as popular, but MVC is the future)

Training Suggestions: On the web and study books for certifications. Some people knock certifications, usually the ones that don’t have one. Certifications won’t make you great, only experience will do that. However, Certifications will teach you everything you should know and aspects that others don’t know because they don’t study for the certs. Small things here and there that add up. As well as showing to an employer that you might not have experience but you definitely can program and know the basics if you have your certs. More about certs in an updated post. Old post here.

  1. ASP.NET is a great place to get started. Specifically ASP.NET / MV3 site. Go through Chapters 1 through 12.
  2. C# Station– I’d stay maybe go to chapter 8 or 10.
  • The Database Tier (Also, part of the “Back-End”): This is storing data. Manipulating data. How to retrieve the data and run reports or searches.
    • First learn some SQL basics from W3Schools. Go through all the SQL Basic chapters.
    • Optional: Then you can learn say T-SQL which is Microsoft language of SQL built off of basic SQL. However, you don’t need this yet and learn as you go after W3Schools.

This is enough to get you started. Learn all the basics then figure out where you like to play the most.


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