Tips/Advice for self-taught programmer?

[GroovyGuru]

To all you developers and programmers out there...

I've been grinding the last month teaching myself front-end web development . I've already covered the basics of HTML/CSS and have built several cool static web projects. I am actually moving on to my JavaScript course today. The reason I got into studying this stuff is because I have no desire to work in the finance world which is what I studied at college and have been thinking and looking for alternatives for quite a while now. I think the Life Purpose Course didn't necessarily directly show me that I want to become a developer but definitely helped me realize my values and strengths which ultimately lead me down a road of discovering this career path. Another reason is because I've always wanted to sort of have that digital nomad lifestyle in which I could travel and work in different parts of the world while earning a decent salary, and it seems that developer jobs are ideal for digital nomad type of life. 

I am asking if anyone has any tips for someone who is self-teaching. I start a part-time finance job next week so thankfully I will have tons of time to commit to studying and practicing. So far I've been doing anywhere between 25-45 hours a week. Is web development the right choice? What should I expect when it comes time to apply to jobs? How do I make myself stand out? Really any tips are appreciated. Leo I believe you were a self-taught game developer so if you happen to be reading this maybe you can give me a tip or 2 on what to expect or how to approach finding employment. 

Thanks.

[Hello from Russia]

Nail down what type of work you want to do/what position you want to have and nail down your resume/skills in this direction, become an "ideal employee" or "ideal subcontractor" on paper by analyzing  what people want/really care about in this niches. It works extremely well both in searching for job or in freelance/agency business

[GroovyGuru]

@Hello from Russia Thanks for the response. So as of right now, I've clearly established that I am going down the path of front-end development. Basically the path is simply HTML/CSS (which I've learned the fundamentals of), then JavaScript, then React all while building projects along the way to showcase in a portfolio to potential employers. You didn't mention that you are a programmer yourself in your response but I hope what I just said makes sense. Do you think this is an employable path? Should I get even more specific beyond specializing in a framework like React? If you yourself are not a developer you can just ignore my response.

[Hello from Russia]

@GroovyGuru No, I am a designer, but carreer challenges/environment is very simillar.

Sounds like a nice direction. There is huge amount of stuff you can do with it though. Try to think not only about your tech/skill stack, but also (1) about what type of clients/industry you want to be working in and (2) what you actually want to be creating.

It is actually way more efficient to think of a niche/what you want to create first and then see what type of skills will you need to excel at it and what proof of expertise should look like

Edited March 8, 2021 by Hello from Russia

[GroovyGuru]

@Hello from Russia Great advice, thanks.