3rd-year CS college student with zero practical coding skills. Where do I actually start with Frontend?

[u/bibizynka]

Hey everyone! I’d really appreciate some advice from experienced devs on how to kick off self-learning and which resources are actually worth following.

I’m a 3rd-year college student majoring in Software Engineering. College has been a huge letdown: I feel pretty demoralized because I still can't really code, struggle to focus, and don't know where to find good learning materials (clear courses, sites, or YouTube channels).

Right now, I’m leaning towards Frontend. My college teachers suggested this roadmap: HTML → C# → JavaScript → SQL.

Does this stack even make sense for starting in frontend? What proven resources would you recommend for a complete beginner? Thanks a lot!

[u/xarop_pa_toss]

I don't understand these posts. So many CS and SWE students that have no coding knowledge... Like how? What have you been doing in these courses that you don't write any code?

Oh and it's surely CSS, not C#. Guaranteed

[u/-_-Anonymous_-_-_- → u/xarop_pa_toss]

Well from my personal experience these days university degrees tend to focus A LOT on the theory instead of practical coding. And the practical coding that is given is basically "Complete this project in a week or you fail" so theres no time to learn instead we have to just put together any code just to get the marks we need to pass.

[u/OceanMasterioDuped7 → u/-_-Anonymous_-_-_-]

And they SHOULD be teaching lots of theory. Lots of the actual coding application is learned after graduation in work settings, and it's not super difficult to learn programming on your own. It's not the problem of the universities if you don't practice coding in your own time as well.

Also, a week is all you need to put together a small program. Those classes don't teach you how to create your own project. They teach you the fundamentals and different parts of programming that are essential, such as data structures and how to implement them. My university has a required course that is programming using Git and in a group based format, which is where the longer projects come in.

[u/Vivid_Science_7805 → u/OceanMasterioDuped7]

I wish my programming course work included Git & GitHub project integration. I still don’t feel like I’m as skilled as I’d like to be in that area… which is why that is my current focus.

[u/dreamshards8 → u/OceanMasterioDuped7]

I've had multiple classes that required us to push to git and work on longer projects. It's a shame that not every school is teaching this.

[u/bibizynka → u/OceanMasterioDuped7]

I'm glad you have a good learning format. In my case, we never have group formats, and about self-learning, I agree 

[u/Vivid_Science_7805 → u/-_-Anonymous_-_-_-]

IMO coding needs to require real world inputs (Arduino or similar) translate the sensor input and pass it along to another computer, write a program that takes that input and performs conditional testing, if conditions pass, pass back a signal to perform some real world output, like LED, or unlock a door, or feed the dog or whatever. Then from that minimal “real world” nominal stack, the student should develop their specialty… front end to make the pretty interface display the “states” as visualized objects, or trend data for modeling, pull in historic & forecast data or something interesting… “how to create value?” … data in - perform some process to refine the data into useful information in real scenario - pass curated information on to your target audience (person, computer, database, IOT device, modeling system, etc) … But that’s just my opinion of the basic knowledge a competent entry level CS person should be comfortable performing.

[u/Warmongerrr → u/Vivid_Science_7805]

Are you an embedded systems engineer by chance ??

[u/bibizynka → u/Vivid_Science_7805]

Unfortunately, we don't have that. We're just given practical tasks in the Google classroom, and they don't really tell us much more. Unless YouTube videos include everything

[u/bibizynka → u/-_-Anonymous_-_-_-]

Yes, that's the case in principle. In my group, everyone did practical tasks in a hurry, and using AI. And that's why most of us don't know basic programming

[u/chhuang → u/-_-Anonymous_-_-_-]

this is still a CS field, not pure programming diploma. We learn theories from curriculum and self-taught most of coding after first year introductory java/python/c++ or whatever the curriculum provides.

That's kinda why I liked about uni courses, since during and after 2nd year, a lot of assignments and projects are allowed to complete in any programming language as long as the TAs able to execute it.

so theres no time to learn instead we have to just put together any code just to get the marks we need to pass.

for me that's half true, or maybe the times are different today.

• given any code that doesn't execute is automatically 0
• some of my peers and me always aimed full mark plus bonus marks, and actually attempt to understand what we are writing

sure there are people who has no interests nor passion in this field, and just asks for what's sufficient to pass, but really depends on how one rolls through their academic life

[u/Short-Afternoon8247 → u/xarop_pa_toss]

go on youtube and search crash course. Binge the whole playlist, it helps with visually see whats going on regarding software and hardware, also do mini projects with simple concepts like a calculator with numbers between 0 to 9. Any discreet structure or data structure concepts, you should try to code it. Spend free time learning to READ code. If i gave you a file with code, can you tell me whats going on? if you can a little but it takes time, that ok. If not, just go to freecodingcamp .org and pray. I personally go on social media platforms like twitter or even here on reddit, read the forums of people asking whats wrong with their code, try to solve it myself then read the comments afterwards to see if people see the same mistakes i saw. I guess what I’m saying is expose yourself to the community as much as possible so code becomes more familiar to you rather than a school subject and a burden, especially if you’re planning on doing this long term.

[u/bibizynka → u/Short-Afternoon8247]

Thank you very much for sharing this information. I'll try to stick to your idea

[u/bibizynka → u/xarop_pa_toss]

Well, look: Year 1 was purely a school subject where programming was out of the question. In the 2nd year, they added only two programming subjects, where everything was superficially explained and where everyone just barely passed with a 4,5 out of a 5-point system

[u/DisrememberedTea → u/xarop_pa_toss]

This has me confused too. I’m just finishing the last 2 modules of my first year of CS and we’ve done a lot of programming projects so far, starting with procedural and then object oriented. My current modules require backend development (having built the frontend) and SQL, which carries a lot of the skills learned in those earlier modules through.

1 year in, I’m far from being a fast programmer and have to look a lot of things up, but I’m also pretty happy with what has been learned so far and I have 3 more years to build on it. I couldn’t imagine getting to the end of the degree without having developed any worthwhile coding skills, unless students are just using Ai without trying to learn or even understand the code themselves.

[u/xarop_pa_toss → u/DisrememberedTea]

I understand there's a big difference between CS and SWE courses but in 2 or 3 years of classes you are not able to teach your students how to program properly if at all?? Unacceptable imo

[u/undertakerryu → u/xarop_pa_toss]

It varries wildly by college. My buddy's in for a mechanical engineering degree and the one course he had about coding was more in depth than any of the ones I've had in my swe degree and I am 1~ year out from graduation. I do stuff for work and fun with coding and then they do teach enough to get you started with c# and Java but it was way less coding than I expected. What I taught myself with SQL prior to school or the job was more coding than the courses I've had on it.

[u/Twixisbetter]

Look into the odin project to learn html, css and js.

These three languages will allow you to build full stack websites and applications. SQL is touched on later. C# isn't front-end.

What's most important is just doing the work required of you in front-end development to see if you even like it.

Through Odin you'll also learn version control which will help you focus better since commits force you to evaluate and document your decisions as you go.

Here you go:

https://www.theodinproject.com/

[u/bibizynka → u/Twixisbetter]

Thank you 

[u/potty_sus → u/bibizynka]

Hey i was in same situation as ur since im on my 2nd year rn tho i improve alot since following this road map hope it help!

https://roadmap.sh

[u/bibizynka → u/potty_sus]

Thank you very much! 

[u/Altruistic-Trade-815 → u/Twixisbetter]

what about backend ?

[u/SujanK14]

Can you seriously stick with one proper coding journey take odin project or similar for example. Just give it your best and try to stick on to it. If you're regretting now, you'll surely regret so much later on. Regret less now and just START!!!!!

[u/bibizynka → u/SujanK14]

Thank you so much!! 

[u/Quantum-Bot]

C#? Are you sure they didn’t say CSS?

C# doesn’t have much relevance in webdev.

For webdev, you’ll want to cover the fundamentals in HTML, CSS and JavaScript first. These three languages work together to build all website frontends. HTML provides the structure and content, CSS provides the styling and layout, and JavaScript provides the functionality.

SQL is the primary language for interfacing with databases, which is typically more of a backend task, but it’s easy to learn and doesn’t hurt to know.

For frontend, after the fundamentals you’ll want to spend some time learning and practicing design principles like accessibility and response web design, and then look into development with frameworks like React.js

As far as resources, W3schools has great free online tutorials for webdev fundamentals (though some of their info is slightly outdated). That’s a good place to start. I can’t personally vouch for it but lots of people recommend the Odin Project for free online courses in webdev, so you may try that out after playing around with W3schools for a while.

[u/bibizynka → u/Quantum-Bot]

Thank you very much for your help! I'm just starting to learn object-oriented programming and web programming

[u/ffrkAnonymous → u/Quantum-Bot]

OP is probably a bot. Because the curriculum is so garbage he needs a road map? (1 karma since 2023).

[u/bibizynka → u/ffrkAnonymous]

No, not a bot. The academic program at a Ukrainian college is really terrible for me. Just so you know, in my sophomore year, I was trained for about two months with C++, where they just gave videos and explained things superficially. Then there was a month of Python, which was still superficial. You had to complete courses with either a good reputation or money. So I'm not a bot. Everything I've written here is just a small part of how I'm trained here

[u/bibizynka → u/Quantum-Bot]

No, I wasn't wrong. I listened to the teacher yesterday, and he said so: Html - 5 hours, C# - 20 hours, JavaScript - 2.3 months and SQL - 3.4 months 

[u/InterUse → u/bibizynka]

Який універ?

[u/bibizynka → u/InterUse]

Фаховый колледж НУБіП

[u/VictoryZestyclose454 → u/bibizynka]

You're a bot. Who the hell measures months in 2.3 and 3.4 lmfao

even if this is some weird localization issue that i haven't heard of where some people do spans as "3.4" instead of "3-4" - no one who should be listened to would say that for a frontend web dev position it takes 3-4 months to figure out basic SQL, but you should only spend 5 hours on HTML. dumb as hell

[u/StuckInSilo17]

I recommend Scrimba. They have full learning paths for both frontend and backend development.

Because you're a student you can get the github student developer pack, which gives you access to various discounts and free subscriptions. You can get one month of Scrimba for free.

I tried the HTML, CSS and Javascript and they're good imo

[u/bibizynka → u/StuckInSilo17]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! 

[u/TheRealChizz]

For FE, once you understand the basics of reading HTML and JS logic, I recommend learning about functional programming. It took me a while for me to feel comfortable with React/JS functional vs Java/C#’s OOP programming

[u/bibizynka → u/TheRealChizz]

Okay. Thank you for sharing your experience! 

[u/AnythingButUseful]

I’d definitely put CSS between HTML and JavaScript. C# and SQL are useful, but they’re not necessary for starting frontend. I’d go HTML → CSS → JavaScript → Git/GitHub → a framework like React. MDN’s current frontend curriculum follows essentially that progression.

And honestly, don’t worry too much about being a 3rd-year student who feels behind. Pick one small project and build it while learning instead of trying to finish a giant course first. Even a simple personal site or to-do app will teach you more practical coding than passively watching hours of tutorials. MDN’s beginner path is specifically designed around building a first website.

[u/bibizynka → u/AnythingButUseful]

Thank you very much! 

[u/OGcapncrunchberry]

By doing the work on your time.

[u/omar56663313]

I got my first job as a Vue developer, maybe you would like to start with either angular, Vue or react

[u/bibizynka → u/omar56663313]

That sounds interesting 

[u/Parking_Flounder_712]

I’m also a final year CS student, and the best advice I ever got that really made me work out which direction I wanted to go (and thus figured out the best tech stack for me) was to think about what really annoys you. If you want to work on frontend, what are some sites or apps that you use everyday that drive you crazy / annoyed you with their latest update by altering something.

Then use AI and ask “what makes a site or app have this problem?” + “I want to learn more about that myself: what topics should I research?”

Then you can try to find books, blogs, threads etc on that topic, and maybe some GitHub repos working on those things.

You’ll find a niche that is actually interesting to you and you can see what other devs are doing in that space.

Also once you find your path, the best self guided tour type learning I found was roadmaps.sh - its the one I have kept going back to over the actual paid programs and things like Codecademy and all the freemium type courses etc.

Good luck and don’t stress, you’ll find your way.

[u/bibizynka → u/Parking_Flounder_712]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'll use it and try to stick to the same plan! 

[u/No_Drag2264]

Are you sure you want to do front-end?

[u/adambahm]

…with your hands on the keyboard.

[u/Abomb11yo]

How did you get through your intro programming classes and still not know how to code? Were you just following assignments or programming outside of class? Were you using AI at all? Don’t rely on AI to do the work for you because then you will not learn anything. 

You should learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to start learning front end. Can you take a class that will cover client side web development?

What have you been learning the past three years in your classes? What classes did you take?

[u/bibizynka → u/Abomb11yo]

The last subjects in the previous course were: Basics of Programming and Language Algorithm, where C++ and Python were studied superficially and for a short period. Operational bases involved a website where the teacher posted assignments, and in pairs, we silently studied the material without any explanation. Well, I'll see what they teach in the 3rd year now

[u/dreamshards8]

I see Odin Project being recommended, which is a great resource. Also check out freecodecamp.org. Their courses do not dive in too heavy but with their mini coding labs, it gets you on the ground running, and they cover a lot of core concepts.

Start building projects. Like...today. Whatever they are. That's the only way you will be one step closer to your goal.

[u/hvardhan_]

Are you sure frontends the right choice, I might be wrong but to me it seems to be completely replaceable by AI

[u/[deleted]]

Your degree may have covered concepts without giving you enough repetition shipping things. Start with one deliberately small page: make a plain HTML/CSS link list for a topic you care about, style it until the layout feels clear, then add a little JavaScript such as filtering the links. Finish and revisit that page before starting another tutorial. MDN’s Learn Web Development path can fill gaps; keep frameworks for later.

[u/Ok_Sock_3257]

Are you even interested in coding? This is a serious question. Virtually all coding tools are free, lessons online are free, GitHub is free.

[u/5eeso]

C# is strictly a backend language, so I don't know why they recommended it to you. SQL will come in handy further on, but not to start out. Take a look at the frontend roadmap at roadmap.sh.

[u/bibizynka → u/5eeso]

Thank you for your help. As for why I was recommended: Half of my teachers are incompetent

[u/ffrkAnonymous]

yeah, bot, if three years of college didn't work, self-study wont either.

[u/Strict-Ambition4334 → u/ffrkAnonymous]

I would disagree with that. Self-study can work just fine if you follow a structured path and actually build things. The problem here is a curriculum that spent a month on Python superficially, not the student. A frontend roadmap with projects would probably teach more in a few months than three years of that program.

[u/ffrkAnonymous → u/Strict-Ambition4334]

Of course pretty much anything would teach more than just one month. My point is that OP had those 35 other months to do <something>. Couldn't even find the python.org homepage that links to resources. Three year old account for this to be their first and only post.

[u/JGhostThing]

You'll also need to learn CSS and some web design skills.

[u/bibizynka → u/JGhostThing]

Thank you very much 

[u/bibizynka → u/[deleted]]

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