How to Become a Web Developer

It is undeniable that the Internet is growing at a very fast pace. Today, websites form a significant amount of the internet and it is our go to place when we need to find information, talk with someone and so on. In fact, the Internet is far more complicated than just a few websites. However, we are not going to talk about the facts about the Internet in this article; rather, we are going to focus on web developers and their roles in the development of websites. This article is going to cover the following questions:

• What is web development?
• What does a web developer do?
• How do you become a web developer?
• Which programming languages should I learn?
• Which skills should a web developer have?

1) What is web development?

In short, it is the process of developing and maintaining websites ranging from simple static websites to more complicated dynamic ones. These websites are developed and maintained by web developers with the help of programming languages (such as HTML, CSS, JS, PHP) and other technologies (such as databases, frameworks, libraries).

It is also important to understand the difference between web development and web design as it is one of the most misunderstood facts about web development. Web development is about developing and maintaining websites using programming languages. On the other hand, web design is more about visual look, user experience, design and usability of the websites. In the real world, both web developers and designers work together in order to achieve the same goal, developing websites. Web designers work on the visual design of the website using tools like Adobe PhotoShop and web developers convert that design into a website using their technical skills.

2) What does a web developer do?

A web developer is someone who is able to work with web technologies (such as programming languages, frameworks, libraries, databases and so on) and uses these technologies to develop and maintain websites. A web developer is also responsible for cooperating with other developers, designers, clients and stakeholders in order to understand and solve technical problems. As a web developer, you can work for a company or as a freelance developer. Depending on where you work, your interests and your skill-set, you can possibly work in 3 different areas of the web development which are:

Frontend Developers

Frontend developers develop and maintain part of the website which users see and interact with. This includes menus, navigation bars, forms, buttons and other visual elements. They are also responsible for making the website intractable (by improving user engagement), understandable (by converting complex backend data into more user friendly and visually appealing information), reachable (by considering Search Engine Optimisation) and usable (by making the website responsive and improving user experience) using different techniques. In general, frontend developers make use of the following programming & scripting languages, libraries, frameworks and technologies such as:

• HTML
• CSS
• JS
• Jquery
• ReactJs
• AngularJs

Backend Developers

Backend developers develop and maintain the part of the website which is not visible to the users. They are responsible for creating the behind the scenes logic, developing website architecture, implementing data flow between server & client sides and carrying out any other operation that needs to take place at the backend of a website. Backend developers usually carry out work which involves databases and servers. In general, they make use of the following programming & scripting languages, frameworks and technologies:

• PHP
• Nodejs
• Ruby
• Python
• MongoDB
• MySQL
• Java/C#
• .Net
• Springboot

Full-stack Developers

Full-stack developers are between frontend and backend developers as they are fluent with both client and server sides. This means they are able to develop and maintain visual aspects as well as logical and technical aspects of a website. As a result they are proficient with both frontend and backend technologies such as programming & scripting languages, frameworks, libraries and databases mentioned in the previous paragraphs. In some cases, full-stack developers make use of technology stacks to develop a website from ground up. A technology stack is like a tool bag which contains necessary programming or scripting languages (both for frontend and backend), frameworks, databases and other technologies. Some of the most popular technology stacks are:

• MERN (MongoDB, Express, Reactjs and Nodejs)
• MEAN (MongoDB, Express, Angularjs and Nodejs)
• MEVN (MongoDB, Express, Vuejs and Nodejs)
• LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql and PHP)

3) How to become a web developer?

Although there aren't any formal guidelines on how to become a web developer, there are a number different paths you can follow. In this article, we are going to focus on two of them:

University Education

Studying Computer Science, Software Engineering or any other related subject can help you with becoming a web developer. Depending on the course structure of the university, you may study web development as one of your modules or you may study something closely related to web development. During your time at the university, you should accumulate necessary knowledge about web development and get more familiar with web technologies while learning new programming & scripting languages that you will use in the future in order to build and maintain websites.

Self Taught

Like many other technology related jobs, you do not strictly need a diploma in order to become a web developer. As long as you have the required skills and knowledge, you can become a web developer. This is the same case if you have a diploma for any other subject which is not related to web development at all. The key is to have the required knowledge and being able to prove you can do the job. You can accumulate the required knowledge through different certifications or tutorials you may find online. Here are some of the tutorials we personally tried and found useful:

• Modern HTML & CSS From The Beginning (Including Sass)
• React, NodeJS, Express & MongoDB - The MERN Fullstack Guide
• React - The Complete Guide (incl Hooks, React Router, Redux)
• The Web Developer Bootcamp 2020

4) Which programming languages should I learn?

When it comes to web development, there isn't just one programming language you need to learn in order to become a successful developer. There are many different programming languages, frameworks, libraries, scripting languages and technologies you can learn. At this point, it is more of a personal choice and depends on your interests & future career aspirations. With that being said, we believe learning the following programming languages and technologies at the given order will help you with developing a better understanding of web development:

1. HTML
2. CSS
3. JavaScript
4. Reactjs
5. Nodejs & Expressjs
6. MongoDB
7. MERN Technology Stack
8. Python
9. C# or Java

5) Which skills should a web developer have?

In addition to the technical skills mentioned in the previous paragraphs, there are some other important soft skills that a web developer should have. These soft skills can be summarised as follows:

• Teamwork: You will almost certainly be working in a team as a web developer no matter where you find your job. This is especially the case in recent years with Agile development becoming a more common software development methodology in companies. The good thing here is you will be working alongside others to achieve a goal, so you have the support of your team and other teams.
• Communication: This is one of the most important soft skill a web developer should have. A web developer should be able to communicate with designers, other developers, users and stakeholders clearly in order to build the right solution for the given technical problem.
• Eager to learn: A web developer should always be open to new information. We are living in a world where technology is developing at an enormous pace. As a result new technologies arise very often. Therefore, web developers should keep up with this pace and learn new technologies as they arise in order to be able solve given problems and create high quality outputs.
• Searching Skills: It is inevitable that you will face a situation where you don't know how to solve a particular problem or challenge. In fact, this is going to happen every often and it is happening almost to every developer. Therefore, a web developer should have skills to carry out a quick research (online or offline) to find a suitable solution for the given challenge.