If you don't already have one, create a Gmail (Google) Account
Your email address says a lot about you. read: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/email_address or https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10605176/What-does-your-email-address-say-about-you.html
Gmail is the best ("free") email service (we are aware of). They take security seriously and have many great features (like search, filters and threaded messages).
Hundreds of millions of people have gmail accounts (most simply to use the Google/Android Play Store) as a result it can be hard to get your name as your gmail address. e.g. [email protected] is taken. So, consider adding an initial
Make sure you use a strong password. If someone can guess (or "crack") your password they will gain access to everything else. not good... 💩
While having a twitter account is not essential, it helps you
to stay up to date with news/updates in your chosen field. https://twitter.com/
Even if you don't become a Twitter "Power User", its good to follow what's going on in your the world of web/app development.
"All of the good names are taken..."
Not true.
Sure, many short, single word or personal names are taken, but there are still plenty of two-word or "invented" names you can pick from. Get creative with keeping your handle as short as possible. while making it easy to remember/type.
Decide what you want to be good at (known for) and follow all the people who are already doing (good) work in that area.
Follow people you know in "real world" so you can keep in touch.
Favourite the tweets you find useful/interesting/insightful/informative,
this serves multiple purposes:
(a) bookmark content so you can return to it later.
(b) the author of the tweet/content knows it was useful so they will make more!
(c) your followers can see what you find like-worthy.
If you think a post someone has shared is good re-tweet it!
This has many positive effects:
(a) the person who posted the content will
get positive reenforcement (i.e. they will make more content),
(b) the content author might follow you back (if they don't already)
(c) if you consistently re-tweet useful content you will become known
for relevance in that area and more people will follow/re-tweet you!
Github.com is where people share the projects/code they are working on, discover what others are building and collaborate on cool things!
There are other alternatives for sharing code in a team, but GitHub has become the gathering place for the Open Source community.
If you don't already have a GitHub account, get one today! (try and match the username to the one you picked on Twitter for consistency)
Add some detail to your profile so you are less "generic".
Especially the new "bio" section which lets you link to various places and add a bit of text describing yourself.
GitHub (and other services) use Gravatar to manage your avatar image.
If you find someone interesting on GitHub, follow them!
You can spot a non-coder (or ex-coder) a mile away by how few people they follow on GitHub.
Star the repositories (project) you find interesting/promising, both so you can return to them later and to encourage the authors to continue in their quest!
The easiest way to contribute to a project/repository is to read through
the documentation (README.md) and if you spot an improvement, create an issue!
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "[email protected]"
Do not be intimidated by the command line.
Asking a computer to perform tasks by typing words instead of
clicking on buttons.
If you are completely new to using the Command Line
watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP0b0iaZiWk (Git For The Intimidated)
and: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8GBXvdmHT4 (The Basics of Git and GitHub)
Learn how to use the Terminal:
Learn more about Unix (the Operating System of most Servers) read: https://www.unixmages.com/ufbm.pdf
StackOverflow is where technology people ask & answer questions. Create an account and explore.
Once you have registered, try answering people's questions: https://stackoverflow.com/?tab=interesting
When you get stuck on anything
Asking and Answering questions on StackOverflow is an easy way of demonstrating your knowledge.
If you have trouble getting your first few points on "SO", don't worry you aren't alone, get in touch and we will give you some pointers.
See: https://medium.com/@johnslegers/the-decline-of-stack-overflow-7cb69faa575d
Even though we use GitHub to manage our issue backlog, Trello is widely used by developers. It is one of the easiest, most versatile (and "free") project/task tracking tools. Take the tour, register and try it!
Use your Google account to sign up.
Most people use Windows but every developer should know how to use a Linux OS. There are dozens of Linux versions but the most suggested for beginners is Ubuntu. It's free and open source.
More subjective (opinion-based) than StackOverflow, Quora lets you ask specific people in the industry a question.
Again, use your gmail to register/sign-in
While we don't tend to use JQuery for new projects @dwyl (see: https://youmightnotneedjquery.com ), JQuery is still used on 65% of websites, so if you ever have to work on an existing project, you will almost inevitably come across it. JavaScript & jQuery Tutorial for Beginners: https://youtu.be/VRnQOcVclS8
Never skip a day without reading a good book, be it of any kind of book. Read as much as you can!!