How To Get Started With Web Development
Kick Start Your Career With Web Development
Web development is building, creating, and maintaining of websites. It is an awesome career choice which will give you flexibility and freedom, meaning you can work as a freelancer or for a company. You can work from anywhere and the salary for web developers are great. The demand for web developers are booming. Let’s look at how you can break into tech by becoming a web developer.
There are three kinds of web developer specialisation :
- Front End Development
- Back End Development
- Full Stack Development
Front End Development
Front-end web development is the practice of developing websites and web applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript for users to see and interact with them directly.
Front-end developers create the part of website which we see and interact, using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They makes websites interactive, responsive and aesthetically appealing.
Front-end development is comparatively easier to get started as a beginner. You can learn the technologies easily and start building websites. I recommend to people who decided to learn web development to start by learning front end development and moving on to back end.
The path
1. HTML
HTML ( Hyper Text Markup Language ) is the standard markup language for making websites. It helps us build the basic structure of the website.
HTML elements are the building blocks of web pages. With HTML constructs, images and other objects such as interactive forms can be added into the web page. HTML provides a means to create structured documents by denoting structural syntax for text such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, quotes and other items.
It is the easiest front end language to learn, I recommend learning about the most commonly used tags in HTML and building a website with all the information you learned. Applying what you learn will help solidify the knowledge.
2. CSS
CSS ( Cascading Style Sheet ) is the language we use to style HTML documents. It helps us to style web page to make it look more appealing and user friendly.
CSS is responsible for all aspects of the appearance of a website, including text font, size, colour, alignment, and more. It also controls how the style of a website changes based on whether it’s viewed on a desktop or mobile device, as well as tablets. Without CSS, your website would look very boring!
As soon as you learn HTML and built some basic websites, learn CSS, it’s where the fun begins. CSS helps you to style your page in various creative ways. Once you learn CSS, you can build beautiful looking web pages. It’ll be fun learning CSS as the results are immediate and satisfying.
I recommend to have a lot of fun with HTML and CSS before moving on to JavaScript. Build a lot of websites, try making a copy of cool websites you see on the internet. Also don’t forget to share you work.
3. JavaScript
JavaScript is the programming language of the web. JavaScript is used by programmers across the world to create dynamic and interactive web content like applications and browsers. JavaScript is so popular that it's the most used programming language in the world, used in front end by almost all the websites.
JavaScript provides functionality, while HTML and CSS only focuses on the look and feel of the website. Learning JavaScript is very crucial to become a front end developer. It is widely used and almost all projects need JavaScript.
It is a real programming language unlike HTML and CSS which is for Markup and formatting. You need to learn basic programming concepts to work with JavaScript.
I highly recommend watching a course from YouTube to get the basics down and as soon as you learn the basics, start implementing what you learnt by building cool websites. Now you can build websites by integrating HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
With these technologies you can build a fully fledged website front end. This is where you should spend some time. You have to build a bunch if websites with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is important to deepen your understanding. Building a solid foundation will help you to learn other skills easily. Don’t forget to create a personal portfolio and post all your projects there.
4. React or Vue or Angular
Now it’s time to learn some JavaScript frameworks
The JavaScript frameworks we use nowadays are an essential part of modern front-end web development, providing developers with tried and tested tools for building scalable, interactive web applications. Many modern companies use frameworks as a standard part of their tooling, so many front-end development jobs now require framework experience.
Mastering at least one JavaScript framework will help you to break into the industry easily. I recommend starting with React. It is the most widely used JavaScript library for building interactive websites.
As you have confidence in writing JavaScript code, learning a JavaScript library is very easy. You have to spend time understanding the working of the framework and how to use it effectively.
Building a lot of websites using the framework will help you achieve a good level of expertise in the technology.
5. Git and Github
Git is an Open Source Distributed Version Control System. Don’t get overwhelmed with these terms. It is really easy.
Git helps us to keep track of all the versions of our application. It can manage and track changes in code, so multiple people can work on a project at the same time.
Real life projects generally have multiple developers working in parallel. So a version control system like Git is needed to ensure there are no code conflicts between the developers.
So, Git is a version control system that lets you manage and keep track of your source code history. GitHub is a cloud-based hosting service that lets you manage Git repositories.
GitHub helps you to store data on the internet. So multiple programmers can easily access and work on the same project . GitHub offers all version control and source code management functionality of Git while adding its own features. It makes it easier to collaborate using Git.
voila!
Now you can call yourself a front end web developer. These are all you need to get started in front end web development. Now you can do freelance front end development and also can apply for a job or an internship as a developer.
Back End Development
Back-end developers write code that allows a database and an application to communicate with each another. Back-end developers take care and maintain the back-end of a website, Including databases, servers, and apps.
Back-end is the part of website that you don’t see and interact directly. It includes databases, servers etc… Back-end developers build databases, APIs which connect front-end and database, and ensure security for the website.
Back-end developers create the part of website which we don’t see and interact directly, using any back-end languages like Python, Java, Go, JavaScript( NodeJS ), PHP etc… They make websites functional by handling the application logic and data management.
You can learn back-end development directly, or once after you learn front-end development. I recommend having at least a little knowledge about front-end before focusing on back-end development.
The path
1 . Server-side Programming Language
There are many languages in which you can build a back-end for your website. You have to choose a programming language and learn all the basics of the language. Here are some languages from which you can choose :
- Python
- Go
- JavaScript
- Java
- PHP
I recommend choosing Python if you are a beginner. Python is easier to get into, the syntax is easier, and overall it is a great place to start for a beginner.
You have to learn basic programming concepts on the language you chose, spend time building a good foundation. Practice problem solving and improve your overall logic using that language.
2. Back-end framework
Once you are comfortable with the language you chose, it’s time to choose a back-end framework.
Back-end frameworks are libraries of server-side programming languages that help build the back-end structure of a website. Back-end frameworks provide ready-made components for developing a web application. It makes tasks hassle-free and convenient for developers.
Each language have a lot of back-end frameworks, you can choose one and start learning. Once you understand the working of a back-end framework, I think it is easier to switch to any framework you want.
Here are some frameworks for each languages that I mentioned above :
✳️ Python
- Django
- Flask
- FastAPI
✳️ Go
- Gin
- Beego
- Fiber
✳️ JavaScript ( NodeJS )
- Express.js
- MeteorJS
- NestJS
✳️ Java
- Spring
- Struts
✳️ PHP
- Laravel
- Symfony
3. Database
A back-end developer writes code to interact with data from a database. Inserting, Deleting, Updating and Retrieving data is done in the back-end. MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and MariaDB are some of the most widely used DBMS. It’s crucial to have a good understanding of how they work.
Databases are classified to many sections. Most commonly used ones are SQL databases and NoSQL databases.
I recommend getting started with a SQL database like MySQL or PostgreSQL. Learn about how to design a database and how to organise data. Start building projects with a back-end framework and a database. Learn about APIs and build REST APIs.
Now you can build a web application with functionalities such as update,delete,retrieve and insert data and also process data. You can build a fully-fledged back-end to manage users and their data etc…
4. Git and Github
Git is an Open Source Distributed Version Control System. Don’t get overwhelmed with these terms. It is really easy. It is necessary for a developer as I have talked about in the front-end development section.
Git helps us to keep track of all the versions of our application. It can manage and track changes in code, so multiple people can work on a project at the same time.
Real life projects generally have multiple developers working in parallel. So a version control system like Git is needed to ensure there are no code conflicts between the developers.
So, Git is a version control system that lets you manage and keep track of your source code history. GitHub is a cloud-based hosting service that lets you manage Git repositories.
GitHub helps you to store data on the internet. So multiple programmers can easily access and work on the same project . GitHub offers all version control and source code management functionality of Git while adding its own features. It makes it easier to collaborate using Git.
voila!
Now you can call yourself a back end web developer. These are all you need to get started in back end web development. Now you can do freelance back end development and also can apply for a job or an internship as a developer.
Full Stack Development
Front End Development + Back End Development = Full Stack Development
Full-stack developer is a good career choice if you are into handling the front-end as well as the back-end of a web application.
A full stack developer should have expertise in both front-end and back-end technologies. A full stack web developer is a person who can develop both client and server side of the application.
If you are aiming to become a full-stack developer, I recommend following the front-end developer path first and then follow the back-end developer path.
Conclusion
Front End Development Path
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- React or Vue or Angular
- Git and GitHub
Back End Development Path
- Server-side Programming Language
- Back-end Framework
- Database
- Git and GitHub
Full Stack Development Path
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- React or Vue or Angular
- Git and GitHub
- Server-side Programming Language
- Back-end Framework
- Database
- Git and GitHub
If you like my content make sure to like, share and follow. Which path did you choose? Leave a comment! Thank you for reading.
