Thoughts on Becoming a Web Developer: Skills Needed & Business Considerations

Actual photo of my desk. (Well, back when I was setting it up / testing my computer in m living room.) I’ve since moved it to my home office and updated the “design” by putting tons of photos and other paper memoribilia below the glass top.

As a full-time, self-employed web developer since 2010 (and having done freelance work since the 90s involving web development / design), I get asked regularly about web development as a profession. I’m usually asked this by those in various other branches of IT work. Questions include: How do I get into it? Is it profitable? Is it easy to get clients? Is it something I can make a living on? What skills are required? What platforms are best? How do you get clients?

This article will answer those questions (and more) based on my experience, which you’re free to emulate if you like. I’m going to also explain why my own particular path is, in my opinion, currently still highly ripe for such emulation as opposed to some other paths within the web dev / web design world!

The Fundamentals

Part of the problem (and indeed part of the opportunity) these days with web development / web design is the relatively low barrier to entry. Most of the technologies involved are nearly ubiquitous and low- or no-cost. That’s great, as it means anyone can dive in easily. But, it’s problematic in that some of these things are perhaps too easy to learn inadequately. In any case, I’ll outline, below, the major technologies involved, as well as other necessary and/or desirable…