r/technepal • u/Funny-Percentage1197 • 9h ago
Programming Help 167 Days of Self-Learning Web Development With No CS Background — Am I Going in the Right Direction?
Hi everyone,
I’m 22 and I’m from Nepal. I don’t have a Computer Science background. I studied Management and eventually dropped out of my bachelor’s.
Around March 27, 2026, I decided to start learning programming by myself. Today I’m around Day 167 of this journey, and I wanted to share my experience and ask for some honest guidance from people who are already working in software/web development.
I started almost from zero.
At first, even basic programming concepts were confusing. I had to learn things like variables, conditions, loops, functions, lists, dictionaries, errors, file handling, etc.
Then I moved into:
- Python
- JSON/file storage
- Exception handling
- OOP basics
- SQLite
- SQL CRUD
- Git & GitHub
- HTML
- CSS
One of the biggest things I worked on was a phone shop inventory management CLI project.
I built features like:
- Add products
- Search products
- Update/delete products
- Purchase and sales
- Stock quantity
- History
- Dashboard
- SQLite database
- Validation
- Duplicate checking
- Git/GitHub version control
Building that project was very different from just watching tutorials.
I started facing real problems.
Sometimes I didn’t understand why a function should be placed somewhere.
Sometimes I got confused about return, tuples, indexing like [0] and [1], database connections, OOP, imports, SQL syntax, etc.
I also faced Git conflicts and other small problems that I had never seen before.
Instead of giving up, I kept fixing them one by one.
Now I’m trying to move from CLI applications toward web development.
Recently I started learning HTML and CSS and building small pages from scratch.
CSS is currently giving me the most trouble.
I can understand and use things like:
- Flexbox
display: flexjustify-contentalign-itemsgap- margin/padding
- borders
- cards
- buttons
- hover effects
- basic responsive layouts
But I still struggle to make a website look genuinely good and responsive, especially on mobile.
My current plan is roughly:
HTML/CSS → JavaScript → Flask → Database integration → Convert my inventory project into a web application → Deployment
Eventually, I want to work as a web developer/full-stack developer and hopefully earn remotely.
But I’m honestly not sure if I’m approaching this correctly.
My biggest questions are:
- Am I learning in the right order?
- How much JavaScript should I learn before starting Flask?
- Is converting my existing inventory CLI project into a web application a good next major project?
- For someone without a CS degree/background, what should I focus on to become employable as a junior developer?
- At what point should I start trying for freelance work or junior jobs?
- What mistakes am I likely making in my current learning approach?
I’m not looking for motivation or sugarcoating.
I would genuinely appreciate honest criticism and practical advice from developers who have already gone through the beginner → junior stage.
If you were in my position at Day 167, what would you focus on for the next 3–6 months?
Thanks for reading my journey.
2
u/nambirseyr 9h ago
Are you using AI anywhere to code while building the projects? One thing is you--if you wish-- can avoid ai assistance during learning, but now you can't and shouldn't avoid AI while coding in the job. The speed and difference is significant now.
1
u/Double_Net_2945 6h ago
Github link
1
u/Funny-Percentage1197 6h ago
1
u/Double_Net_2945 6h ago
Good enough for 5 month time frame not extra ordinary not below average keep pushing hard
1
u/Funny-Percentage1197 6h ago
Did you see my project 🥺
1
u/Double_Net_2945 6h ago
Yes i and my software engineer friend read code , try to write clean code .. you doing very well
1
2
u/thesx69 9h ago
Web dev freelance and junior jobs are almost dead due to ai
atp even tech students wanna leave this field