# Resources to Boost Your Career as a Self-Taught Developer: A Reading List # Introduction Well, I don't belong to a Tier-1 college, and neither I have a pretty good mentor to guide me, I spent most of my college days stuck in my home (No Thanks to the Pandemic) without proper guidelines and structure and was still able to bag a first class job as Product Engineer by the end of my last sem of college. If you are in a similar situation to me or a self-taught developer here is my 2 Penny advice you should listen to, **READ.** **Reading can excel your career more than any course can.** Here are my Top suggestion to Read some are biased toward web developers and others are Pretty generic. ## Design Patterns and Advance Web dev stuff. ### [Web.dev](https://web.dev/) If you are obsessed with web performance and good practices this website is the go-to. Web.dev is all about writing cross-browser performant web applications. This is mostly written by the developer and other team members of chrome. The website offers various resources for web developers, including blog articles, courses, code patterns, case studies, podcasts, and recordings of sessions with the Chrome team. The content covers different areas of web development and includes information on UI, performance, and cross-browser compatibility. The website emphasizes the importance of supporting multiple browsers, and many articles include data on browser compatibility from MDN's Browser Compat Data project. ![Guidance from Chrome Developer Relations](https://web-dev.imgix.net/image/jxu1OdD7LKOGIDU7jURMpSH2lyK2/R8GB4ZvgVvy4gimaqrXs.png?auto=format align="left") ### [Refactoring Guru](https://refactoring.guru/) If you already haven't heard about it you should definitely check it out, this is number one website that can make you better at writing code. This website talks mostly about two things how to **refactor code** and the **design patterns** which you should use. And if you are new, take my word for both are very important to understand while building large-scale systems. ![Refactoring.Guru](https://refactoring.guru/images/content-public/logos/logo-new.png?id=97d554614702483f31e38b32e82d8e34 align="left") ## News and Latest Updates. If you are in the Tech world you need to be updated on what's hot in the market and what is happening and for that below is perfect. ### [DevBytes](https://devbytes.co.in/) In this busy world who has the type for reading long news? **DevBytes** fix this issue by crunching down the only important part of Tech news/ blogs in just 64 words. Sick Right? Wait.. Wait that's not just it, **DevBytes** is a relatively new platform and understands your pain so not only 64 words sort blog DevBytes also have other options like **Daily Digest**, **Code Snippet, Latest Jobs, Tech news,** and whatnot. If you are busy and juggling between multiple things you might want to try their app and get the most out of your time. Here is the link for the [App](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.candelalabs.devbytes&pcampaignid=pcampaignidMKT-Other-global-all-co-prtnr-py-PartBadge-Mar2515-1). ![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1679594095803/9867114a-5040-481f-9471-6c5855aa6d50.png align="center") ### [HackerNews](https://news.ycombinator.com/) HackerNews is a community-driven news aggregator website backed by **Ycombinator** where users submit and vote on technology-related stories. The site covers various topics, including web development, programming, startups, and tech industry news. It has the most basic UI but it covers almost everything related to Tech, **"If it's happening in Tech is in HN".** ## Personal Blogs Now, this is totally biased, but here are some of my favorite Author blogs. Which I keep an 👀 on. (You get it right? Eyes on) ### [Josh W. Comeau](https://www.joshwcomeau.com/) If you are a front-end developer and ever thought of building the sickest Blog ever build dude let me tell you, you have already lost to Josh. I mean look at all the personal customization and CSS. Well it's true you might never build a sick blog like him but you can learn a ton from him. The blog covers front-end development, CSS, JavaScript, and design topics. It also features in-depth tutorials and code snippets. **Pro tip**: He also runs a newsletter ✉️ so you don't miss anything from him. ![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1679594878285/818b2178-2a6e-46b8-9b1c-5b17af5f0c47.png align="center") There are tons of blogs out there but it's totally up to you if you find yourself reading this blog now. **Mind giving me a follow?** ## Newsletters Newsletters are my favorite, I mean getting the best blogs right into your email? What else do you want? **Chill and Relax.** The pain point for Newsletters are they are mostly paid :( but good news mine is not. You can subscribe to my [newsletter](https://blog.theashishmaurya.me/newsletter) for free. ### [ByteByteGO](https://blog.bytebytego.com/) This newsletter is Run by Alex Xu a Teacher, A programmer, and A technical writer. He has been delivering amazing blogs and videos around System Design and Interview preparation. If you like looking at the depth of a system or are just curious about how something works definitely check him out. ### [The Pragmatic Engineer](https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/about) Well, this is another newsletter I closely follow and Like, this has a pinch of knowledge that contains pure Technical topics, as well as business, build around tech and other General topics. **FUN FACT:** While writing this I just received the latest edition to their newsletter, Fate? I don't think so. ## Conclusion So in conclusion! If you're a self-taught developer like me, or if you don't have a mentor to guide you, I've got some advice for you that has helped me become a better developer. My top suggestion is to read! Reading can help excel in your career more than any course can. In this article, I've shared some of my favorite resources for web developers, such as **Web.dev** and **Refactoring Guru**, as well as news and the latest updates sources like **DevBytes** and **HackerNews**. I've also recommended some personal blogs, like **Josh W. Comeau's blog**, and newsletters like **ByteByteGO** and **The Pragmatic Engineer**. By leveraging these resources, you can improve your skills and stay updated with the latest tech trends. So, start reading and enhancing your career prospects!