Hey everyone! I just graduated and realized that my web development skills are a bit outdated. I have hands-on experience with HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL, and I actually worked as a TA for a semester helping students build websites using this stack. My university hosted everything on Linux servers, so I understand that part. However, I haven't really used JavaScript much, aside from a little exposure in my cybersecurity classes. I've been hearing a lot about modern tools like Next.js, Svelte, Bun, React, Prisma, and others, but I'm feeling overwhelmed with all this information. I want to build a full-stack personal portfolio website to showcase to potential employers, but I need some guidance on where to start. I'd like to work on developing and testing the site locally first before moving on to a hosting solution. Any suggestions on how to approach this would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
First up, you should definitely learn JavaScript! It’s crucial for front-end development. After that, take a dive into Node.js to get your backend skills up. Once you have those basics down, check out React at react.dev. From there, you can explore Next.js, which is a great framework for building apps with React.
If you already know PHP, you might want to skip Node.js and check out a PHP framework like Laravel or Symfony instead.
Keep in mind that ‘outdated’ often refers to specific versions rather than the whole stack. PHP versions like 8.2+ are still quite relevant! Learning JavaScript is helpful, but you don’t need to ditch everything you’ve learned. Stick with it on the front end while you gradually learn new technologies.
Don’t stress too much—many companies still use older tech stacks, so you’ll be fine focusing on what you already know (HTML, CSS, PHP). Just polish your skills, build some projects, and showcase them to potential employers.
So it’s really just about improving my existing skills, creating projects, and getting them online, right?
Would learning TypeScript be a good alternative to JavaScript? I like the idea of strong typing. Also, can you give me a quick overview of what Node.js, React, and Next.js do?