Full-Stack JS/TS Developer Curriculum

Goal: Get comfortable with the environment and core web basics.

Topics:

• HTML: Semantic tags, forms, accessibility basics
• CSS: Box model, flexbox, grid, media queries
• JavaScript (ES6+) basics: Variables, types, functions, control flow, arrays, objects
• VS Code: Extensions, debugging, productivity tips
• Command Line: File navigation, npm commands, running scripts
• Git & GitHub: Cloning, branching, committing, pull requests

Goal: Build interactive UI without frameworks.

Topics:

• DOM manipulation, events, query selectors
• Forms and validation
• Fetch API and JSON data handling
• Modular JavaScript with ES modules

Goal: Build scalable, component-based UIs.

Topics:

• React basics: JSX, components, props, state
• Event handling, conditional rendering, lists & keys
• Hooks: useState, useEffect, custom hooks
• React Router for navigation
• CSS in JS, styling approaches

Goal: Manage complex application state & adopt type safety.

Topics:

• Redux Toolkit basics: store, slices, async thunks
• Context API vs Redux
• TypeScript fundamentals: types, interfaces, generics
• Adding TypeScript to a React project

Goal: Build SSR & API-enabled apps.

Topics:

• Next.js: pages, routing, server-side rendering, static generation
• API routes in Next.js
• Environment variables & deployment
• Image optimization, metadata, SEO in Next.js

Goal: Build robust backend APIs with databases.

Topics:

• Express.js basics: routing, middleware
• RESTful API design
• PostgreSQL: schema design, queries, joins
• Connecting Express to PostgreSQL with node-postgres or Prisma
• Authentication with JWT & bcrypt

Goal: Deploy full-stack applications & work in production-like environments.

Topics:

• Docker basics: images, containers, Dockerfile, docker-compose
• Containerizing frontend & backend
• Deploying with platforms like Render, Railway, or Vercel
• CI/CD basics with GitHub Actions

Goal: Deliver a full-stack product from scratch.

Capstone Ideas:

• Social Media Micro-App
• E-Learning Platform
• Event Booking System

Requirements:

• Next.js + TypeScript frontend
• Express + PostgreSQL backend
• Authentication & authorization
• Dockerized for deployment
• Hosted live + GitHub repo with README