9 Tips To Start a Web Development Career in 2021

If you are a student, a recently graduated professional, or someone who wishes to change careers in the tech world, then you might have heard about one of the tech areas getting hotter every day and becoming more popular as we speak.

Web development is one of those career paths that are on raising demand from startups to big companies. If you do a fast search in any job portal, you will understand what I'm referring to increasing demand.

But why is so hard for a lot of people to start...

When you decide to begin your journey in this fantastic web building world, you start to realize that it is one fill with a lot of confusion, especially if you're an absolute beginner. I can describe my first days on this route with just that word, confusion.

There are so many technologies on the market that it is almost impossible to decide what to start learning, especially when you see the famous standard terms like front-end, back-end, cloud development, APIs, IDES, Databases. In each one of those categories, there are hundreds of technologies you could start learning right now. And it is so depressing to realize you have a long way to reach your goals.

But there's always hope for someone who doesn't want to give up.

It is not easy, but as one great rapper once said:

You can do anything you set your mind to. Eminem

Let's follow these simple tips that will help you and set you on the right track:

1. First Step - Prepare your mind

There're some things you need to consider if you want to succeed in any area, especially in a tech-related one.

You have to take one step at a time, don't rush, dedicate the amount of time necessary to learn quickly but steady, remember this path takes time. You will not become a pro overnight, but you will become good sooner than you think.

There are going to be some awful days. Days when you start questioning if this is worth it. Those are the days when you need to be mentally strong, take a break if you need to, maybe a day or two, and then come back swinging. Sometimes you need to recharge and keep going.

Nothing good happens overnight.

2. Learn the basic skills

Every Web Developer out there that wants to be taken seriously must have a basic set of skills in subjects like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. So if you don't know these skills, then this is the first thing you need to attack. Go search for a good basic tutorial on Youtube and start learning all you can about those terms. You will be using them more than you can think. Even if you use frameworks, you still have to know how the HTML tags work, the CSS rules function, and why Javascript is so used.

There are so many resources online that it can be overwhelming to find the right path and the right course for you. Now you don't need to become an expert. Just get the basics straight so you can proceed with the next step.

Here are some good pages to go where you can find great content for you:

3. Decide your first path

And what I mean with the first path is to choose the road you want to walk. Since you want to become a web developer, there are several different routes to follow. You can become a front-end developer, a back-end developer, or a full-stack developer. I recommend aiming for the full-stack since that will give you a broader understanding and more possibilities to find a job.

But how can you choose the right path for you? Since many beginners' main goal is to find a good job that pays them well, I recommend going to different job sites and searching for web developers' most in-demand technologies. Look for those that keep repeating over and over. You don't want to learn something that nobody else is using.

Now, this may take a while because you want to make the right decisión, so be patient and start Googling. Here are some pages where you can begin the search:

4. Focus on a single set of technologies

As I mentioned previously, there are too many technologies available to learn. After doing the previous tip, you will have a more define selection, so choose the one you feel is the best for you and your goals. I recommend choosing one technology for the front-end, one for the back-end, and maybe a different one for mobile.

After you made the decisión, you have to stick with it, unless there's a pretty good reason to make a change; otherwise, let's go on with the journey because if you start switching from one technology to the other, you're going to end up knowing nothing.

Start first by learning a back-end technology like node.js or PHP and then learning something for the front-end like React or Vue.

Remember that even though it's essential to learn a language or a framework, you also need to be good at solving problems, so dedicate a few minutes each day to study common programming problems like arrays, loops, or calculations to learn how to solve them. The HackerRank site has some good courses like the Problem Solving Skills Certification Test.

5. Choose a real-world project

There's no better way of learning something new than doing a real-world project. Doing the same old to-do lists and similar tutorial projects can take you not far enough. If you keep doing those boring projects, you'll end up tired and ultimately giving up.

You need to select a problem that you know is occurring to someone or yourself and build a project around that. That will teach you a lot more things than what shows in the tutorial. When I was starting, my first project was to build an app to teach my son to read, and it was the best decision because I was able to use what I was learning with something that worried me personally. You should select something that can be done with that technology.

And I also advise you to select a project that's not so long and not that complex, something small that you can be proud of is perfect for your first time.

6. Take it to the end

If you start something, you better finish it. Don't let your mind start thinking about other projects before finishing the first one. It will break you and your project, especially if you're not having a good day. It's important to stay focus and let it flow. Having a finished project is a fantastic feeling that will make you start the next one right away.

It doesn't feel right to have multiple unfinished projects on your portfolio, and you will end up losing all your confidence.

7. Start building your portfolio

Talking about portfolios, you need one. Don't doubt that for a minute. It's the best way to show the world what you have learned and have been learning. Even the portfolio could be a project you build in one of the technologies you're learning.

It doesn't need to be something too sophistical. Just a clean website where you talk a little about yourself, have a section for your projects, and a contact page.

Every time you finish a project, you should add it to your portfolio right away. You can even add your current ones to show what you've been working on recently.

It is also essential to know that even though you've learned how to program in a specific language, you have to be ready to switch at any moment. It's not a good idea to specialize in a single set of technologies, like .Net or Java. You have to be prepared to change, depending on what the market wants.

8. Journal your path

One excellent way to know if you are learning is to write all the things you study. You can do this by simply writing a blog or recording yourself detailing the latest lessons learned. This habit will help you have a better understanding of the subjects you are working on lately.

Another great way is to share your knowledge with other students or professionals worldwide who are also starting. You can do this by publishing your articles and sharing them with anyone you think would be interested. You could also teach everything you know to anyone whos' willing to listen to you. That will solidify your skills and be a challenge for you because you have to stay updated with the latest developments.

9. Read every day

If you make reading a habit, you will learn something each day, and I don't mean that you have to read longs books, you can also read small articles and publications about web development and the new technologies coming out every day.

I recommend installing a browser extension like daily.dev, and every time you open a new tab, you will find hundreds of new articles for you to read. Here are some additional resources to follow for tech news:

Conclusion

So, there you go. These are some simple tips and steps to help you reach your goal to start your Web Development Career. So start now, take action, don't waste more time. Just Do it.

Each day is a new opportunity of getting to the finish line.

LET'S DO THIS! Pic by Jacub Gomez at Pexels