Technology is an integral part of our lives. It has simplified many day-to-day processes and made our lives easier. We find it all around us, right from the apps we use to the websites we visit, every website or app that you use has been developed by web developers.
Creating an application or a webpage sounds complicated and difficult, but if you take the right steps, you can do it with ease. It is a booming industry and web developers get paid well for the services they provide. If you want to know more about how to become a web developer then keep reading this article.
Who is a Web Developer?
A web developer is a person who creates and maintains websites and applications. Not only do they build web applications, but they also have to do coding, create prototypes, oversee website traffic, etc.
There are a few types of web developers who are in charge of building a specific aspect of a web application. Web developers are able to do all this with the help of programming languages like HTML, JavaScript, Python, etc.
What is needed to be a web developer?
There is no compulsion of having a formal education or a technical degree. Anybody can learn how to do what web developers do. You can rely on online sources to teach yourself in-demand programming languages, or join a boot camp to learn these skills.
To become a web developer, you need to learn about HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). As you keep learning, you can equip yourself with languages like JavaScript, Python, C++, R, etc. The programming languages you want to learn can be narrowed down by deciding which route you want to take on your journey to becoming a web developer.
Here are some tips on how to become a website developer:
Learn the fundamentals of Web Development
The first step to learning anything is to educate yourself about its basics. If you know your fundamentals well, you can build upon them and learn more advanced things. When it comes to web development, you have to start by learning some programming languages. You need to be familiar with languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
You can learn these by yourself on the internet, or you can join a coding boot camp where you can learn these quickly. Coding boot camps are like crash courses in programming languages and other aspects of web development.
They don’t take too much time and are focused on making you ready for a web development job. Many aspiring Web Developers join boot camps to learn faster. In fact, many companies hire directly from these boot camps.
If you’re going to college and dream of becoming a web developer, then you can pursue a degree in computer science or another related course. It will teach you all the basics and strengthen your base for becoming a web developer in the future. If you are in between jobs and want to explore web development then boot camps are great to do that.
Choose the type of web development you want to get into
Once you have learned the basics and fundamentals of web development, it is time to pick a specialization. There are three main specializations you can get into:
- Front-End Development: Front-end development deals with the client’s side of the web application. A Front-End developer develops the part of the application that users interact with. They are engaged in building the ‘front-end’ aspects of a website’s design, which are its layout, its interactive aspects, etc.
- Back-End Development: Back-End development deals with the server’s side of web development. This is based on how the site should function. Back-end development involves maintaining and developing databases, servers, networks, etc.
- Full-Stack Development: Full-Stack Development allows a developer to be flexible. A Full Stack Developer can work on both front-end and back-end aspects of a web application. They can build websites from the client’s side as well as the server’s side.
Depending on your strengths, you can decide which type of web development you want to pursue.
Learn the important Programming Languages
No matter which specialization of web development you choose, you will have to learn a programming language to go ahead in your career as a web developer. There are many programming languages these days, but there are three that are used widely.
You can pick one and master it to become a specialist in that programming language. For example, an angular developer has knowledge of software engineering and specializes in JavaScript.
These three languages equip you with the basic tools every web developer needs to have:
- HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
- JavaScript
Prepare projects to enhance your web development skills
Now that you have knowledge of the fundamentals and know programming languages, you can apply these skills by building your own projects. As you make these projects, you will gain more knowledge and get experience in using these programming languages.
These hard skills can be developed further once you start building projects and learn from your mistakes on the way. The best way to enhance your web development skills is to just start putting them to use. The more you use your skills, the better they will get.
Final Thought
Web development is a high-potential field and is booming with opportunities. Web developers are highly in demand as the world today is heavily dependent on technology. The market is expected to grow by more than 15% in the coming few years. Web developers have a lot of scopes to grow and bag high-paying jobs.
Technology is ever-changing. While most of the principles and fundamentals of computer science have remained unchanged for years, software development is an aspect of computer science that keeps changing. Given the ever-evolving nature of the industry, web developers need to keep learning and gaining new skills to stay relevant in the market.