Stop asking yourself if you’re good enough and start asking yourself if you have the right tools to be a successful software engineer
As I get back into the swing of coding, I wanted to set some goals toward improving as a software engineer.
My realistic goal for this semester is to improve my basic skills in web development. This means being able to design a website and utilizing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to make that design a reality.
My long-term 1.5-year goal (which is the remainder of my time as a UH student) is to see amazing websites or website features and be able to replicate them. When I look at the source code of a really cool website, oftentimes it looks like a foreign language and it seems as if I know nothing. But that’s a good thing! To reach my goal, I need to increase the number of tools I have in my toolbox as a web developer. After some research, here are the tools I’d like to have before I graduate.
Python has become extremely popular for data manipulation, computation, and representation. I went to a seminar for women in software engineering a year ago and one of the main topics was about the Python Flask framework. As mobile apps become increasingly more useful and important, Flask is an easy and simple way to develop the back end of webapps.
I learned that jQuery is a library of JavaScript code that many developers use to skip the process of writing “vanilla” JavaScript. Because who actually wants to stress about writing an entire JavaScript file from start to finish? I imagine that’d be a lot of Google searches. It seems to be a very powerful and an efficient tool. However, I believe jQuery must be earned. This is definitely something I’d dive deeper into after this semester.
MaterializeCSS is similar to jQuery because it takes the design aspect to a whole new level. It makes writing CSS easier to create modern designs and animations that’ll improve the user experience. Again, who actually wants to create their files from start to finish? But just like jQuery, MaterializeCSS must be earned. Their documentation website is very cool and I really want to utilize this someday.
From what I’ve heard, React.js is the standard for web development because (no surprise here) it makes web developing easier! In addition, many companies use React.js. So if I were to apply to these top companies, knowing React.js would make me a favorable candidate. React.js is only one feature of JavaScript to add functionality to a website. I’ve also heard about Anime.js and Laxxx.js, which improve the UI by using animations.
In the web development sphere, doing is truly the only way to learn, and sometimes that means getting out of your comfort zone and making mistakes. Here’s a helpful collection of websites that I look at when I need that extra kick of inspiration (and motivation)!