Developers. Choosing what path to take is tough. I'm going to change that. 👊

by Brayden

Developers. 👋

We all know that feeling when we're about to learn something new. 😆

Then... you realize all the decisions you'll have to make in order to master it.

...yeah 😕

It makes you want say "Yikes". 😬

Well sure, there are some great roadmaps and "Complete Guide for 2021" posts out there to help, but they all have the same problem:

Too much information at once.

Especially for newbie developers, seeing all the steps, resources, and concepts one must learn "to be a developer in 2021" can be quite stressful. 🥵

Unfortunately, many developers go through with it.

But hey, after lots of hard work, they achieve what they set out to do. 🥳

But couldn't there be a better way?

To be completely honest with you, I'm not sure.

That's why for the past couple days I've been brainstorming an effective solution to this ongoing problem that every developer encounters.

Before I start, I want to clarify that I have searched relentlessly through ProductHunt, Indiehackers, and Google for something similar to this, and I have not found anything like what I'm about to propose.

Let me know if you think otherwise ;)

What's the solution? An interactive roadmap where developers can pace themselves, make informed decisions, and achieve their goals!

Wait, wait, wait. Brayden, didn't you say roadmaps throw too much information at once?

Yes, but this one is different. 😎

Instead of a website that just says:

Here you go

...and the occasional "have fun"

The solution I've thought up is meant to slowly walk through the process, steps, and options at stake to the developer.

The goal here is to make the developer's experience calm and comfortable. 😌

Not worry-filled and stressful.

For example, if I want to master web development, the tool will ask me:

What prior knowledge do you have?

This way, the user doesn't have to re-learn anything they already know.

So I would probably cross off subjects such as HTML, CSS, Javascript, Bootstrap, and ES6.

Usually when a developer gets to this point, they have to pick a framework.

React, Vue, or Angular? 🤔

A typical question developers ask.

Well, in this tool, I will give everything someone would need to know about these frameworks. (again, without overwhelming them)

Stats such as:

Pros
Cons
Possible future paths
Popularity
etc..

Once they pick that path, they can always come back if the one they chose isn't a good fit for them.

Let's say they chose React, it would give them helpful resources on how to learn state management, components, CRUD, SSG, and so on.

Once, they reach the end, now they can really celebrate! 🎉

Sooo.... let's recap

The problem 😥: Being a developer and learning new languages/frameworks can be quite the handful. Developers might feel rushed with all this newness and make unwise decisions in the end.

Are there current solutions? 🤷‍♂️ : Yes, but they're not great. Roadmaps and huge posts have all the info, but don't deliver it in a simpler/non-stressful way.

What am I building to solve this problem?: 👇

An interactive roadmap with all the resources you'll need to be a developer in 2021. Developers can pace themselves, make informed decisions, and achieve their goals!

If anyone has feedback on this idea of mine, feel free to share it in the comments below.

Thanks for your help! 👍

Brayden

posted to

Building in Public

on January 11, 2021

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3

Definitely do it!

Be aware of the following though: pretty much EVERY framework has some gotchas. Things you may never run into, or run into them a looong way after you've committed to the framework already.

For instance, the "calendar" class from some Angular framework: awesome control, but if you use, lets say 6+ objects in a single page, boom, it's slow as hell.

The limitations of these frameworks - you only find them after using them extensively in your projects. Spending a few days and then gathering a few pros and cons will be a shallow review of a framework.

If you truly want to provide this, you'll need to do a LOT of research.

CinematicStudio

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4 years ago
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  I see what you mean. I’ll make sure I inform users of those “gotcha’s”.
  
  Thanks!
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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As a developer, I absolutely agree with the pain point you highlighted. The information is scattered out there. It takes a lot of research to identify the right stack for a project and for yourself. I will definitely be looking forward to the roadmap.

thearslankhalid

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4 years ago
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  Thanks. I’ll let you know
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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I agree with @roy_pro_max. You should do it!

I think this would be a super helpful tool for developers. And maybe later down the road, you could find a way to monetize it too. You never know. 🤷‍♂️

Best of luck, Brayden!

anthony_2

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4 years ago
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  Cool, thanks for the kind words Anthony.
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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    No problem, Brayden. Keep letting us indie hackers know of the progress you make!
    
    anthony_2
    
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    4 years ago
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      Thanks, will do.
      
      BraydenTW
      
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Curation of information is a great service! As a developer, I spent a lot of time just figuring out what's important to know.

averywlittle

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4 years ago
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  Good to know! I’ve been wondering if developers would pay for this.
  
  I was thinking of either a one time fee, or a $5 monthly.
  
  What is your position on this?
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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    I would not pay just for curation of resources for learning development. There are many free collections such as teachyourselfcs.com and others. If you are passionate about doing this, I would look into creating value through a good curation and roadmap tool. Then, I would monetize it through ebooks, courses, premium tools (job hunt tracker or something).
    
    averywlittle
    
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    4 years ago
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      Ok, that makes sense. What do you mean by:
      
      I would look into creating value through a good curation and roadmap tool. Then, I would monetize it through ebooks, courses, premium tools (job hunt tracker or something).
      
      Would I get mentioned in them? Would I make an ebook/course?
      
      BraydenTW
      
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      4 years ago
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You've definitely outlined a problem of people not wanting to waste their time learning the wrong stuff. This is only one problem a new dev faces.

I would challenge you to think about the jobs-to-be done with regards to this problem. For example, some people want to get a job, some people want to learn a new skill, some people want a promotion at work, etc.

From my experience in this domain & helping new devs on TikTok & Twitch, they already know what they need to be learning, but rather they want to build better habits, long term plans, sustain motivation, and develop focus to get more done in the limited time they have. An interactive roadmap that includes these concepts I think could be a true winner.

jdouglas

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4 years ago
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  So you’re saying that if someone needed to learn VueJS for their new job, a feature where they can choose Vue as their main goal would be helpful?
  
  That’s pretty neat! I’ll definitely add that to the development list.
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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    Yeah it could be helpful.
    
    I'm more trying to say that knowing "what to learn" may not be as painful of a problem your post makes it seem to be. Most devs or devs to be generally know what they need to learn next. But rather the challenges of "learning to learn" / "committing to learning" might be the actual pain.
    
    jdouglas
    
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    4 years ago
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      That’s true. I see what you mean.
      
      Thanks for running these ideas and other pain points by me. 👍
      
      BraydenTW
      
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      4 years ago
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Mmm... Going through one of these tunnels recently I get it.
And I get starting with your background if you have any.
And than I'd start with what are you trying to build?
App/site/resume skills

But some of the later choices might be so ..

While I have a lot of software experience I didn't do much frontend

Now going back I was like I know meteor is cool and I wanted to get back to it...
Got upset at trying to do Cordova builds
Tried ionic
Learner react
Than moved to svelte over framework7

Framework7 just worked for me while ionic was a pain to get anything going

Svelte seems so relatively new people don't even bring it up like here
And idk if it's the time to figure out what the deal is with typescript in it

And all these Cordova plugins vs HTML5/webapp and debugging android with or without emulator or remote devices
Official Cordova docs pointing to abandoned projects
(I appreciate more app guys nowadays)

:Sigh:

Where was I?
How do you actually untangle all of this and keep it up to date with major versions every 3,6 or 12 months?

Well maybe higher levels are easier like if apps are involved there are only 2? Well 3 paths or...

hatkyinc

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4 years ago
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  Very good insights! There are so many paths you can take as a developer it’s mind boggling 🤯
  
  I believe I can implement something in this app I’m going to build that would help solve that problem.
  
  Thanks for sharing!
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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Love this idea Brayden! Tbh this would be super helpful to me right now because I’m picking up HTML and CSS.

Thanks for the good read!

webdev_man

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4 years ago
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  Super glad this would be!
  
  Have a great week.
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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Rails + Turbo hotwire (and maybe StimulusJS). All good!

marvki314

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4 years ago
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  😃
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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This seems very similar to what I'm building over at https://devroadmap.com. Don't worry, I'm not accusing you of anything as I've barely marketed the idea yet, but I agree that it is a sorely needed tool! I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with as a solution😊

Sam_M

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4 years ago
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  No problem! Somewhat what I was thinking of doing, just more personalized to the user. This idea is one of many I've been brainstorming so I'm still working on this.
  
  Thanks!
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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Have you seen this one: https://coders.guide, sounds similar to yours but if not it might be a good reference. Definitely a necessary tool and good idea though!

Harrjm

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4 years ago
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  Pretty neat, its kinda like what I am making, but mine wil not just be a ton of info on one page. I’ll be curating resources, not typing up my own.
  
  Thanks for showing me though!
  
  BraydenTW
  
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  4 years ago
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Hello Brayden!

Sounds great! Many aspiring developers need this. You should definitely go for it! Also, I believe that many developers are also interested in resources helping them to switch to/discover other parts of IT (e.g., back-end willing to discover modern front-end, etc).

Recently, I've stumbled upon this project, which I found quite nice: https://roadmap.sh/. That might be useful for you, as a starting point for your more interactive solution.

I'm actually working on a pretty similar project (https://dev-concepts.dev), but with a different medium (book), and approach (generalist / breadth first).

Might even be interesting to discuss / team up later on, who knows! :)

Good luck with your project!

dSebastien

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4 years ago
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  Cool, thanks! Yep, I’ve seen roadmap.sh before. It was great with lots of resources, however there was too much info at one given time.
  
  That’s why I thought it would be helpful to create a tool that paces a user a bit more.
  
  BraydenTW
  
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This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

DeletedUser

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4 years ago
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  I think that’s really good advice.
  
  I too feel the same about other guides and roadmaps. I’ve been thinking of adding that one factor that would make me stand out even more from the rest.
  
  Thanks so much for the help, Timo.
  
  BraydenTW
  
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    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
    
    DeletedUser
    
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      Thanks, Timo. One more question.
      
      Should I monetize this? Or not? I’m thinking of adding a $5/month subscription plan or just making it free all together.
      
      No matter what I decide, I want to launch it. I’m just not sure if people would pay $5 a month ($60 a year) to use it. 🤷‍♂️
      
      What do you think?
      
      BraydenTW
      
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        DeletedUser
        
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        Good insights. Thanks for your help Timo. I’ll keep the community posted on what I end up doing.
        
        BraydenTW
        
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This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

DeletedUser

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4 years ago
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  Thanks!
  
  Having those types of questions in the onboarding process would prove to be very helpful.
  
  BraydenTW
  
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This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

DeletedUser

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4 years ago
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  Thanks for the kind words. I keep seeing this issue in developers daily and their confusion troubles me.
  
  I want to help them succeed in what they love doing.
  
  BraydenTW
  
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