Should I accept this job?

I’ve been offered a job to create and design a website and a mobile app.
the client need this site to control a remote machine … He will give me the remote connection to test my code remotely.
This is my first job I don’t want to lose it, also I don’t want to take a job that I can’t handle.
So I don’t know what to do, I never did something like this before.
All of my projects I’ve built with FCC was just front end projects without back-end side. “BTW I told him this”
So Idk how to connect my front-end code with the back-end.
And Idk if I can control a remote machine with my current knowledge. “I got the front-end libraries certification”.
what do you advice me to do ?.
if my current knowledge is enough to create such website… is there any rapid tutorial explaining an example of how to do this?
Or there are any articles to read before I accept the job?.
And if you see I shouldn’t accept just tell me, so I apologize for the job

I advice you to make things as clear as possible with the client beforehand.
I’m in a similar position. I got offered to build an entire website/blog for a podcast and I know very little about backend.

I think that could be a good chance for you, to really push your limits. Usually we don’t work the same if we have a deadline and a responsability with someone else.
Do you happen to know an experienced web dev? Someone experienced that knows the specifics about the job, your skill level and the time you have to do it would be the person best suited to give you advice on this.

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Well i think you should go for this job, as while we learn something by the sole purpose of learning it we have no idea about where to apply the skills we are learning and how to apply them in any project. But when you have a goal to accomplish and you then try to find answers how to do something every tutorial, documentation, articles etc. starts to make sense and this won’t be a new term to you that ‘being a developer is to keep learning’. While working on every project in future at some point you’ll always feel like you’re missing some skills so those are meant to be learned and used at the very same time. You just need to be confident enough to say yourself that I can figure it out anyhow. At last no one knows you better than yourself.

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@Stahlone
I already made it clear to him that I’ve never worked in a project that had any back-end code.
And he didn’t ask me to do the back-end stuff … he just wants me to create the front-end of the website, the mobile app and admin system to control everything.

Unfortunately no, I don’t know any one in the tech industry in general.

@HarshitRichariya
I don’t mind learning at all.
but this time Idk from where to start searching to find out how to do it.
Even Idk the technical terms for which I will search to learn.
I’m just afraid as it’s my first job and if a failed to do it, the client review will affect me in the future, I might not able to get new jobs again. or at least it will be hard to get a new job again.
you have any suggestions for articles or terms to search about ?

You can start from gathering the fundamental knowledge of the stack on which your client want to have his/her site or if its already present then try to learn that stack. It would give you the terms you need like what server side language to work with and which database to use and ofcourse the server the website is using or supposed to use in future

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I believe a good rule of thumb is if you have at least 70-80% of the skills you need to complete a job, then go for it. Basically, if you understand how to do the majority of a project, and at least aware of what you you need to do and its just a matter of learning how, then take the job.

You mentioned you’ve done the Front End projects, so you know HTML and CSS… how comfortable are you and how far into the JavaScript challenges are you? If you are at the very beginning, only know HTML/CSS and have not learned a language yet, then I would not take this job. This would not be a learning opportunity, it would be an exercise in frustration, for both you and your client.

When it comes to using a project as a learning opportunity, thats more along the lines of picking up a personal project to learn something new without the fear that youre going to ruin anything, so its okay to break things, its okay if it takes forever to research what you need to do next, its okay to take pause to do a course to understand whatever new tech you need for the project. Now add the angle that are presenting yourself as a professional, which adds the expectation you can deliver on what they are hiring you to do, the expectation you need to deliver it within a reasonable time, and it absolutely has to function well.

My very first major freelance project beyond html/css was a simple CRM for someone who Id already made a few basic websites for his business. I told him straight up, I know how lay a page out and make it look good, but to do something like this, I know nothing. I was very blunt and upfront that it might take me a couple weeks, months, years, heck, I may not finish it…I have no clue cause I have no idea what Im doing. He was cool with that…the CRM was actually my idea in the first place anyway, and he didnt really care if he had one or not. It took me around 6 months or so to finish it…and then a few more months to work out all the bugs once it was in production. For some perspective, If I were tasked with that exact same project today, it would probably take me about a week, including testing. This project you are describing sounds quite a bit more complex that that.

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I’m going to chime in because this is actually the type of work that I do. My last two jobs have been working on web applications which are managing and controlling hardware.

It wasn’t clear from your post, but I assume that you would be working with a larger development team? Usually there are people who are developing applications on the hardware that include a web server, which your application will run against. If the person you are talking to is confident in your ability to do the job with only client-side knowledge, then it seems likely that there may be an existing API that your webapp will use to send instructions to the machine.

Trust yourself on this. If you feel nervous, but excited about this job, that’s great. If you really feel like this isn’t a job where you will be successful, then maybe it’s a good idea to build up your skillset before applying for jobs. You’re in the best place to decide whether this is a risk worth taking.

ETA: You should be comfortable asking what technologies you’ll be working with.

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@cndragn

I’ve finished all JavaScript and JavaScript libraries also and I do like coding js more than HTML and CSS.
it’s just Idk how to integrate a live streaming video from a remote Raspberry pi. and how to control the movement of a remote physical machine using just the code I’ve learned…I searched for articles and I’m still searching but still not sure I can do it.

Thats a dang good point…I had assumed he would be working on it by himself as a freelancer. But if part of a dev team and he is only responsible for the client-side then yeah this would be far more do-able and worth giving a shot. In my experience I gave as an example, I had to do both the front and back end, so its not really a fair comparison.

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Is there any way that you can look at his current code base to see what you’ll be working with? Maybe at least get some more information from him about where the project is at now to get a better idea of what you’ll need to do to move forward with it? I just got a pi for Christmas btw…can’t wait to play with it and do something cool :slight_smile:

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@ArielLeslie

He is just a man making a some kind of robot using Raspberry pi , he wants me to create code to control it’s movement remotely and also there a camera on this robot and should display it’s live stream on the site.

yes he said he will give me remote connection so I can test the machine remotely.
But is there any specific functions, methods or libraries of JavaScript to use?

There are several questions you need to ask. How should the movement of the camera work? What movements or key inputs could the user input which you have access to in the browser? And also very important, what is your delivery timeline cycle for features? Break the project down to features and components. What do you need to build before putting things together ? If you break these thing down to the feature, component, and even unit level, you list of things to do may become more achievable. Also, are you doing all of this development remote, or do you have any physical access to the raspberry pi? I am a little curious what this “remote connection “ will be… this could be a fun project, but you need to make sure that you are communicating to the person paying you all the different things that need to be done in order to do what they are asking. And last of all, of you never had any access to this device, how would you go about this project? Just by looking at this , it will get your head thinking and you can start to research ways to do this, and find out if there are any existing solutions which you can build off of. I hope this helps, good luck!

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I wouldn’t dare say whether to say either you should or shouldn’t take it, but remember that there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a role and then leaving it soon after you start.

If you go in and it happens to be overwhelming and something that’s way beyond the skillset you can learn and adapt on the job, then it’s absolutely OK to go and speak to your line manager and explain the situation and see what can be done. They may be able to move you into another team, they may be able to hire someone else to help you or it just might not be the right path for you at that point.

Communication in these type of roles is absolutely key. I see it so often in my job where people struggle in silence then it only comes to light after it’s too late to help them.

Best of luck with whatever decision you make.

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@SHoar @Ascii

Thank you for your efforts to help.
I find your replies encouraging to go through it and helpful as well.
thanks

كلنا هذا الرجل في البداية:grinning:

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@Mohamedit

للأسف عندك حق :smiley: