How to Start a Career in Web Development

For those individuals who want to start a web developer career, it is best to begin learning about the core components of web page development like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and building links. Web developers need to understand that these components are crucial to learning and eventually mastering the craft. 

Languages You Need to Know

CSS — the newest version being CSS(3) — and HTML (5) are critical languages that web developers need to use to make a web site appealing and functional. There is also Javascript (JS), which brings extra attributes to both HTML and CSS pages. Javascript can animate images and also provide much more dynamic elements to any webpage. The best news is that JS is a free technology that any web developer can use. These are all part of the toolset you need for developing responsive-designed web pages.

Responsive Web Design

A career as a web developer should include responsive web design (RWD) and other techniques. RWD is a term used to define how specific elements of a web page (menu, graphic, buttons and page text) are configured to many different screen sizes with an HTML page and cascading style sheets or CSS. Web developers need to understand all the various attributes that CSS will apply to HTML. HTML (5) is the latest incarnation of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which was created by British inventor, Sir Tim Berners Lee when he was working at CERN.

Domain and Hosting

And once you have read up on these three components, buy web page hosting. Indeed, companies like BlueHost.com or GoDaddy.com will also sell you a website domain. It’s often advantageous to purchase a .com or .net extension to create a test website. You can also use a staging server where your web pages can sit while you learn to develop them. Any key thing to be aware of concerns having enough website pages that reflect today’s hot technologies. The newest skills regarding web page development are always in high demand.

Education and Design Resources

There are also websites like Udemy.com and YouTube channels that provide many hours of free instruction on how to create web pages. You can also find articles on the commercial side of things, such as 7 steps to create a money-making web page. And while the idea of marketing is not as important for those who are looking to start a career in web development, things like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and (Responsive Web Design) — aka RWD — can bring a boost for page rankings on Google.

While RWD and also adaptive web page methods are just a few of the many methods to apply, the best news is that there are many tools future developers can use like Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2019. This software helps web developers take a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) “visual” approach.

And there are also certification programs for web developers at many junior colleges that provide in-depth classes covering different aspects of what skills a web developer needs to get started. Many times, college classes and university programs provide free server space for your web pages and helping you snag real-world projects that help kick off that new career track as a web developer.

Digital Marketing Skills

Business managers loves it when their web designers also have digital marketing knowledge and general marketing skills. You see, web design and digital marketing go hand in hand.

Creative writing
Good design leaves room for creative writing

For example, web pages perform better commercially when they are easy to navigate, clutter-free and load fast. These things make for a better user experience. A good design eye helps, and you should know how to use software such as Photoshop and Illustrator so you can better manipulate images and other graphics.

Another important factor is content space. To perform well in internet search, web pages need to a certain amount of text — without becoming a hard read. That’s a web design issue for which you need to know about content marketing and creative writing.

If you study business at any stage, which you can do in the first year or two of an information technology degree, try to fit some digital marketing units in. A web designer with a marketing background is a professional you can bet will always be in high demand.

And Think About Blogging

Blogging is a good activity for web developers for several reasons. The first is that you can pick up or refine web development skills by managing your own blog.

Through blogging, you will also come to appreciate the needs of business managers when they hire developers. Their agenda is to get great content out there that looks good as well. They have different mindsets and timeframes compared to the average developer and may be subject to constant commercial pressures.

Blogging also gives you the opportunity to become an expert in a field. Blogging consistently on a subject is a discipline that naturally inculcates skills and knowledge. An added bonus is the ability to make money from your own website.