Learn Web Development - A Web Developer's Guide

So, you’re interested in learning web development and becoming a web developer? First of all, congratulations. You’ve made a great choice.

And since you’re reading this, you may already be an active member of a Facebook group, subreddit, or other online coding community. Which is a great place to start, and to find support throughout your chosen pursuit.

Again, you’re doing great so far.

So depending on your background, you might be wondering where to start learning web development. If you’ve mainly been Googling around, you may feel just a tad bit overwhelmed by all the languages, frameworks, and learning resources out there.

Well, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Google can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It just depends on how you use it.

Start with the end in mind.

One of the first things I recommend doing when starting out learning web development is to decide upon a clear end goal, and keep it in mind.

Maybe you want to make a career change. Maybe you have a wicked idea for an app. Or maybe you just want to learn for fun.

Whatever your goal, it’s important to understand why you are doing this. This understanding will help you be more productive with your learning time. It will also help encourage you through those times when you feel like giving up.

Remember, no matter how elaborate and far away the end goal may seem now, you can achieve it with hard work and perseverance.

Assuming you have no previous experience, it’s a good idea in the beginning to also decide if your interest lies in back end or front end development. Let me briefly explain the difference.

Frontend — this is what the end user see’s and interacts with on the page. Its all the design, fancy effects, layout and imagery that creates the user experience.

Generally front end developers will be visual creatives with excellent design skills and a passion for accessibility and user experience. Technologies often associated with front end web development are HTML, CSS, jQuery and JavaScript.