👋 I want to know what your experience is like trying to break into the web industry as an an entry level developer, compared to my experience over a decade ago.

An unbelievable amount has changed since I stepped into the world wide web professionally. And I want to learn what it's like for folks navigating the landscape today in an effort to better empathize with folks in the industry.

10 years ago, web developers like me were often self-taught. We entered the game with nothing more than the title of "webmaster", when in reality all that meant was that we were managing the website for our Halo clan. 🔥

Today, developers have access to exhaustive coding bootcamps, online courses, and communities that aim to provide a solid foundation for your career. How do you feel about these resources? Are some of them more beneficial than others? Do you wish you would have entered the field differently after completing your bootcamp? As a grumpy old man 👴 in this industry now, looking at all these entryways is exhausting. I'm curious how you navigated the options.

As I've written about before, the other thing that strikes me is the diversity of skills that are expected from folks entering the scene these days. I won't rehash old posts, but I'm curious about your perspective. Is the full stack expectation one that matches with how you entered the web development world? Do you see this as companies asking too much of you? This is something that I would love to hear others perspectives on, because I have a pretty biased view 😬.

The last major difference I see is in how extra curricular development is valued. It was an unspoken requirement a decade ago that not only were you coding professionally, but you had a side project, or you were building something in a new language to keep up with the fast paced tech that was being released. Is this still an expectation for juniors? In a lot of circles I run in, there's been a recognition that this expectation is unhealthy. Not everyone wants to be immersed in code in their free time, and that's just fine! Your GitHub contribution graph does not define your quality as a developer.

There's a lot here. But I encourage you to share your thoughts, and your challenges as a junior web developer. Your perspective matters, and I'm here to listen, and learn. 🧐