My feed is full of coding bootcamp ads for web dev... got me thinking about good first steps in coding.

I keep seeing ads for bootcamps that teach HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in three months... they say you can get a job fast. But my friend who's a developer says skipping data structures will hurt you in the long run. I've talked to a few graduates and some really struggle with advanced topics. What's your take... quick skills or deep learning first?

4 comments

4 Comments

derekmason3d ago

Yeah that point about skipping data structures is a real worry. I've seen people rush out of bootcamps and hit a wall when they need to solve harder problems. It's tough because you want to start working, but building a stronger base early saves so much pain later. Maybe a mix, like learning the basics to build stuff you care about, but always making time for the deeper concepts too.

victor2533d ago

Last year, a buddy from my coding group got a web dev job after just three months of learning JavaScript. He never touched advanced data structures like trees or heaps. Instead, he built a few full-stack apps with React and Node. @derekmason, I get the worry, but in many real-world jobs, you're mostly dealing with arrays and objects. Deep theory can wait until you actually hit a problem that needs it. Spending months on CS fundamentals might slow down someone who just wants to start building and earning.

the_jade3d ago

Remember my friend who landed that Shopify dev gig without studying algorithms? She spent two weeks trying to fix a page loading slow, only to find out a simple hash map would have saved her from looping through a giant product array every single time.

the_jade3d ago

Honestly, that story about your buddy scares me a bit. If he never learned data structures, he might be writing slow code without even knowing it. My friend with the Shopify job wasted two weeks on a simple fix (like I mentioned before) because she didn't know hash maps. Skipping that stuff means you'll hit bigger walls later, when problems get complex and you can't just google a solution. It's like building a house on sand, sure you can move in fast, but one storm and you're sunk. Learning the basics early saves so much time and stress down the road, even if it slows you down at first.