Any web developers?

[Ex]

Hey eGO,

I have come to write this post here since for the time I was in eGO I saw that the community was so diverse and everyone had many different skills and experiences.

I am looking at possibly changing career path and I was thinking something along the lines of Web Design and Web Development, I wasn't too sure on the difference between the two and since reading into job descriptions of both I feel I would suit the development side.

I do not know how development works and don't know any languages like php,css,html,javascript,python etc, In my mind right now I am imagining this is how it works- You know the language and all the ins and outs and you use some software to write up your code, can the software then turn the code right into whatever you've made?
I like to be able to see what I have created as I go along etc?

This is all on the spot stuff and I have only read up minimal amounts so here are a few questions I leave for you all, appreciate any responses and suggestions. Thanks in advance.


Is this career path a good choice?
Is it possible to learn on all on your own?
Any educational platforms online that you suggest?
Whats the best software to use for beginners?
What is the best way to start web development?
What would you suggest learning first?
What languages should I learn first?
Do developers create the whole website, framework etc? Designers create imagery and color schemes or something else?
Any other suggestions on the endeavour?

Whoever the Tech Teams Web Dev is, would highly appreciate any response from you

 

[Johnny]

Is this career path a good choice?
-Possibly

Is it possible to learn on all on your own?
-Absolutely

Any educational platforms online that you suggest?
-Lynda.com

Whats the best software to use for beginners?
-Notepad - it forces you to actually learn it.

What is the best way to start web development?
-Go build a website.

What would you suggest learning first?
-HTML

What languages should I learn first?
-HTML > CSS

Do developers create the whole website, framework etc? Designers create imagery and color schemes or something else?
-Depends on resources

Any other suggestions on the endeavour?
-Color Complements

 

[LeviTheDegu]

Here'y my take:


Is this career path a good choice?
This is ultimately a question of are you passionate about web development? If you're not you will fail in this field. But overall it's a good field. Web development will get saturated with applicants; however, the demand for them will continue to grow as cloud based applications grow

Is it possible to learn on all on your own?
100% I'd reccomend using online resources (codeacademy, lyndia.com, etc) to learn. I'd recommend taking a formal course for your server side language (ASP.net / PHP / Ruby on Rails)

Any educational platforms online that you suggest?
Code academy is great for beginners

Whats the best software to use for beginners?
Honestly free: Notepad++, otherwise Microsoft visual studio is fantastic for web development (especially if you're working with ASP.net).

What is the best way to start web development?
Start taking courses and building labs. You need to decide what kind of web developer you're going to be. Small business and enterprise developers have a very different level of responsibilities, services and creation standards.

What would you suggest learning first?
HTML5

What languages should I learn first?
HTML5 -> Javascript -> Jquery -> ASP.NET (or PHP) -> Ruby on Rails -> C#

Do developers create the whole website, framework etc? Designers create imagery and color schemes or something else?
This really depends on YOUR role as a web developer. Freelancers typically will build the basic website (design, some minor backend, etc) whereas someone working for a larger organization (wanting a stable job) will more likely find themselves working with the frameworks / web services. Most large organizations have a design team and a development team (one builds what the customer sees and the other builds the backend). I personally prefer the back end side of things because it's more challenging (but it's also less artsy)

Any other suggestions on the endeavor?

Do YOU actually want to be a web developer and why? Do you just want a good career? it's probably not for you. Do you want to develop beautiful sites? Make sure to make yourself design focus (you'll have to have a good portfolio to make this work). Do you enjoy solving problems and creating diverse systems? Then focusing on the server side languages will be your best bet.

 

[Ex]

Do YOU actually want to be a web developer and why? Do you just want a good career? it's probably not for you. Do you want to develop beautiful sites? Make sure to make yourself design focus (you'll have to have a good portfolio to make this work). Do you enjoy solving problems and creating diverse systems? Then focusing on the server side languages will be your best bet.

I am testing the waters to find out most of the answers for myself, however as an electrical engineer I am on the side of solving problems and creating systems. All the artsy design stuff I don't think I will be good at, however as a developer how can you create a website without designing it? would you have to give your code to someone else to use something like css etc to design it?

 

[LeviTheDegu]

I am testing the waters to find out most of the answers for myself, however as an electrical engineer I am on the side of solving problems and creating systems. All the artsy design stuff I don't think I will be good at, however as a developer how can you create a website without designing it? would you have to give your code to someone else to use something like css etc to design it?

honestly, there's a lot of open frameworks out there that you don't have to be super artsy to get a decent design down; however, if you don't want to invest time in the frontend design side of things you're going to be limited in what you can do in a web development capacity (I'd suggest focusing on a server side language such as PHP, ASP.Net, Ruby on Rails then), The good news is, the customers will almost always tell you exactly what they want Libraries such as Jquery and Bootstrap can really help easy design without much effort

 

[Cryptex]

If you're working for a company as a web developer then typically there will be graphic design/UI/UX people/teams to handle the design and you will build off of a template they create or a mock-up and write the whole thing from scratch. There may be style guidelines, color pallets to help out to.

If you're working on your own/freelancing then everything is on you to gather requirements, create a design, build and test everything. It's a big job.

Also, Javascript is the real big deal these days. AngularJS, Node, jQuery, all that jazz. The web is becoming more and more responsive and there are a zillion different frameworks for it. I'd suggest learning that over something like Ruby or ASP.Net.

 

[TheMajeye]

I am a professional (currently freelance) software engineer & web developer.

I have a certificate in Front End web development, as well as currently working on a bachelor's degree in software engineering. (just to make myself more marketable)

I learned everything I know 100% completely on my own in my spare time.

One of the biggest sites I used to learn was www.freecodecamp.com

It's 100% free, no hidden fees, has github integration and records your progress.

The site also helps you to find job placement when you finish both their Front end cert and their full stack cert.

You can also contribute to non-profits via that site which just helps your portfolio/resume.

If you ever have any issues, they connect you to tens of thousands of other people utilizing that site via a personalized chatroom, they also help you with pair-programming, which helps you learn a LOT faster as you have more people to help you on a more personal scale.

I highly highly recommend them.

 

[DJ TTK]

Background: I am a first year student in information technology.
What I have learnt in order: HTML5, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL (Databases).

This is a good way of learning how to make websites and how to design them. Every new language builds on what you have learnt and also lets you make more and more complex websites with different features. For example we made a website visit counter with javascript and saved the data in to a text file, this was made much easier when we learnt about databases and how to use them. Was it a waste to learn it first in javascript? No, because you learn alot from repeating it in a new way and learn more about the language and what it is used for.

In short it is a ever changing career where you will be learning all the time.