Bug bounty 🐛
I started doing bug bounty in 2019 and really enjoyed it. For those who don't know what bug bounty is, It's a field where you find security vulnerabilities or bugs in websites or apps and report it to the companies which offer you rewards. Rewards can be monetary swags. Popular companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook have a bug bounty program but I mostly targeted lesser-known companies like boardgamegeek, Marvel app, shaadi.com, etc where the competition was less.
Switching to Web Development 🔄️
I enjoyed doing bug bounty but tbh the amount of money you can make can vary a lot. Meaning in the last 2-3 months of hacking websites, I managed to find all sorts of bugs ranging from XSS to RCE and made a whopping $150.
Most of the bugs were duplicates i.e someone already reported to them before I did, and the one that got me paid was an XSS. You have to be fast and first in this space. I make a good amount of money doing bug bounty, but it's not consistent. As much as I love hacking stuff I need to look at it more as a hobby rather than a full-time job, and that's when I discovered Web development.
Starting Web development 👨💻
I started with the basics of creating websites using HTML and CSS. With just these 2 things, you could create some pretty stunning and good-looking websites. I learned all of it from YouTube and wrote a series of blogs about what I learned each day along with free resources. You can check that out below 👇
https://abhisheky495.hashnode.dev/series/web-development
Learned the basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript in around 2-3 months and then made a few projects as well.
Tutorial Hell 🌀
The biggest issue I faced when it came to self-learning is the amount of resources available online is so much that you fall into a Tutorial Hell and it can be very frustrating and demotivating, as you feel like you are not making any progress or that you are not capable of building something on your own. Below are some points that help me overcome tutorial hell.
Code along - When you watch a tutorial make sure that you code along. With online code editors like codesandbox and replit you don't have to install anything. You can get the live links and start sharing the apps that you built instantly.
Small goals - Don't try to learn everything at once. Break it down into smaller chunks and learn. Eg - When learning HTML don't just start learning everything it can do. Start with just basic syntax like - headings, paragraphs, buttons, images, audio and video. Then the next day go with lists, links and forms and so on.
External monitor - I have a pretty good setup of an external monitor which helps me watch a YT tutorial and code along. If you can manage to buy an external monitor it will surely help you do more, it doesn't have to be 4K or a High Refresh rate, just a decent monitor to look at a video or code will help you a lot instead of using ALT+TAB.
Don't know it all 🤹♂️
When starting to learn a new topic like CSS, there is so much to learn that it becomes overwhelming and people start hating it. It's a vast and constantly evolving language that you don't need to know everything it can do.
Learn the basics and core concepts of CSS and move on to create projects and gradually build your knowledge over time.
You really don't need to know how to create a candle blowing out another candle animation, but in case you do, I got you covered 😆
I found this online, looks pretty cool.
JavaScript 🤖
Learning JavaScript was an amazing experience. I enjoyed manipulating the DOM and creating interactive elements on a website. It really made me want to build more interactive projects. Did the famous JavaScript-30 course by Web Bos and during this WorldCup, made an app where you predict who is going to win with cool animations.
https://worldcup-22.netlify.app - Best viewed on Desktop 🖥️
While learning JavaScript I also found that you can make desktop apps too, so learned the basics of Electron which is a framework used to build desktop apps and made a File Encryption app.
Onto React 🔵 and more ...
After learning JavaScript, I decided to learn a framework that could help me build even more powerful web applications and I choose React. I have learned the basics of React but my plan is to get really good at React and build projects on it. Scrimba's React course is a great free course to begin with React. I have done some of the projects, you can check them out below.
To dive deeper into the React ecosystem I have joined an online Bootcamp - neoGcamp to learn React and make projects on it. Hopefully, I can complete the course and have a better understanding of how React works.
That's my journey till now, hope you find something useful from this lengthy blog post. If not then the below resource should. Thanks for reading.