The Self study Planning to Secure Your First Programming Job: 2025 - 6 month Plan  FAQ

Okay real talk If you are reading this and thinking man I wish I started coding years ago  stop Right now You are not behind Not even close In 2025 companies are pulling their hair out trying to find junior devs And no they do not care that you studied business or engineering or even nothing at all What they care about is can you build stuff that works

I have been there I dropped out of community college in 2022 taught myself to code in my moms basement and landed my first job at a Dubai startup 5 months later Since then I have coached over 80 people in Saudi and the GCC through the same path Some got hired at STC others went fully remote with US companies All without a degree

This guide is the exact plan I use with my students Updated for 2025 No fancy jargon No 10 hour study days Just straight up what works if you are starting from zero and wanna learn programming from scratch to job without wasting time

Why This Plan Works in 2025

Back in like 2018 yeah you probably needed a degree or a 20k bootcamp But things changed Hard

Google launched their certs Microsoft followed Amazon now lists Google certs right under bachelor degrees on their job posts Even Aramco Digital started accepting them for entry level roles

I called a recruiter at a Riyadh tech firm last week Just asked her Hey do you actually look at degrees for junior roles She laughed and said Honestly if the GitHub looks good and they can fix a bug live we do not even check

The numbers do not lie Stack Overflow 2025 survey says 41 percent of working devs are self taught And get this 53 percent of hiring managers said portfolio quality matters more than education

But here is the thing You can not just watch tutorials for 6 months and hope That is how people get stuck in tutorial hell You need to build early You need deadlines You need to talk to real humans This plan forces all three

Month 1Build Your Foundation Seriously Skip the Math

Forget what you heard about needing algorithms or data structures first Start with stuff you can see and touch HTML CSS and basic JavaScript You will be shocked how fast you can go

Here is what my students do week by week

• Week 1 HTML only Make 3 pages About Contact Services Use real content not lorem ipsum
• Week 2 CSS Make it look decent Use Flexbox or Grid No frameworks yet Just raw CSS
• Week 3 JavaScript Add interactivity A dropdown menu a dark mode toggle something simple
• Week 4 Build a working project A movie list app where you can add and delete titles Saves to local storage

Use FreeCodeCamp for the basics It is free and their cert looks good on LinkedIn Scrimba is awesome too because you code right in the video

Big tip Do not ignore Git from day one Commit every day Even if it is broken Git shows progress and employers check it

Month 2Pick One Lane and Stay in It

This is where most people mess up They try React and Python and SQL and Docker all at once in month 2 Burnout city

Just pick one path for now You can branch out later Once you get hired you will learn the rest on the job Anyway

Path	Who It Fits	First Job Titles	Time to First Real Project
Frontend	You like design colors and making things look clean	Frontend Dev UI Developer	2 weeks
Backend	You enjoy logic data and making things run smooth	Backend Dev API Developer	4 weeks
Full Stack Lite	You want the most job options fastest	Web Developer Generalist	3 weeks

For 2025 I always tell new students to go Frontend or Full Stack Lite Why Because frontend jobs are everywhere right now And React plus Tailwind is the combo companies want most

If you go backend pick Node·js or Python Flask They are easier to start with and way more jobs in the region than Ruby or Java for juniors

Month 3 Build Stuff People Actually Need

Look I get it Todo apps are easy But no hiring manager cares about your 15th todo list Here is what they do care about Projects that solve real problems even small ones

Do these 3 instead

1. A Real Business Website Go to your local bakery or car wash Ask if they have a website If not offer to build one for free Include WhatsApp button Google Maps and mobile view Take screenshots add them to your portfolio
2. Entry Level Job Finder for Saudi Grads List 20 real jobs from Bayt or LinkedIn Add filters by city and field Use Firebase to store the data Takes like 3 weekends
3. Simple Arabic Resume Checker Use a free API like LanguageTool to catch basic grammar errors in Arabic CVs Make a clean UI You do not need AI just basic validation

I had a student in Dammam do the bakery site The owner posted it on Instagram tagged him Got him 2 job offers from people who saw it

Every project goes on GitHub Clean README with live link screenshots and one paragraph explaining what problem it solves That is your resume now

Month 4 Work on the Stuff Nobody Talks About

Here is a secret Coding is maybe 40 percent of the job The rest is talking explaining Googling fast and not panicking when stuff breaks

So this month you practice the soft stuff

• Join a Discord group like The Odin Project Do one code review a week Even just saying nice use of flexbox helps
• Record a 60 second Loom video walking through one project Post it on LinkedIn Caption Why I built this and what I learned
• Solve 2 easy LeetCode problems every morning Only arrays and strings Nothing fancy

Also write one short post every 10 days on Dev·to or Hashnode Something like How I spent 3 hours debugging a missing semicolon and what I learned Keep it real People love that

Month 5 Get Ready for Actual Interviews

Most junior interviews in 2025 are not whiteboard puzzles anymore They are either

• A small take home task fix this bug add this feature
• A live pair programming session on CodeSandbox

So practice that way

• Rebuild one of your projects in 2 hours on a fresh laptop Record it
• Explain your code out loud Use STAR Situation Task Action Result
• Have answers ready for
  • Tell me about a bug you fixed
  • How do you take feedback on your code
  • What project are you most proud of

Use Pramp for free mock interviews It matches you with other learners No pressure

Month 6 Apply Like a Human Not a Bot

Do not blast 100 applications Send 10 good ones Here is how

1. Pick 5 companies you actually like Check their open roles
2. Find a dev from that company on LinkedIn Send a short DM Hey I built X thought you might like it Link to project
3. Customize your resume Add one line about why you care about their mission
4. Apply within 24 hours of the job post Going up first matters

Companies hiring juniors right now in Saudi and remote

• STC Solutions
• Tamara
• Nana
• Salla
• Turing
• Remote OK startups

Turing is gold for remote work They do not care where you are If you pass their test you get matched fast

What Real Experts Say

I asked actual hiring people what they look for in 2025 No corporate fluff Just truth

Sarah Lead Engineer Careem Dubai If your GitHub has 3 real projects with clean commits and a README that explains why you built it not just how you are already ahead of most applicants We want people who think like builders not just coders

Mohammed Engineering Manager STC Riyadh Show me you can ship something useful in under a week Bonus if it solves a local problem like Arabic support or Sadad integration That tells me you get real world constraints

Layla Founder DevPath Saudi Stop saying I am a fast learner Say I built X in Y days using Z and here is the link That is what opens doors

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I really get hired in 6 months with zero experience

Yes One hundred percent My friend Faisal in Khobar got hired at a fintech startup after 5 months He built a Ramadan charity tracker with donation progress bars Got 3 interviews from that one project alone

Do I need a computer science degree

No Not in 2025 Google certs are accepted by most big firms here In fact almost half the junior devs I know in Riyadh are self taught Some did Google certs some just built a lot of stuff

What if I only have 1 hour a day

Doable Just make it count No Netflix in the background Use interactive tools where you type code every minute Track your commits on GitHub Daily streaks keep you honest

Which language should I learn first

JavaScript No question It runs everywhere You can build web apps mobile apps and even backend stuff with Node Start there Then add React if you like frontend

How much money do I need

Almost zero FreeCodeCamp Scrimba free tier GitHub YouTube channels like Web Dev Simplified All free Only thing I recommend is a domain name for your portfolio Like yourname dev 10 bucks a year

Final Thought

I know it feels huge right now But trust me Every single dev you admire started exactly where you are today Confused overwhelmed Googling stuff at 2 am

Just start Build one thing Then another Then talk about it That is the whole game

And remember learn programming from scratch to job is not magic It is just showing up every day and shipping stuff

Now go make your first commit I will see you in the comments