As with everything else in tech...especially on the web, we probably need some qualifying info to really answer this question though right? How large of a site are we theoretically talking about? Are we talking about a very basic HTML / CSS only site or a dynamic CMS site like Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, etc that uses a DB on the back end? Is it a very media heavy site? What kind of server is the site running on? We have to ask these questions because... Very small sites that have no DB on the back end and are only running HTML / CSS on a decently sized server (even shared) will most likely not need much optimization beyond image sizing, CSS / JS combining and minifying, and possibly some htaccess settings for headers and what not to get a pretty fast load experience. Any site that runs a DB on the back end will also then need to be optimized differently since very often the most costly thing to website load time will be calls to your server for files and calls to your database. Caching can be a huge help here. Also, setting expires headers can reduce those calls for a specified time. Media heavy sites should take advantage of a CDN. They are pretty much everywhere and very easy to use these days. Serving video or large images from a CDN will make your load time much better under normal circumstances. You can almost always make your site(s) run faster by throwing more resources at it (them) as well. Add memory and cpu, and things generally speed up. However, this is often the most costly solution. It is important to include this in the speed optimization equation though. Adding a bit more resources while you're doing the rest of the optimization can be a huge boost when combined. Lots to think about. This really only touches the surface...but that's what makes each situation different...and fun!

Not to beat a dead horse on the "it depends on your needs" idea, but it looks like you're maybe hosting a simple personal site? If so, and for others finding this thread that ARE at a more basic level, I would say don't rule out the simple and inexpensive options either. I've used everything from AWS to Heroku to Siteground to Hostgator and a few others along the way. Here's what I would suggest: If you are looking to simply host a very basic personal site and you want it to be as easy and affordable as possible, check places like Siteground or similar. HTML / CSS, Wordpress, Joomla, etc all work fine there. If you are doing something with a different tech stack, such as Node, you'll have to make a different decision (like the ones below). Also, if you want to LEARN as you host, take that into consideration as well. If you are hosting HTML / CSS or even Jekyll for your site, you can even do that with GitHub. This is a great way to learn git workflows on a basic site as well if that's of interest. If you want to learn the basics of cloud, but not dig too deep just yet, Digital Ocean is probably a good bet. If you listen to tech podcasts regularly, you can always get intro deals on DO and Linode to try them out. If you're ready to dig in and learn some fun stuff with the cloud, AWS is an awesome resource. If you don't have an account yet, you get 1 year of free tier to play with servers and resources. If you DO already have an account, create a new one for "business" purposes and still get your 1 year free tier. Starting with your current needs is always the way to go...but having discussions like this is great because it can also bring up things you didn't even realize to ask sometimes. Enjoy!

First of all...don't give up! If it's what you want you'll find a way to make it happen. I think sometimes it happens at a different speed than we want, but find something to fill that time and keep at it. Find a way to always do something a bit more complex. Add a cloud element to your MEAN stack application, for instance. Host it on AWS or something (try Elastic Beanstalk). Learn what it takes to do that, and add it to your list of skills if you don't already have it. Play with this stuff...it's supposed to be fun right? The social is HUGE. Meetups for sure. Just posting questions here is probably a good idea too. Someone might engage with you about what you're up to, etc. It does seem that different tech stacks live in different areas, so you might want to take that into consideration. Maybe try Austin for your specific stack, especially if you're not wanting to move too far away. Looks like right now there are 217 JavaScript jobs on Dice for Austin. Also, maybe try some interview prep practice. That could be really helpful. There are several services you can use for that now. You can do actual mock interviews with these ones: www.interviewing.io www.pramp.com Keep at it!! Good luck.

The struggle is the key! I wholeheartedly agree with that, and you have to love the struggle in order to get really good with something. Finding things to work on...to solve...that are the right level of difficulty can be a challenge at the beginning. I think not knowing what to try to solve and where to look for those opportunities is one of the main barriers to starting and leads to a lot of the fear of just jumping in. Because of that, I actually think that studying those tools (such as how to write a linked list from scratch using JavaScript) could be a great thing to do. It has been for me. But, I agree that it's only part of the equation. Until those "real" problems come along, or you go out and find them, doing basic exercises like reversing strings, and other hits, can be a great way to just start writing code...and they end up being very valid and real in the scheme of things. I like the analogy of woodworking a lot with this. There is definitely something deeply satisfying in sharpening your favorite plane or spokeshave and just taking thin curls off of a board. It's meditative, and you can lose hours in trying to get the perfect shavings and a perfectly flat board. That IS studying your tools, but it's studying them by using them. And it's studying the way you use them as well. You can gain a lot of benefit and skill from just working on a scrap board that isn't meant for a bigger project. However, you won't make anything "of use" until you try to do exactly that...over and over again. Jumping into a CodePen or a JSFiddle and just writing some code can be a lot like planing a scrap board. You might not use that piece of wood in a project you build, or maybe you will. Either way, you'll gain skill and be a better woodworker / coder for the struggle you put in.

I would vote for learning how to create an alias in your .bash_profile file. That will save actual keystrokes and actual time...especially for repetitive tasks. Pop the following into your .bash_profile and replace with a real directory path: alias workdir= 'cd ~/some/long/path/you/use/a/lot/for/coding' Then you can run 'workdir' in your command line and get to that directory really quickly. Lots of other stuffs and things you can do with an alias.

Nice work!!!