How to Become a Web Developer for developed a website

Skills that can almost guarantee your jobs and opportunities for years and decades to come.

One of these skills is web development.

Have you been wondering how to become a web developer?

Contrary to a popular belief, you don’t need a fancy bachelor’s degree in computer science to become a web developer and create a functional website.

In fact, if you follow the instructions in this article, you can become a web developer a lot quicker than you think (but it will still take some hard work!).

Ready? Let’s start with the basics:

What/Who is a Web Developer

Here’s the simple answer to this question: They build and maintain websites.

In other words – they literally create how you experience the web. The websites which want users to enjoy their experience need great web developers – and they’re usually willing to fork over some serious cash to get these great web developers.

Responsibilities of a web developer:

Write web pages with a combination of markup languages.
Create quality mockups and prototypes.
Build a WordPress site from scratch.
Understand HTML and CMS.
Understand UI, UX and learning usability.
Develop functional and appealing websites and web-based applications.
Provide website maintenance and enhancements.

These are the most common requirements, but your responsibilities and tasks will vary depending on the web development gig as well as your web development specialty.

Speaking of web development specialties, there are three that you should be aware of:

Frontend development: The “frontend” refers to “stuff” on a website that you see and interact with, e.g. menus, dropdowns, etc.
Back end development: The “backend” is like the portion of the iceberg below the surface. Without it, the website can’t function. The backend deals with servers, applications, databases, etc.
Full-stack development: This is the combination of both backend and frontend development.

Why Should You Become a Web Developer?

Web development is an industry that won’t die out anytime soon.

In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted a 13% growth in available web development jobs through 2028.

Put simply – if you can develop this skill, you won’t have a hard time finding work for the foreseeable future.

Here are FIVE big advantages/benefits of being a web developer:

You can work remotely. Ever wondered what it would be like to work from anywhere in the world, on your own time? As a web developer, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to work remotely. Maybe you can finally fulfill that dream of traveling the world while saving money at the same time.
You can use your skills to build your own websites and web applications. Want to make a profitable website or application? With this skill, you won’t have to pay a ton of money to get it built. You can build it yourself for a fraction of the price.
You can work independently. You no longer have to work under the umbrella of a boss if you don’t want to. You can freelance or start your own business much more easily when you know about web development.
Get into the profitable tech industry. Web development is basically your ticket to the tech industry. Most tech startups have some need for web developers, so this can be your way to get your foot in the door.
You can build awesome stuff! The fun part is that you can be as creative as you want. Instead of looking at websites and thinking, “Wow, that looks awesome. I wish I could create something like that,” you will now be able to create your very own awesome-looking website.

What do you think? Does all of this get you excited about the idea of becoming a web developer? If so, you’re in the right place – because you’re about to learn the steps you need to take to become one!

How to Become a Web Developer

1. Learn the Basics of HTML, CSS, and Javascript

These are the nuts and bolts of all website development that you’ll work with daily if you decide to build websites for a living.

HTML dictates the structure
CSS will make it look pretty
Javascript will make it function

Let’s discuss each one of these and how you can learn them.

HTML

HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It’s one of the main ingredients of any website and one of the so-called frontend languages.

In short – it provides the basic skeleton of a website, mainly through a series of tags.

A tag is the HTML code that controls the appearance of the HTML document’s content.

Here are some common HTML tags you should get familiar with:

<HTML>…</HTML> – This tag shows up at the beginning and end of an HTML document. It indicates that the document is written in HTML5.
<title>…</title> – The title tag is the title for the page. This is useful both for search engines (when they scan and index pages) and users (it shows up in a browser’s title bar) by explicitly stating the primary topic of each page
<head>…</head> – This contains information about the specific page, including title tags, metadata, and links to scripts and style sheets.
<body>…</body> – This includes all content that will be shown to users, including everything they’ll see and read.

Note: All tags start like “<body>” and end like “</body>”. The “/” indicates that the specific tag is no longer in use afterward. It’s important to put the end tag in. Otherwise, the entire document will use that tag.

Here are some resources for learning HTML:

HTML Beginner’s Guide
HTML Cheat Sheet

CSS

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.

It puts the style behind the HTML structure. Basically, without CSS, HTML, and consequently, the whole web page would look boring.

Here’s how they combine: Within your HTML code, you reference a CSS style sheet.

Here’s an example of what CSS looks like in action:

}

#top-header a,
#top-header a {
        color: #fff;
}

#top-header,
#et-secondary-nav {
        -webkit-transition: background-color 0.4s, transform 0.4s, opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
        -moz-transitions: background-color 0.4s, transform 0.4s, opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
        -transistion: background-color 0.4s, transform 0.4s, opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
}

#top-header .container {
        padding-top: 0.75em;
        font weight: 600;
}

Here’s a great resource for learning CSS: CSS Cheat Sheet

Javascript

Javascript is a programming language that allows you to implement elements on web pages. It powers features like interactive maps, 2D/3D graphics, and more.

Here’s a great resource to help you learn Javascript: Javascript Cheat Sheet

2. Learn the Basics of WordPress

To become a web developer, you’ll have to get familiar with WordPress. After all – 63% of all websites are powered by this free, open-source software that you can install on basically any web host.

Once you set up a WordPress site, it’s fairly easy for your clients to add content by themselves (even if they don’t have any web development experience).

3. Get to Know UI and UX

UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience) are the basics of user experience design.

Most developers aren’t web designers – these are two different realms.

It’s still important to note that by learning the fundamentals of user experience design, you can better understand how a website is supposed to work. That will keep more users on the site, help them find what they’re looking for, and ultimately spend more money on that site.

To learn the building blocks of design skills, we recommend learning the Adobe Creative Suite. Photoshop should be the first thing you dive into, as it’s the go-to for most serious designers. If you don’t like Adobe, you can also dive into Sketch, which is a rising star among designers.

Here are some resources for understanding and learning UI and UX:

The Difference Between UX and UI Design-A Layman’s Guide
Treehouse and Lynda offer excellent beginner courses in both Photoshop and general design concepts

4. Learn SQL and PHP (Optional)

We’ll lump these two together because they’re like two sides of the same coin.

SQL is a database technology (see SQL cheat sheet) that stores information. PHP is a ‘scripting’ language that places or pulls stuff from a database (see PHP cheat sheet).

Think about WordPress, for example.

It uses MySQL to store and manage information (blog posts, page content, comments, user information, etc.) in a database ‘table’. PHP is what makes a WordPress website dynamic, interacting with all of these different elements and properly updating the database as you go.

Learning more about how SQL and PHP work together can help you master WordPress site development, which literally hundreds (if not thousands) of people are looking for every day on job and project boards across the internet.

Additional resources for learning PHP and SQL:

SQL Course
TutorialsPoint (PHP)

It’s not easy. You won’t master all of these over a week or two. But over time, becoming familiar and then good at these skill sets means that you will always have a profitable career ahead of you.

5. Learn the Basics of SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This refers to the process of improving a website’s rankings within a search engine like Google. It’s one of the most important skills in online business.

You may be thinking, “If I’m a developer, why do I need to worry about how well a site ranks in the search engines? Isn’t that the job of the bloggers and content creators?”

Well yes, a large part of a website’s SEO has to do with the content. But the actual structure and code of the website play a role as well.

For example, heading tags (HTML) are extremely important for SEO. They tell search engines what’s really important on a website.

Now, do you need to be an SEO expert? Absolutely not. But you should learn the basics of SEO, and keep SEO in mind while you’re creating each website. In doing so, you’ll give the website a much greater chance of success, and make your web development client that much happier.

Here are a few SEO tips for web developers:

Get your meta tags optimized. On the search page, the meta tag tells browsers what your site is about – the better it is, the more likely they are to click through to the site.
Make sure your heading tags are in a specific order. H1 should be the main heading, and then you should descend through lower-level headings through the page (i.e., H2, H3, H4, and so on). This makes it easier for search engines to navigate the site.
Make sure your title tag properly describes the web page. The title should emphasize what the page is about.

Here are some resources for learning the basics of SEO:

The Beginner’s Guide to SEO
How to Learn SEO: 10 of the Best Resources to Bookmark
How to Increase Website Traffic

Dedicate at least 3-5 hours to reading through resources and learning the basics. This will prepare you to develop websites with SEO in mind.

6. Make Sure Your Site is Responsive

When you’re creating your own website (which will be a good idea if you want to get more clients) – you should make sure your site is responsive.

Responsive means that the elements of the website adjust according to the screen size. This means that your website will look good whether the visitor is on a laptop or mobile device.

In 2018, responsive design was crucial. All of your clients will expect it – lead by example and make sure that your website is responsive.

***

Okay, so once you go through these 6 steps, you’ll have a basic understanding of web development. You’ll know how to do it (at least at a basic level).

Take your time with these steps – the demand for web developers isn’t going down anytime soon, so you have time to learn.

But here’s the big question: Once you feel like you have that basic understanding down, how do you actually find web development clients?

You’re in luck – that’s what we’ll talk about next!

Reference - https://websitesetup.org/

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