The latest articles on Forem by Geraint Raikes (@raikes). https://forem.com/raikes https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3863599%2F9e776b8f-26ac-45a7-be7e-d03e740f635c.jpg https://forem.com/raikes en Geraint Raikes Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:25:06 +0000 https://forem.com/raikes/i-made-a-free-guide-for-people-who-want-to-learn-to-code-5814 https://forem.com/raikes/i-made-a-free-guide-for-people-who-want-to-learn-to-code-5814 <p>A friend wanted to learn how to build and deploy an app. They had zero experience so we started from scratch. As these things usually go I started explaining things over messages and quickly realised I was writing a guide.</p> <h2> What is it? </h2> <p><a href="https://firstdeploy.dev" rel="noopener noreferrer">FirstDeploy</a> is a free, step-by-step guide that goes from "what is a browser actually doing" all the way to deploying a full-stack app for complete beginners. One thing I realised quite quickly is that I speak to more and more people who would have never touched code before the 'AI' revolution, but who now want to understand how to get something deployed.</p> <p>I'm a Unix engineer turned engineering lead. I'm not a teacher. I just wanted to make something that would have helped my friend get going without having to wade through a million Medium articles and outdated YouTube tutorials.</p> <h2> What it covers </h2> <p>Three paths:</p> <p><strong>First Steps</strong>: Set up VS Code, get GitHub Copilot working, learn how the web works, build a React app with AI, then learn the fundamentals properly: variables, types, components, state, Git, security. Then connect a real database with Supabase and deploy the whole thing to production.</p> <p><strong>Building Real Apps</strong>: Add user accounts and login, protect data with Row Level Security, add multi-page routing, smarter data fetching with React Query, form validation with Zod, file uploads, and real-time features. You end up with a full recipe book app.</p> <p><strong>Going Full Stack</strong>: Build your own backend with Hono and Drizzle ORM, roll your own auth with Better Auth, put it all in Docker, and deploy it to a real server.</p> <p>There's also a bunch of deep dive guides on Git, TypeScript, CSS, accessibility, databases, React patterns, and a few others. Around 172 chapters altogether.</p> <h2> How is this different from everything else? </h2> <p>Maybe it isn't. There's loads of good stuff out there already but a couple of things I tried to do:</p> <p>GitHub Copilot is in there early on. I use Copilot often but can see how it can lead people astray. The guide tries to show you how to use it properly, and also how to spot when it's given you rubbish.</p> <p>I tried to write it the way I'd explain things to a mate. I was starting with someone who was absolutely fresh to pretty much all the concepts, so I didn't want it to be overwhelming. My aim was to have enough to get someone started.</p> <p>There are also some interactive bits: terminal exercises where you type commands into a fake terminal, note-taking where you can highlight and scribble on the chapters, and progress tracking.</p> <h2> Stack </h2> <p>If you're curious:</p> <ul> <li>React 19 + Vite + Tailwind CSS</li> <li>Bun + Hono + Drizzle ORM</li> <li>PostgreSQL</li> <li>Better Auth</li> <li>K3s cluster, Docker, ArgoCD</li> </ul> <p>Turborepo monorepo. Nothing exotic.</p> <h2> It's all free </h2> <p>Every chapter is readable without signing up. If you make an account you get progress tracking, notes, and the terminal exercises, but the content itself is all there.</p> <h2> Let me know what you think </h2> <p>I built this on my own so there are definitely things I've got wrong or explained badly. Happy to hear about it.</p> <p><a href="https://firstdeploy.dev" rel="noopener noreferrer">firstdeploy.dev</a></p> <p>Cheers.</p> beginners webdev showdev codenewbie