Introduction to Web Development

Introduction to Web Development

Introduction to the Web Developer’s Job

What do Web Developers do?

A short answer for this question is that web developers build and maintain websites and web applications in general. Web developers usually work for clients and those clients can be a company, an organization or even the government that wants their product or service onto the web.

Therefore the web developer needs to collaborate with other people and together as a team to fullfil the client’s needs. The work that needs to be done it can involve not only front-end development but also back-end or even full stack development.

If you are a person that likes to solve logical problems and build useful things then the web development profession is probably a good choice for you. In general this profession is hight in demand and has good salaries.

You can check the link below for more details about web development. The link is from Wikipedia and it talks about the entry on web design.

(*Tip: Click Ctrl and click on a link to open it in a new Browser Tab)

IMPORTANT: You should read the article on Wikipedia about Web Design, since you will be tested on the material. Here are the sections of the article that you must absolutely read:

  • Short Description
  • The start of the web and web design
  • Evolution of Web Design
  • Page layout
  • Typography
  • Quality of Code
  • Generated content – Static websites
  • Generated content – Dynamic websites

Types of Web Developers

As stated before a project can involve front-end, back-end and full-stack web development. Let’s see now what are the differences between those terms.

The front end refers to the stuff you see on the website when you open it in the browser. That involves the content as well as the user interface elements such as the navigation bar. The technologies that front end developers use are HTML, CSS and JavaScript. All these technologies are combined together in the more efficient way so as the users to have the best experience possible.

The back end refers to the core of an application. It involves the server and in general it stores and handles all the data so as the front end has everything that it needs. The back end can be very complicated especially if the application has lot of users and lot of data to handle. The technologies that back end developers use are Java, Python, and Ruby.

The full-stack refers to both front end and back end development. In this course we focus on teaching full-stack development so as the students to have a wide knowledge of web development.

If you want to know more about this topic you can visit the following link: 3 Web Dev Careers Decoded: Front-End vs Back-End vs Full Stack

Types of Careers as a Web Developer

Now let’s see the types of careers and their differences. In other words we will cover the different types of employers or clients you might encounter as a web developer.

To start with, there are large tech companies such as Google and Facebook that they offer excellent pay and opportunities but they have very strict hiring requirements and expectations.

On the other hand, startups offer lower salaries and often require longer hours but at the same time they also offer equity and they don’t have as much as high requirements as the larger ones. In addition they also have unique environments and offer good opportunities especially for Junior developers.

Working as a freelancer can be a little bit challenging since it means that you have to all the work by yourself as well as managing billing from clients. In addition you must have excellent communication skills. However working as a freelancer has some advantages as well, since you have the freedom to schedule and design your own products.

Another option is to work as a consultant for a company that will give you more time to code and less time worrying about other stuff. Furthermore this option can provide you with good balance in life and payments.

There is also the option to work for large old companies. Those companies also need web developers and can pay well although since they are not highly focused on tech things will get much slower.

Useful Tools for Learning

Let’s see now some of the tools that you will definitely use on a regular basis. Some of them you may not have heard them before but you are certainly going to.

Motivation is The Key to Success

Learning to code is very rewarding since you can build whatever you like from scratch. However it can be also difficult and frustrating especially at the beginning of the journey. As a student you have the desire to build and to solve problems and those characteristics are really big asset.

Keep in mind that lot of successful web developers come from different backgrounds, and the important is the outcome, what you have built rather than how you got there.

Read the following article as a brief introduction to what you will face. comprehensive blog post from Happy Bear Software.

Conclusion

Up until now you should have a very good idea of what a web developer does and how your life will look like if you follow this path. This has only been the tip of the iceberg in the world of web development.

In this course, "Web Development 101," you’ll take a journey through all the major topics that you will have to know. These topics will provide you with a small taste of each and then move to other topics. Don’t worry though because in the next courses we will dive deeper into these topics.

You will build many projects, websites and other applications to strengthen the skills that you have gained throughout this journey. Those skills will get you hired. Keep in mind that getting through all the journey it will be challenging.

You should check out the post "Why Learning to Code is So Damn Hard" so as to learn more about this journey.

Additional Resources

If you need to learn more about this journey and dive deeper you can check out the following links. These links are supplemental and they aren’t required.