How to start your journey into web development.
How to Become a Web Developer
There are many paths to becoming a web developer and I’m going to try and explain the few paths that I’m acquainted with. Majority think that to become a web developer you need a degree in computer science, information technology or any courses related to computer science. I beg to differ from this notion.
You can still become a web developer without attaining any degree or attending formal school. Be not mistaken you will still need to study, read and code, albeit not in formal schools where you’re awarded certificates, diplomas or degrees. And the most beautiful thing is that you can study, learn and master web development concepts at your own pace and in the opportune time.
With essentially every industry depending on the web to oversee business tasks, web development is a popular expertise that can open doors to a wide assortment of open job opportunities. Learning how to build your career in web development is the first step towards a successful profession.
With the development of DIY website building platforms, programs and cloud-based software, it might appear to be easy to learn website development Yet, on the off chance that you think about building a profession in the innovation field, you’ll need a solid foundation in website development principles.
If you’ve read this article thus far, you are serious about building a career in website development, However you have to be committed to perpetual learning. You’ll always have to be in a learning state, continuously learning, relearning and unlearning. Technology changes and adapts with time and user preferences, much of your learning will have to be self-directed and through self-discovery.”
Are you ready to learn web development and prepare for an exciting career? Before you begin your journey to becoming a a web developer, it’s important to understand what web development is and what a web developer does.
What is Web Development?
Web development is a broad field that plays a role in almost every industry. As a web developer, you could work to design websites or program the latest mobile app. You could create cloud-based software that helps businesses run more efficiently or be responsible for the user experience of an e-commerce website.
In fact, websites that load slowly lead to a $2.6 billion loss in revenue worldwide every year thanks to customers who won’t wait to make a purchase, according to an article from WebFX. The same article also reported that 89% of users shift to your competitor after having a poor user experience on a company’s website.
“The need to be able to build applications that handle employees working from home and still maintain back-end systems with the business’s data — that’s where you get a lot of people who are going to be needed for web development,” Frank Manning said.
With web developers in demand across many industries, it’s important to understand the types of web development available and what these developers do.
What Does a Web Developer Do?
Web developers design and create websites, applications, cloud-based software and more. As a web developer you may be responsible for the look of a website, the technical aspects of a site’s function — or both. basically what we call front-end and back-end respectively
Some developers handle all aspects of a website’s construction, while others specialize in a specific area. And web developers can work in virtually any industry, at any time from anywhere in the world.
With a career as a web developer, you could find yourself creating reports for sales teams that are based in Paris yet you’re seated in Kampala, tracking and adding new items for an e-commerce website in California yet based in Nairobi or designing new websites for a variety of clients across the globe. Developers can also work as consultants to guide businesses through a web design project or as a systems analysts to help businesses identify their website needs, weaknesses and how to mitigate or improve them into strengths.
Web Development Career Paths
The most common types of web development jobs typically fall into these categories:
- Back-end web developers: These developers are responsible for the technical construction of a website. They create the basic framework of a website and ensure that it works as expected. They also establish procedures for adding new pages, posts, blogs and all other updates to a website. These guys handle the framework of the website.
- Front-end web developers: These developers are responsible for how a website looks. They create a website’s layout and incorporate graphics, applications for features like e-commerce checkout and other website content.
- Full stack web developers: These developers manage both the front- and back-end of a website or application. Full stack developers are in high demand, particularly among smaller businesses that may not be able to hire a large web development team consisting of both front-end and back-end developers.
- API developers: An API, or Application Programming Interface, allows applications to access data and interact with other external software or operating systems. APIs are critical to many of the online processes businesses use to manage customer-side operations and back-end operations, and is a growing area of web development.
- UI/UX developers: Developers working in UI, or user interface, and UX, or user experience, focus on creating an online customer experience that is both visually appealing and functional. With more businesses shifting their operations online, these areas of development are in-demand.
Before getting started in one of these web development careers, it’s important to understand how to become a web developer and the steps you need to take to break into this growing field.
How to Become a Web Developer
No matter what area of web development you hope to work in, your career will need to start with education, either in a self-imposed virtual classroom or in the real world or both.
How to Learn Web Development
Even if you’re not enrolled in a computer science degree program, you can start learning web development right now.
There are infinite tutorials online, start by building a web page. It’s that easy. With the resources we have available on the internet, you don’t need to memorize anything, you just need to know it can be done and you can learn how to do it.
Still, while you can learn a lot through online tutorials, videos and blog posts, it’s important to note that if you want an accreditation for a professional career in web development, a College/University degree will be required.
1. Learn Key Programming Languages
While your degree’s web development courses will offer many of the technical skills you’ll need to work in the field, you may need to master additional programming languages or specific software for certain jobs — particularly as these technologies grow and evolve.
Some of the most common programming languages used in web development include:
- HTML: HTML is a front-end web development language that is used to build and design static web pages.
- CSS: CSS is a front-end development language that is used in conjunction with HTML to style a website.
- Java: Java is one of the most common front-end development languages used to design website content, games, software and apps.
- JavaScript: JavaScript is used in many aspects of web development to add interactive elements to a website.
- Python: Python is one of the simplest programming languages used to create a framework for virtually any website need.
- SQL: SQL is a database query language that is used when your website computes large amounts of data.
- PHP: PHP is an open-source language often used on data-heavy websites or for app development.
- .Net: .Net is a programming language used to develop a wide variety of applications, including web, mobile and Windows-based applications.
2. Enhance Your Learning with a Web Development Certification
One of the best ways to highlight your knowledge and experience with programming languages and other professional skills is by seeking industry certifications.
Certifications are important because they show that you have the theoretical and functional knowledge about how things work to the point that you could pass the test, a certification demonstrates that initiative to want to go deeper in their career and to certify their skills. Certifications show a lot of things — not just technical competency — but initiative and commitment to their fields.
There are a wide variety of computer science, information technology and web development certifications available. And the certifications you seek will vary depending on your interests and the jobs you hope to get.
Some popular certifications available for web development professionals include:
- CompTIA Security+: In today’s world, website security is top of mind for all businesses. And a web developer with proven knowledge in cybersecurity is a valuable asset to any company. The CompTIA Security+ certification is one of the top cybersecurity certifications available.
- Google Developers Certifications: To become a Google Certified Developer, you can take a series of certification exams that test your knowledge in a variety of areas, including: android development, mobile web development, data engineering and cloud engineering.
- Zend Certified PHP Engineer: This certification requires passing an exam that covers PHP language, syntax and data types, along with support for web-based input and output, web features, security topics and more. Training lessons and a certification study guide are available.
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: If you’re interested in API development and want to work to develop cloud-based software and other applications, this certification can help you stand out.
- Adobe Certified Expert (ACE): Adobe makes some of the most popular tools in the graphic design and web design industry. Adobe offers a variety of certifications, including Magento Commerce Front-End Developer and Magento Commerce JavaScript Developer.
3. Focus on Real-World Experience
Education is key to a web development career, but even the most highly educated professionals will have a hard time finding a job without proven development experience.
We have gone long past the time when you could get interviews by having a tuned up resume, you need to show prospective employers what you’ve done and what you can do. That is the biggest key to being able to break into a career in web development.
Even if you’ve never worked in web development professionally before, there are many ways to show your experience and expertise. One of the best ways to do this is by building an online portfolio of your work.
This portfolio can include work you’ve completed for your web development courses, but should also include projects done outside of the classroom.
This portfolio can be built on many sites like GitHub, Stack overflow, Git lab and many more that monitor and record the time a developer spends developing or working on code. This thus turns out into or converts into experience considered by most employers today.
Finding internships, volunteering to work on web development projects for local nonprofits or even completing self-directed projects can all give you lots of experience you can include in a portfolio of your development work.
There are also many opportunities to find freelance paid work as a web development student, giving you key professional experience working with clients and meeting project requirements.
4. Develop Key Soft Skills
Getting real-world work experience doesn’t only enhance the technical skills you need to succeed in web development. It can also help you develop key soft skills that are in high demand in the web development industry.
A lot of people, when they think of web development, they think of someone sitting at their computer all alone,but contrary to that thought usually this work is done in teams. You have to be able to communicate ideas, collaborate and work well with others.
Some of the most important soft skills for web developers are:
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
- Data analysis
- Creativity
Whether you’re collaborating internally with a web development team, thinking critically to find a creative solution to a development problem or communicating a web design project to a client, these soft skills are critical to your success in a web development career.
5. Earn a Web Development Degree
Some people can still insist on doing things the conventional or normal way even with the availability of other options or paths. So if you really feel you need a degree here you go.
Educational requirements for web development jobs will vary depending on the setting you work in and the type of work you do. While an associate degree may be enough to get some entry level web development jobs, many employers will require at least a bachelor’s degree.
The major/course you choose for your four-year web development degree — and the web development courses you take — can also vary. Web development degree options include:
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science: In a 4-year computer science degree, you’ll work to solve real-world problems in courses that focus on the design and development of computer software. You’ll take courses on topics including programming languages, software security and full-stack development.
- Bachelor of Science in Information Technologies: A 4-year information technology degree will help you understand the principles of computing and how they relate to business operations. An IT degree with a concentration in software development includes courses on programming languages and also explores the software development lifecycle.
- Bachelor of Art in Graphic Design: If you want to work on front-end web design and user experience, having a creative eye and solid design skills is important. A graphic design degree — especially one with a concentration in web design — can offer web development courses including interactive animation, user interface and experience and advanced digital publishing.
While most web development jobs require a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in information technology, computer science or software development may be required if you’re seeking a highly specialized web development job or want to manage a team of developers.
A master’s degree can help provide the bigger-picture view of web development and its function as part of a business that you’ll need to work in a leadership role.
If you have interest in management, then the master’s degree will give more of an abstract view on technology and how to use it as a tool to empower your team and their operations. But you can still have a great career with a bachelor’s degree alone.
Web Development Career Opportunities
With a technology or design degree and web development courses under your belt, you’ll be able to stop wondering how to become a web developer and start figuring out where you want to work.
Web development is a growing field, and there are a wide variety of work opportunities to put your degree to work, including:
- Development agencies
- Software companies
- Consulting firms
- Small businesses
- Large corporations
- Self-employment or freelance
Web developers are especially in high demand at small to medium businesses as companies continue to rely on more technology and web-based software to manage their businesses.
You have an opportunity in a small business to build relationships that will help you progress throughout your career and refer you to potential employers in future.
No matter where you choose to work as a web developer, web developer jobs and other similar careers are in high demand across many industries — and offer competitive salaries.
Employment of web developers is projected to grow 8% from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations.
Finally…
If you want to build a successful career as a web developer, your learning can’t stop after you’ve earned a degree. Because technology changes all the time, you’ll need to commit to finding new opportunities to practice your skills, learn new technologies and network with other developers.
Find developer forums, hobby projects, virtual meetups and other ways to continue to invest in your technical abilities and think about technology holistically. It’s not enough to just learn about coding. You need to think about the many factors that affect what you code and how you code. You need to learn to become a problem solver.
“Anyone can learn to write code that computers understand but it takes a wonderful programmer to write code that is understandable and relatable to other humans.” Samson Kapeeyi said
Focusing on continued learning not only opens up more career growth opportunities, it can also help you build a more satisfying career and a fuller, richer life.
You get out of it what you put into it. If you put the effort into it, you’re going to have a much more successful career and you’ll find that you’ll be able to be the best version of yourself as that developer, coder, software engineer, web designer or web developer or even programmer. If you do that you’re going to be happy going to work in the morning, or waking up to code because you love what you do. It’s not just a job or career it’s a lifestyle.
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