Mastering Computer Programming and Engineering with YouTube

Is it possible to go from a beginner to a professional software developer using only YouTube courses? The answer is a resounding yes. As long as you are actively applying what you learn and not just passively consuming videos, you can acquire the skills and knowledge required to become a proficient developer.

Why YouTube is a Valid Resource for Self-Taught Developers

The challenge is on! You’re asking me to create a curriculum that proves that it’s possible to learn to code through YouTube alone. Challenge accepted. As a web developer who started as a self-taught coder and have since become an engineering manager, I can attest to the effectiveness of this approach. Furthermore, I have experience teaching web development, so I know what it takes to learn to code and what hiring managers are looking for.

A Comprehensive Web Development Curriculum

Here is your syllabus. It’s a lot, but you can do it!

Foundation Courses

How your computer works How to use your terminal or CLI How the web works HTML and CSS JavaScript Git and GitHub How to build a basic web app (3 parts) React (3 parts) Node / Express SQL Build a Full Stack Web Application (2 parts) Unit testing with Jest and React Testing Library Three Tier Architecture Building a Full Stack Web Application part 2 AWS (4 parts) Getting Started with Freelance Web Development Coding Interviews Big O and Complexity Analysis JavaScript Algorithms (Playlist) JavaScript Data Structures (Playlist) Finding a Web Development Job with No Experience

Building Projects from Scratch

For all these courses, there are no videos to guide you. Instead, you will be expected to build projects on your own. If you get stuck, remember that Google, Sites like W3Schools, Stack Overflow, and even ChatGPT can be very helpful, but you must write your own code.

Demystifying Web Development

Let’s break down the curriculum into segments:

How your computer works (2 videos) How to use your terminal or CLI (Apple / Mac / Linux, Windows) How the web works HTML and CSS JavaScript Git and GitHub How to build a basic web app (3 parts) React (3 parts)Build a shopping list app with the following functional requirements: adding and removing items, marking items as completed, and dragging and dropping items to rearrange their order. Node / Express SQL (MySQL) Build a Full Stack Web Application (2 parts) Unit testing with Jest and React Testing Library Three Tier Architecture Building a Full Stack Web Application part 2 AWS (4 parts) Getting Started with Freelance Web Development Coding Interviews Big O and Complexity Analysis JavaScript Algorithms (Playlist) JavaScript Data Structures (Playlist) Finding a Web Development Job with No Experience

Mastering the Curriculum

Take notes as you go and build all the suggested projects. Completing these projects is the most important part of the curriculum. While it may take a few months to go through all these courses, even if you put in a couple of hours per day, I guarantee you will not believe what you can do by the end of it.

Conclusion

I’m actually pretty happy with the way that curriculum turned out. Challenge accepted, challenge crushed! Now it’s your turn. Do all those classes. It will probably take you a few months, but you will not believe what you can do by the end of it. Good luck!