Learn semantic HTML first. Build forms that work, tables that make sense, and pages screen readers can navigate.

Make things look good and work on phones. Flexbox and Grid are your best friends. Start with vanilla CSS before frameworks.

The language that runs everywhere. Start with DOM manipulation, then async/await, then you're ready for frameworks.

Pick one and stick with it for 6 months. React has the most jobs. Build 3-4 real projects before moving on.

Stop writing custom CSS for everything. Tailwind lets you build fast and consistent UIs. Learn the class names by heart.

Catch bugs before they happen. Your future self will thank you. Start with basic types, then interfaces.

Manage global state cleanly, avoid prop drilling, and keep data flow predictable.

TanStack Query for caching, tRPC for type-safe calls. No more manual API typing or stale data headaches.

Build production-ready apps with routing, SEO, server rendering, and deployment architecture.

Manage multiple apps and shared packages with fast builds, caching, and clean dependency boundaries.

Write clean, maintainable components, optimize renders, and keep the app fast as it scales.

Design mockups, prototypes, and collaborate with designers on UI specifications.

Node.js if you know JS, Python if you like simplicity, Go if you want speed. Don't language-hop for 6 months.

Express.js is simple and everywhere. FastAPI for Python. Spring Boot if you're doing Java. Learn one deeply first.

Build APIs that don't suck. Return proper status codes, validate input, handle errors gracefully. GraphQL can wait.

End-to-end typesafe APIs without code generation. Perfect for full-stack TypeScript apps. No more API documentation hell.

Connect your API to databases. Start with the Databases section below, then integrate with your backend framework.

Stateless auth tokens that work everywhere. Learn to sign, verify, and refresh tokens. Store securely, never in localStorage.

Let users sign in with Google, GitHub, Discord. Use NextAuth.js or Clerk to avoid rolling your own auth hell.

Handle login/logout, remember users, protect routes. Redis for session storage in production. Cookies > localStorage.

Redis, BullMQ, RabbitMQ, cron jobs, and queues to cache data and process long-running tasks.

Monolith vs microservices, service layers, queues, and load balancing for scalable systems.

Rate limiting, input validation, CORS setup, CSRF protection. Hash passwords with bcrypt. Never commit secrets to git.

Logging, monitoring, retries, graceful shutdowns, and health checks for stable production services.

SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and JOINs. That's 90% of what you'll use. PostgreSQL is the best starting point.

Type-safe database access with migrations. Skip the ORM debates - Prisma just works and catches errors at compile time.

Plan your tables and relationships before coding. Use foreign keys. Bad schema design will bite you later.

Store sessions, cache API responses, and speed up your app. Learn SET, GET, and expiration - that's enough to start.

Learn add, commit, push, pull, merge. That's 80% of what you'll use. Don't overthink it initially.

Where your code lives. Learn to write good commit messages and PR descriptions. Your portfolio starts here.

Pick an editor and learn its shortcuts. Cursor has AI built-in. VS Code has more extensions. Both are great.

Connect to servers securely. Generate SSH keys, use ssh-agent, learn basic Linux commands. Your gateway to production.

API clients for testing, documenting, and debugging HTTP requests.

Browser debugging tools for inspecting DOM, network, and performance.

Code linting and formatting tools for consistent, error-free code.

UI component explorer for developing and documenting components in isolation.

Collaborative design tool for creating mockups and prototypes.

Unified toolkit for building AI apps with streaming, tools, and agents.

Unit testing frameworks. Jest is everywhere, Vitest is faster for Vite projects. Pick one and write tests that actually matter.

Test React components like a user would interact with them. Focus on behavior, not implementation details.

End-to-end testing that clicks buttons and fills forms like real users. Playwright is newer and faster.

Test your APIs by making actual HTTP requests. Simple, reliable, and catches integration bugs.

Load testing to see if your app breaks under pressure. k6 for simplicity, Artillery for complex scenarios.

Monitor your app's health with metrics and pretty dashboards. The gold standard for production monitoring.

Catch errors in production before users complain. Stack traces, user context, and alerts when things break.

Vercel for Next.js, Netlify for everything else. Both have generous free tiers. Deploy early, deploy often.

Railway or Render for simple apps. They handle the server stuff so you can focus on code. AWS comes later.

Docker, Docker Compose to package applications consistently across different environments.

GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitbucket Pipelines to automate builds and deployments.

Buy domains, point DNS, set up HTTPS certificates. Cloudflare is your friend for CDN and DDoS protection.

SSH into servers, manage processes, set up reverse proxies with Nginx. Learn systemd for service management.

Auto-scaling, load balancing, health checks to handle traffic spikes and maintain availability.

Write clear emails, cover letters, and cold outreach that actually get responses. No fluff, just value.

Understand what motivates people - clients, teammates, managers. Read the room, adapt your approach.

Explain your code to other devs without sounding condescending. Write PRs that reviewers actually want to read.

Write READMEs that help people get started in 5 minutes, not 5 hours. Document the 'why', not just the 'what'.

Translate technical problems into business impact. Explain delays without making excuses.