You Can Become a Job Ready Web Developer From Scratch in Less Than a Year

Do you want to get into tech and web development? Here is a full guide on how to go from beginner to job-ready in under a year.

What is Web Development

Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet. Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications, electronic businesses, and social network services.

There are several different jobs in web development. Backend, Frontend, and Full Stack. A full stack developer is one who can develop both client and server-side software. While the backend is for the server side (things a user can’t see) and the frontend is for the client side (things a user can see).

What Language(s) Should I Know

There are many different languages that you can use to get started in web development. Some of the most popular are Python and JavaScript. Python is great for back-end development and JavaScript is equally as impressive for the front end. My advice would be to go with JavaScript. JavaScript is not only great for the front end, it is just as amazing for full stack development.

Coding in JavaScript allows you to be more flexible in your web development career as you will be able to code both client and server sides, thus increasing your chances of landing a job. With a huge library of knowledge, JavaScript is fairly easy to get a grasp on as it is a well-documented language with lots of great technologies attached to it. Python is also a fantastic language to learn, but it is primarily for the server side only which limits your options a bit more.

Roadmap

There are many technologies attached to JavaScript that you will need to know if you would like to get a job.

Starting with the basics. HTML and CSS. These are the first two fundamental languages you will want to learn. Both are used for front-end development and are fairly beginner-friendly. HTML and CSS will give you all the basics and get you comfortable with programming syntax and layout.

Along with HTML and CSS, there are more technologies you should be aware of. There are different stacks in web development. A stack is just a combination of technologies that are used to build or run an application.

One popular stack is the MERN stack. M — MongoDB, E — Express.js, R — React, N — Node.js. MongoDB is a commonly used database in programming and you should know your way around it. Express is a back-end web application framework for Node that is used to create APIs and web applications. React is very important and is the most popular front-end library for JavaScript. React allows you to create UI using UI components. Last is Node. Node.js is a backend environment used to create servers. If you would like to be a full-stack developer these are some technologies that you will need to know.

Git and Github are something that will also be used extensively throughout any programmer’s career. Knowing your way around GitHub will be very helpful to you and is something I strongly suggest that you focus on as well as the technologies above. Creating repositories, committing file changes, cloning projects, and pushing local changes are all things you should know how to do.

If are a beginner at programming you may not know what any of this even means. That is okay. As soon as you start learning these languages it will all slowly start to sound more familiar and you will feel much more comfortable.

Learning

You may be thinking, “Where can I learn all of this?” “What do all these words mean?” In this section, I will talk about how and where you can learn every single thing covered in this article in much more detail.

One of the great things about programming is that this knowledge does not need to be attained at a university or some expensive bootcamp. No matter if you are a computer science/ engineering major, from a completely non-related major, or not in college at all there are many cost-effective ways for you to learn this information and make the next move in your career. Here are some very affordable and cost-effective ways to learn all the information provided.

Udemy The Complete Web Development Bootcamp 2022

Udemy is a fantasic way to gain knowledge for a great price. This course, taught by Dr. Angela Yu, covers every single thing mentioned in this article + more. With a whopping 60 hours of video for only $19, this course is the definition of getting the most bang for your buck! Most Udemy courses are priced at $100. Never pay full price for a course and always wait for a discount, as they happen frequently.

Youtube

There are so many great Youtube channels that go into great detail on all the information provided here, and the best part about Youtube is… It is completely free! One channel I recommend is edureka! They provide a great 10-hour course where they do a review of the main topics that you need to know if you want to start your career in web development.

Khan Academy / Code Academy

Both Khan Academy and Code Academy have great fundamental knowledge and are great for anyone wanting to know the basics of JavaScript. They do not really go into a deep dive, but they are a great place to start no doubt. Both give you all the basics you need to know as you progress throughout your programming career.

Getting a Job

This is what you are working for. How can you increase your chances of landing a job? The most important thing to help you secure that job is to focus on one thing and be an expert at it. What does that mean? Many developers learn new technologies and are average at many different technologies.

On the other hand, the top programmers focus on a couple of technologies and really master them. That is how you will secure your job. Find the technologies that interest you and master them. There is no use in being semi-good at a lot of languages or technologies, that is not what recruiters are looking for.

Another tip is to start building a portfoilo. Making projects is a great way to show off your skills to recruiters. The better way to go about this is to add a couple of capstone, or major projects, into your portfolio instead of several small projects.

These big projects will show that you are job ready much more than a whole bunch of simple projects that everyone makes. Get creative with these and make them your own. You can build anything you want, the more advanced, the better.

If you follow these steps you will go from beginner to job-ready quicker than you anticipated. You may get stuck or feel like you can’t do this throughout your programming journey. Never give up, keep going, and you will see that this is very attainable and that you have all the skills you need to start your career in web development.

Also published here.