Originally Posted by
El Pilot
Greetings. I have been flying for the past 7 years and only recently I got my first flying job. I have been thinking around with the idea of diving deeper into web development and flying for fun or maybe even on a part time on call basis. I have been mostly self-taught taking a few courses from team treehouse and codecademy. I am not a complete noobie, but I don't really have any work experience in web development just yet. Most of my projects have been basic HTML/CSS stuff and for practice. I was just wondering about the pro's/cons of web development field vs Piloting career. I have a passion for both but honestly, I seem to enjoy flying when it's casual instead of doing it day in and day out. Wanted to see if there are other Pilot/web developer's out there, and what study path would you guys recommend to make myself employable? Thanks.
Are you interested only in web development or software in general? If you're younger, have you considered pursuing a technical degree? Web development can be a good side hustle, but software engineering in general opens a lot more doors and would probably be a better career path than flying for a younger person starting out. Consider the difference between the two jobs. In software, you're a well paid knowledge worker who will be rewarded for the skills and abilities you've built over a career (though ageism is pretty bad in software). Pilots are blue collar operators who's skills and knowledge remain fixed over a career - a 3000 hour regional captain can do the same thing as a 10000 hour mainline captain. The difference is small and merit has very little to do with advancement in flying. Many people love flying, though, and there are plenty of smart people in the career. It's very much a lifestyle job.
HTML and CSS are a good start, but instead of focusing on websites, think of web development as "making software for the web". This is "real" coding (unless you're actually more interested in the design aspect). HTML isn't even programming, it's just markup. Dive into JS, SQL, React, Angular, etc., as well as the basics of CS/software engineering. Much of the non web related reference material will be in a language other than JS - C/C++, Java, etc., but it's worth knowing another language anyway. Code School (not free) might be a good place to start for web stuff. Or maybe a bootcamp if you want some instruction and have money.
Just start googling. APC is just about the worst place you could pick to ask for advice on how to learn web development. There are a bunch of subreddits with good info. Look there.