How to Begin a Successful Web Development Career in 2021

Whenever I want to know about an organization or a business, the first thing I look for is its website.  Websites are now an essential part of any business and also helps them to establish credibility. Not having a website means you might be losing a lot of business opportunities. 

Now that you know how important a website is for a business, you can guess how important Web Developers are, the professionals who develop these websites in C and C++

According to Silicon Republic, Web Development was one of the hottest tech jobs in 2019, making the web development career the right choice to start your professional journey.

Web development may perhaps seem a complicated and somewhat inaccessible field to people who don't have an iota of knowledge about web development. Therefore to help you out, we have tried to throw some light on what web development is, web development career paths, and what all it needs to start your web development career.

Let’s dive in.

What is Web Development

Website Building

Source: tenor

Web development is the process of creating web pages, developing websites or applications for hosting via the internet or intranet. Creating a webpage or website doesn't merely mean the design or layout, but also involves coding and programming that makes a website functional.

Web Development can be broken further into three categories: Front-end development, Back-end development, and Full-stack development.

Front-end Development

Front-end development is often referred to as client-side. The front end of a website is the part that the end-user interacts with. Everything that you see when you access a website, like fonts and colors, dropdown menus, sliders, contact forms, is a combo of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and it is controlled by your computer's browser. 

Back-end Development

Back-end development is often referred to as client-side. As the name suggests, back-end means whatever goes behind the scenes. The back-end is the part of the website that an end-user doesn’t see. The Server-side is responsible for storing, managing, and organizing the data and ensuring that things run smoothly on the client-side.

Full-stack Web Development

Development of both front-end and back-end is referred to as full-stack development. Full-stack development includes working on the front-end or client-side that the end-user interacts with, back-end or server-side that deals with the data validation and the database also.

What Does a Web Developer do?

Web Developers

Source: tenor

A company website or a social media page or a content management system or an e-commerce website or application, whatever tools we are using in our daily life via the internet are developed by the web developers. They are the professionals responsible for the overall functioning of a website. 

All Web Developers are required to be proficient in certain programming languages. But all developers will work with different languages required by their specific job and area of expertise. Let’s see what all different layers of web development are there.

Depending on the type of web development, web development career paths and web developers' job titles are also defined accordingly. 

Front End Web Developers

Front end web developers are responsible for coding the front-end of a website, which the user sees and interacts with. They use languages like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to build the front-end part.

A front-end developer has to make sure that the website or app they are creating is responsive and user friendly. 

Back-End Web Developers

Back-end developers work behind the scenes and responsible for buildings and maintaining the coding side of the website or an application. They work with languages like PHP, Ruby, Python, Java, and .Net to build an application.

Back-end developers provide support to front-end developers and ensure that whatever the front-end developer builds is working and running smoothly.  

Full Stack Web Developers

Full-stack developers are those who are experts in both front-end and back-end development.

They usually work like back-end developers but should also know the front-end languages.

Programming Languages a Web Developer Should Know

Web Development Language

Source: tenor

A programming language is a set of instructions for computers. It is used to write computer programs that make the computer perform some kind of computation or control some external devices like printers or robots.

To start your web development career, you have to be proficient in some programming languages. Some of the most common programming languages are:

HTML and CSS

HTML, HyperText Mark-up Language is a markup language that defines how a page should be structured.  CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, defines the style of the page or how a page looks on the screen 

HTML and CSS are both entirely different languages, but they complement each other. HTML defines where the header, footer, paragraph, image, and graphics parts will be placed. Page layouts, fonts, colors are selected and implemented through CSS.

JavaScript

In 2019, JavaScript was chosen as the most popular programming language for the seventh time in a row by Stack Overflow’s annual Developer Survey. It is a language that brings dynamic effects to a page. You can build dropdown menus, modal windows, sliding carousels, and other common web interfaces in JavaScript. 

Many popular websites like Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, YouTube, etc. use JavaScript to create interactive web pages.

PHP

PHP is a scripting language used in back-end development. This language is used to request server content. For example, a PHP script can make the most popular articles appear on your website’s front page.

Ruby and Ruby on Rails

Ruby language is most popular with professionals beginning their web development career. This programming language is dynamic, object-oriented, and easy to learn. It works cross-platforms; it is open-source, fast, and secure. It’s framework, Ruby on Rails, is an open-source software, which is not only free to use but you can also help to make it better.

Python

According to IEEE Spectrum, Python tops the world’s most popular programming languages.  It is easy to learn and a must-have skill for a beginner. Many of the world's big brands use Python for web pages such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, Instagram, Netflix, and Spotify.

Skills a Web developer Needs to Master

Web Development Skills

Source: tenor

Apart from being proficient in programming languages, a web developer needs to master some more skills to build a successful web development career. This must-have skills list includes the following:

Analytical skills

A web developer needs strong analytical skills to build creative and successful web applications. As a web developer, you need to ensure that the coding is right and the website works fine. You also must be able to understand the needs of the client and build the website accordingly. You also have to be adaptive because the client may also ask to make changes in the web applications.

Responsive design skills

More than half of the world's population access web applications on their mobiles. As a web developer, you have to make sure that your web applications work on every device smoothly, whether it’s a desktop, mobile, or a tab.

Testing and debugging skills

It is crucial for a web developer to continuously test their webpage for any possible errors and should be able to debug the errors. Testing makes sure everything on your website is working the way it is supposed to work. 

Search Engine Optimization

Web developer knowledge about search engine optimization is essential because website traffic is vital for a company. A good SEO of a website will attract a great number of visitors as it will make it appear high on Search Engine Result Pages. Because more and more companies are looking to have good SEO, it has now become an essential skill to have as a web developer. 

Continually learning about new technologies

Today's business world is driven by technology. Every day new techs and trends come to the market. That’s why a technical field like web development needs constant learning and improvement and keeping up to date with the current trends.

Courses to Begin Your Web Development Career

Web Development Courses

Source: tenor

Many web development courses are available online where you can get the feel and knowledge of how web development works. Here we have shortlisted the top five free online courses for you:

Codecademy

Codecademy provides free self-guided tutorials. It is one of the best online free tutorials for beginners. Here you will be learning front-end code like HTML and CSS and back-end languages such as Ruby on Rails and Python.

MIT OpenCourseware

Free technical tutorials by one of the best technical schools in the world. What else do you need?  Introduction to Computer Science and Programming will give you in-depth knowledge about programming, and A Gentle Introduction to Programming Using Python will introduce you to one of the most popular back-end programming languages- Python.

Mozilla Developer Network

A Web development course by the creators of Firefox web browser. From HTML/CSS  to JavaScript, you will learn about many tools and techniques to develop a website.

Coursera 

Coursera collaborates with various universities around the world and offers a wide range of online courses. From beginners to advanced, you will find plenty of self-guided courses on web development. 

Khan Academy

Khan academy is one of the most popular online academies for free courses. It provides various courses on Computer Programming. In their ‘Meet the Professionals’, you can read about and watch videos of many professionals and get guidance. 

Why to Choose Web Development as a Career

Web Development Jobs

Source: tenor

Before deciding your career path, you need to know the career benefits you wish to choose. Well, we have made some points that will give you a fair good idea about whether to choose web development as a career or not.

The high demand for web developers

Presence on the internet is not an option for businesses anymore, rather it has become a necessity, which has led to the high demand for quality web developers. Well, isn't it the most critical factor in deciding whether to choose a web development career or not?

Attractive salary and growth opportunities

Your skills and knowledge will decide your salary package. The more skilled and creative you are, the remuneration will vary accordingly. According to Upgrad, the average Web Developer Salary in India is Rs. 308,040/annum. A fresher will get around 2.32 L/annum, a mid-level developer 5.89 L/annum, and an experienced developer can earn approx 10L/annum.

The creative and ever-expanding field

For being a good web developer, you should be good in technical terms and have to be creative. 'Creative developer' and 'creative coder' are what a firm looks for.  

Opportunities for remote work. 

A laptop and an internet connection is all you need to begin your career path as a web developer. Sitting in any corner of the world, you can create websites for your clients or even become a part of a nearshore research and development teams. Whoa! Imagine building websites while sitting on a beachside or in the lap of the mountains.

In the End

I think by now, you might have got a fair idea of what web development is, what skills you need to begin your web development career and what all job opportunities this career path will bring to you. 

If you have made up your mind to be a web developer, know from our expert how to craft the best web developer resume and have a look at these often asked web development interview questions.

All the best for a bright future!

Meghna Biswas

Meghna Biswas

Meghna Biswas is a Social Media Marketer and Content Creator, she helps businesses attain leads through variety of social content across the web. Ms. Biswas is a writer by day or reader by night.

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