Free Career Roadmap
Become a Software Engineer
Build the systems that power the modern world
Duration
12 months
Salary Range
$70k – $220k+
Difficulty
moderate
Job Demand
very high
4
Phases
20
Skills to Learn
11
Projects
4
Certifications
1
Phase 1 · Months 1–2
Programming Foundations
Master a language deeply. Learn to think like an engineer.
Core Skills to Master
Recommended Projects
Build 5 small programs solving real problems
Solve 50 LeetCode Easy problems
Set up professional GitHub profile
Industry Certifications
CS50 Harvard (free)
freeCodeCamp (free)
Key Milestones (3)
Can write programs independently
Understand loops, functions, data structures
Has 5+ repos on GitHub
2
Phase 2 · Months 3–5
Full-Stack Web Development
Build production-quality applications end-to-end.
Core Skills to Master
Recommended Projects
E-commerce web app with payments
REST API with JWT authentication
Personal portfolio website
Industry Certifications
Meta Frontend Developer (Coursera)
Key Milestones (3)
2 full-stack portfolio projects deployed
Can architect a web app from scratch
Projects live on Vercel or Render
3
Phase 3 · Months 6–9
System Design & Interview Mastery
Level up to senior thinking with distributed systems.
Core Skills to Master
Recommended Projects
Real-time chat/dashboard application
Contribute to a well-known open source project
Technical blog with 5+ posts
Industry Certifications
AWS Developer Associate ($150)
Key Milestones (3)
Solve LeetCode Medium in 30 min
Understand load balancing, caching, sharding
3 impressive portfolio projects
4
Phase 4 · Months 10–12
Land Your Dream Role
Execute an aggressive, targeted application strategy.
Core Skills to Master
Recommended Projects
High-quality open source contributions
Impressive GitHub activity
Key Milestones (3)
50+ targeted applications sent
10+ interviews completed
First offer signed
Job Ready — Software Engineer
Completing this pathway equips you with verified projects, assessment scores, and the exact skills required by current hiring managers.