How to Become a Professional Web Developer: A Practical Guide

The article was drafted with a motive to help those who are willing to become an expert web developer.

The article was conceived as a practical guide for those wishing to become a professional web developer. I've been writing code for the web for over 20 years. I work with and help web developers daily. In this article, I will describe what you need to learn, when you need to learn it, and where to get the information (most often even for free). Then I'll give advice on getting real experience, and most importantly, getting paid to write code.

There are many links to free and important resources scattered throughout the article. For simplicity, I have compiled them into PDFs and categorized them. I don't get paid to mention the sites I have linked to - I just want to recommend to you the best resources to help you achieve your goal.

Things to remember:

1. You are allowed to scroll through the article The
The guide can help you regardless of your position on the road to professional development. Scroll down to the heading that best describes your situation today and read from there. If you are just starting this journey, or while you are thinking about it, follow the King's advice from "Alice in Wonderland":

Start from the beginning, and continue until you reach the end; and stop there.

2. Try a little of everything, and then choose a specialization.
Money is not the most important thing. You need to LOVE your activity! But you don't know what you like until you try it.


Find Your Passion, Then Monetize It The

the guide will help you become familiar with as many areas of web design and developmentdesign and development  as possible as quickly as possible. And then it will help you choose a specialization in the field that you like. At first, you will not be perfect at anything - you will learn the basics, and then you will continue your study. Find your passion and I'll show you how to move on.

I decided to write the code. I like the web. I don't know where to start


. You will succeed!

Congratulations! This is a serious first step and the start of something very exciting. But this can be very difficult. Don't worry, I'll help.

First, you need to get a quick grasp of the basics of all areas of web development ("full cycle"). The training will be varied, but shallow. This is in order to find an area that you like, as well as to acquire basic skills in different areas. Then you will be able to understand and work with a wide range of tasks, regardless of what you choose.
 

Learn the basics of HTML

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) controls the content and markup of what you see in the browser. Starting with it gives you a user interface to interact with and see the output of your code. As you learn more complex languages, its importance will increase. You don't need to code blindly.

Here's what you need to learn about HTML:

• Start ;
• Tags, attributes, elements ;
• Page titles ;
• Paragraphs ;
• Headings ;
• Lists ;
• Links ;
• Images ;
• Tables ;
• forms ;
• Putting it all together.

I already know the basics of HTML

Cool! This is a very important step. Now, learn the basics of JavaScript.
 

Learn JavaScript Basics

JavaScript is the language of the web, and all major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE, many others) support it. Every site, every web application that you have used, most likely contains a huge amount of JS code. Not to mention the fact that the language is gaining popularity on other platforms as well - servers, desktops, other devices.

For now, you need the basics, and the following resources are fine for that:

• We make things work ;
• Variables and Data ;
• Mathematical calculations ;
• Logic ;
• Conditions ;
• Cycles ;
• Functions ;
• Objects ;
• Arrays ;
• DOM ;
• Events and callbacks ;
• AJAX ;
• JSON ;
• Scope

I know the basics of JavaScript and HTML

Awesome! Now let's add CSS to your skills
 

You made this far wow! you can also learn how you can provide eCommerce development services .

Learn CSS

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets (cascading style sheets). Used to customize the appearance of HTML elements on a page.

Going to the backend

So far, you and I have looked at what is called the "front-end" of web development. You are familiar with the main languages ​​that work in the browser. It's time to move on to the backend - the code running on the server. Don't worry, you don't need a server - your computer can handle it.

There are tons of backend languages, but since you are familiar with JavaScript, I recommend learning how to use Node.js. It allows you to run the JS code on the server and not in the browser.

In addition to this, you need to learn Express and MongoDB.
 

Express

It is a library with which Node.JS can act as a web server (listen to requests from pages and send responses to them).
 

MongoDB

It is a database that allows you to store and retrieve information.

You can explore these three topics with the following excellent and free tutorial and follow up.
 

I have to choose between frontend, backend, and full-cycle development.

Once you've tried both development options, it's time to make a choice. If you didn't have time to try them, refer to the previous section of the article to fill in the gaps in your knowledge.

At this point, you have written two types of code. One is for user interaction, the other is for data. What do you prefer?

User interaction? Congratulations, you are a front-end developer!

Interacting with data? Congratulations, you are a backend developer!

Both? Congratulations, you are a full-cycle developer!

Didn't you like anything? Congratulations, web development is not for you. Rejoice that you have understood this now and that you have not lost a lot of time and money. Not ready to give up? Maybe you didn’t come across a language that would appeal to you? Try learning other languages ​​in the "I want to be a backend developer" section.
 

I want to be a full-cycle developer

Cool. You need to familiarize yourself with all the contents of the sections "I want to be a back-end developer" and "I want to be a front-end developer".
 

I want to be a front-end developer and I know the basics of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS

To work effectively as a front-end developer, you need to be fluent in HTML, CSS, and client-side JavaScript. You will also need to have a good grasp of several important frameworks. You will acquire the skills that employers and clients expect to find in front-end developers.