Web development is a booming industry. Every passing day, it is welcoming thousands of new entrants to come and create something more astounding and out of the box.
The developers who enter the field with the basic skills of creating a simple website and stuck to its maintenance jobs do not find ways to grow. It’s a massive industry that demands continuous growth in skills, knowledge, and expertise.
HTML is the torchbearer of programming and web development languages. But leaning it is just a beginning these days. You can keep the basics and move ahead as soon as the technology changes.
In this article, I am sharing some of the ways that can help you start, grow and stay ahead in your career in web development.
How to Start Your Career in Web Development?
Before starting your enter the career, why not enrich yourself with enough knowledge and skills, to begin with, a bang rather than moving slowly later on?
Web development is a flexible profession, but it will not spare you if you settle with what you bring in and do not excel in expertise. I am sharing some of the easy steps that are effective and useful for an individual to start a career.
For a quick recap, you can read about the top 5 tips to become a successful web developer too.
1. Get Education
The career of any web developer is not necessarily defined by a university degree. The industry acknowledges anyone with skills and expertise either he or she possesses the formal education or not. Developers without formal education can excel in the field, but find limitations when they intend to work in a context beyond boundaries.
It is better to acquire basic knowledge with formal education that may expose you to advanced project management topics and problem-solving techniques.
Additionally, web developers who decide to remain working independently may never feel the importance of a certificate, but those looking for employment opportunities are required to show at least an associate degree.
If you are unable to enrol in a university or undergraduate institute, you can still learn from the plethora of online courses and resources. Some of the worth mentioning resources are W3schools, Coursera, Udemy, etc.
These educational websites provide you with easy access to learn different programming languages and technologies at your own pace and location. You don’t have to go anywhere else to learn in a formal classroom environment.
You can read about 8 best and free courses to ignite your web development career.
2. Specialize in a Web Development Domain
Web development is not confined to a specific language, CMS platform, or technology. Building a website or developing an online store may involve web development with varying specializations.
A website that you may see is a combined effort of UI designer, front-end and back-end developers, and mobile application development team. You can select any specific domain that interests you.
For example, you can be a full-stack, mid-tier, desktop, mobile, game, or big data developer. Try exploring design development and data scientist.
There are massive CMS and eCommerce platforms such as WordPress, Magento, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, and Shopify. You can practice coding themes, templates, and plugins for them.
3. Learn Technical Skills
Advancing on the technical side of web development does not stop. The programming enthusiasts, who are willing to take part in coding applications as well, may need to acquire expertise in back-end languages like Java, PHP, Rudy, etc.
4. Read Blogs Relevant to Your Skills
Seasoned and professional web developers like to share their knowledge, experience, and opinion on their blogs. They have the authority to comment on a change or upcoming trends in their fields as they have gone through all the changes in the past decade.
For example, this blog post discusses the important and best practices in eCommerce web designs that a professional must know. Read and follow such blogs. These writers foresee what has to come further. They share valuable tips, techniques, tools, courses, and trends to follow.
5 Write Code Every Day
Make writing code your everyday habit until you land on a massive project or a promising job. A chunk of developers starts seeking employment opportunities as soon as they complete a certification or degree. They do know the basics, but they have to practice it to exhibit their skills and expertise.
Imagine if you apply to a reputable software house, and they ask you to write the code of an image border. What will you write if you are given a few seconds? The answer is nothing as you will be completely blank.
If you have not practised it before, you may fail in evaluations. Only practice can make you write codes, either perfect or erroneous, but you will have something to show.
Additionally, you can adopt the habit of sharing what you learn in a podcast. There are thousands of people who listen to intellectual podcasts. Be the one to share what you learn, and I assure it is the best way of retaining and expanding your knowledge. If you are ignorant as to how podcasting can help boost your career, you need to read this post.
6. Building an Online Portfolio
The first thing your employer or client may ask about your experience would be the portfolio. You can never influence a person verbally about your skills and expertise until you show them live projects and a list of successful projects, which is most commonly known as a portfolio.
Try to build your portfolio on an online platform so that you may have to send a link over and justify your expertise. One of the must-have platform to use for building a strong portfolio is Github, whereas, you can have a personal blog or website to showcase your work and past experiences.
How to Grow Your Career in Web Development?
The tech industry has many subdomains. All of them are connected through web development. A company or business cannot withstand in the absence of a website.
Somehow, every business owner who aims to reach out to people on the web needs to build a website. There comes he or she realized the importance of web development.
Web development is a core module of the tech industry, which is why; becoming a web developer is also a tough job. An individual has to go through an exhausting struggle of knowing every bit of building a website from scratch. There is not any growth hack that can grow you overnight.
Thousands of developers are struggling, but few can select the right path. This post discusses some of the proven strategies that can help you stand out from the crowd and achieve exponential growth in your career.
1. Accept and Adapt Changes
Back a decade, making a website was writing a few lines of HTML code. There were not many features and options required for the website to excel and attract visitors.
Web development has evolved with time. If you stick to the basics and do not leave your comfort zone, you may fail to innovate in your job. Hence, your growth becomes
2. Learn Teamwork
Alone we cannot achieve even a little, but in a team, we achieve much at ease. Learn to work in a team, understand their needs, and cooperate with each team member.
Being a web developer, you may be required to interact with multiple teams such as designing, marketing, testing and quality assurance, customer support, and the clients. Work in a team and your growth is assured.
3. Keep Improving Your Skills
Every passing day in the field of web development is an opportunity to learn new skills and improve your expertise.
4. Ask Questions
Asking a question to improve your knowledge and removes any doubt in understanding a project or its factor.
Ultimately, it increases your self-confidence. A majority of web developers stay as dumb as they are hired because they are reluctant to ask a question in the fear of being dumb. Such a habit is your constraint in career growth.
5. Learn and Master of Web Architecture
The architecture is the foundation of any website. You have to study it deeply to write a new code that is compatible with the elements. Improve your architectural understanding of the level that your newly written code does not jeopardize the security or functionality of the existing system.
A mistake in the foundation fails in the entire project. Take the architecture seriously by paying attention to every bit of detail.
Where and How to Search for Jobs in Web Development?
So now that you know the skills and have practised the art of coding, you are ready to be part of the massive community of web developers. The clients or employers may be looking for individuals with varying experience.
As you know the basic, don’t fear to interact with them. The rules of every language may differ, but the basics – syntax – remains the same.
1. Connect, Collaborate on Forum
Join the top forums of web development and be active in discussing the topics you are most comfortable with. For example, you can join Stack Overflow, Designer Hangout, Team Sketch, Coffee Cup, Talk Graphics, etc.
Have your research and find the forums that are designed for your specific skill set. There are specialized platforms for front end designers, graphics experts, or bootstrap.
If you are new, start following the forums, ask questions, and read the answers carefully. This may help you get to know what is going on in the industry. You may find the new technologies, trending languages and skills, and hot topics of the niche. Participate by sharing your designs and asking the experts for productive feedback.
Search for the scripts to know how a feature or option can be programmed. You may find tons of solutions there. As soon as you start learning, try to share it with the fresher ones. Give back to the community and eventually, you will grow beyond possibilities.
2. Job Boards Have a Treasure to Explore
Signup to job boards as the top web development companies actively hires fresh as well as experienced coding enthusiastic there. You may come across a multitude of jobs. Some of them may be overwhelming options, while may not be attractive at all.
The thing you need to consider is finding the project, which refines your knowledge and skills and serves you with the right exposure. The companies that may be looking for a newbie may evaluate how quickly and effectively you assist them. Build trust by serving positive experiences.
Web development is evolving with every passing day. The continuous development in advanced programming languages, technologies, smart gadgets, and internet accessibility demands more developers to join the force with zeal and zest.
It provides enough space for youngsters and beginners to start and grow in a specific domain of web development that is not yet fully explored. Enter the field and set a habit of learning and growing side by side.