Why and How to Start a Career of a Web Developer?

You might think that being a web developer is one of the best jobs in today’s world. Well, what can I say — it is. I have tried a few career paths already, 3 months in one place was my highest score but it all changed when I gave programming a try.

Why is coding so cool?

• It is interesting and challenging, every task is different (which I much appreciate after working in a call centre).
• What other jobs make you learn so much everyday? I can hardly think of any.
• You can meet fantastic people with great experience and knowledge, who are willing to share all they know with you.
• You can be free. Freelancer contracts give you enormous flexibility, you want to work — you work, you are not in the mood — no problem, take a break.
• You don’t have to worry about getting the job contract, there are so many projects to work on — just dive in and start earning money…
• …and talking about money — it is also not too bad ;)

I hope you are now convinced that it is worth giving it a try, so let’s focus on the ‘how to’ part.

How to start?

Of course, I might tell you now, that it depends on what technologies you want to use, what programming experience you have, what is your working style, etc. But I won’t. If you want to do it on your own and for free the recipe is quite simple (but I can’t tell it will be easy).

Before you even start, learn to google! You can’t do anything without proper googling skills, it is the very base. Remember — there is nothing you can’t find on the Internet.

Step two would be deciding on the technology you want to learn — take your time to do some research on what is popular and trending in IT these days. At first, learn what people use to build apps and webpages, so that you can choose something modern and popular. My suggestions? Modern programming languages are much more intuitive and it will be easier to start with one of them (Python, JavaScript, TypeScript). Some think it is good to learn C or other ‘classic’ languages, and it will probably make your future coding easier, but I doubt if it’s worth the effort. These kind of languages are not that intuitive and easy to use, and if your goal is to start earning money in web development, learning them is simply a waste of time. When you have the technology, find yourself some nice (code) text editor, you already can google — use your skills.

The easy part is done, it is high time you started coding. Before you start a real project follow some tutorials from the documentation. For example, if you want to learn Java Script with Gatsby, visit their webpage and read the beginners’ tutorial (https://www.gatsbyjs.org/tutorial/). Everything is shown there step by step. This is why you should take your time and try to understand what is going on.

Once you have already created some tutorial projects and maybe tried to customize them a little, it is probably time to think about your own webpage. Look at portfolio sites of some well-known developers, think of what would you like to have on yours, and forget about these dreams. Think again about something way easier and start coding using technologies you have learned a moment ago. If you have already decided you want some elements to work or look in a certain way, do not resign on these ideas just because it is hard to code. At first, everything will be hard to develop and it will take you a lot of time, just remember it is normal and don’t give up.

Another way to start is by buying a template of a webpage. Find something you like (for ex. on https://themeforest.net/), buy it, and try to understand what is going on there. Customize it with your data, maybe try changing images, colours or icons. Do not rush, and don’t be stressed out when you ruin something. You can start over, or copy what you messed up from the original project. Just be careful cause some templates are a real mess and you might learn some bad coding practics.

When your page already looks satisfactory try to deploy it, you can check out solutions such as Netlify (https://www.netlify.com/) — and if something doesn’t work, no problem. Read the documentation, google the errors, probably someone had this problem before.

Now it is time to practice a little. Probably someone from your friends or family may need a webpage, try to code something for them or come up with your ideas. Try also webpages with programming exercises, check out https://www.codingame.com/start for example.

Ok, some first projects work and look fine (as for the first time it is surely great). Time to start earning money. Check out https://www.upwork.com/ where you can find some simple jobs and earn a first few dollars. You can also apply for some junior developer positions, maybe someone will hire you ;)

Some last advice?

It won’t be easy, you will get frustrated, but don’t give up. Give yourself time, watch tutorials, read the documentation. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, the IT community is open and helpful.

That will be all from me, it is your turn. Good luck :)