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Full-Stack Developer Roadmap

This roadmap is a hands-on journey designed for aspiring full stack developers who are ready to go beyond theory and dive straight into practical coding. Whether you’re coming from a background in HTML, CSS, PHP, or jQuery — or just getting back into modern development — this path walks you through the essential tools, languages, and real-world skills needed to become job-ready in today’s tech landscape.

🎯 Goal: Full-Stack Developer (Job-Ready in Today’s Market)

The goal is not just to learn syntax or concepts in isolation, but to apply them immediately by:

  • Connecting to live APIs like WordPress and WooCommerce
  • Building dynamic websites that pull in fresh data
  • Understanding how frontend and backend systems communicate
  • Learning industry-relevant tools like Node.js, fetch, JavaScript ES6+, and later, React and Express

By the end of this roadmap, you’ll be equipped with the foundational knowledge to create fully functional, dynamic websites and web apps that mirror what real employers and clients expect — starting from scratch and ending with live data rendered directly into your projects.

You may be coming from an era of HTML, CSS, PHP, and jQuery, so you already have a solid web base, but modern coding stacks and language ecosystems has evolved a lot.

📚 Table of Contents: Full Stack Developer Roadmap

Day 1: Getting Set Up & JavaScript Basics

  • Install Node.js and run JavaScript files from terminal
  • Use let and const for variable declarations
  • Learn arrow functions and template literals
  • Introduction to destructuring and array methods (map, filter, reduce)
  • Make your first API call using fetch
  • Explore JSON data from a WordPress blog
  • Log structured post data to the console

Read to begin? Start Day 1

Day 2: API Data Deep Dive & HTML Rendering

  • Fetch live WordPress posts using the REST API
  • Extract post metadata like title, excerpt, author, media, and content
  • Make additional API calls to fetch author name and image URL
  • Combine multiple API responses for a full post object
  • Dynamically render blog posts to an HTML page using JavaScript

Day 3: JavaScript DOM Manipulation & Styling

  • Learn how to select and modify elements using the DOM
  • Inject fetched API data into the page with innerHTML
  • Use loops and functions to display multiple posts
  • Apply CSS styles dynamically to structure and beautify content

Day 4: Building with Real APIs (WooCommerce / WordPress Custom Usecases)

  • Explore WooCommerce product API data
  • Practice building product listings or featured collections
  • Learn how to work with API keys or basic authentication (if needed)
  • Create reusable fetch functions for different endpoints

Day 5: Organizing Code & Intro to Backend

  • Separate logic into functions and modules
  • Learn about JavaScript file structure and best practices
  • Set up a basic Node.js server using http or Express (intro)
  • Understand the role of frontend vs backend

Day 6: Express.js & API Routing

  • Install and configure Express.js
  • Create your own endpoints to serve custom JSON data
  • Handle GET requests and respond with real or mock data
  • Understand routing and middleware basics

Day 7: Hosting & Deployment Concepts

  • Intro to hosting on services like Netlify (frontend) and Render/Glitch/Vercel (backend)
  • Learn how to host your HTML/CSS/JS project live
  • Understand what’s needed to deploy a Node.js/Express app

This roadmap was developed using a combination of hands-on coding, API exploration, and help from AI-powered tools like ChatGPT.