Studying Web Development as a career choice in 2015

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Zarkon

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Hey everyone,this thread is mostly targeted at web dev's who is currently in the working field.

I will be using 2015 as a year of self study,and start working in 2016. Ive done alot of research the past two months,that u can basically teach yourself with information that is all over the web. Im already busy learning html and css. Im thinking of doing a short course through unisa in the 2nd semester of 2015 (short course: introduction to internet and web design (70076)

This is only to show on my cv,and my interviewer that i really want to do this as a career choice(yes i know experience is more important,but im new to web design and figure something like this might help even a little bit,in getting my foot in the door,since im new to this and have no job experience)

Web development is constantly changing with new tools to use etc etc..and i know if u want to make it in this career u have to constantly be researching and stay up to date with everything or u will fall behind.

Now my question is from your point of view,is this a good career path for the future,how do u see the future as a web developer in south africa,and how is the job market especially in cape town for developers?
 
You're not going to become a professional web developer after a year of online courses and an intro course from UNISA.

If you love computers, just do things properly and do a BSc in Computer Science or Information Systems at a reputable university. You can do online courses at the same time to focus on your web development skills.
 
web dev is javascript. html and css is web design. the difference is at least double the paycheck.
 
Your approach is fine. My only advice would be to do programming and then go into web. If you can dev well in any widely used language, picking up html, css and JS will be a breeze. Remember that the web portion of a web application is only one part of it, you'll still need to be able to build and use databases, code-behind and web services all of which require the use of one language or another.

There are lots of jobs in the field, so that is not a problem.

If you self study, be sure to make a list of projects you want to do (growing in complexity over the year), and work towards them. Do the projects to completion, don't stop when you think you've solved the hardest part. The last 15% is the worst and it is good to learn how to deal with that from the start.

Good luck!
 
rinorobert said:
Bsc Information Systems, what are your thoughts?
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It's an outstanding degree, as it covers the computer content of computer science but has business management, economics, statistics, accounting etc. instead of the hardcore science stuff. It also has slightly easier maths modules. Probably the best degree available for someone interested in computers and entrepreneurship.

Why do you ask?
 
Thanks for the quick responses so far

Yes I know I wil not be a complete package by the end of the year,hence what I said..its just to get my foot in the door,since I whould like to start working in 2016 as a junior developer.I'm currently working full time so self studying is the way,so far I'm enjoying it,and its working for me. Basically I'm doing front end dev for now..I'm learning,html,css,javascript and the frameworks,I know there is a lot more associated with the front end,I just didn't mention everything,but I'm aware of everything that goes into front and back end,I'm taking it step for step. I wil be learning more of the backend when I get started in this field,maybe ill even start this year.

Web development is what I wanna do and that is why I'm not doing the bsc computer science,I did think about it for the future,but I found the bsc informatics is the one for me that I whould like to do after a couple of years working as a developer,I also know that I whould need to learn a language for more back end stuff,and this will come with time. My origanel post was about learning for a year so I can just get a job in this field,and progress from there onwards.
 
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Gonzo.B said:
Thanks for the quick responses so far

Yes I know I wil not be a complete package by the end of the year,hence what I said..its just to get my foot in the door,since I whould like to start working in 2016 as a junior developer.I'm currently working full time so self studying is the way,so far I'm enjoying it,and its working for me. Basically I'm doing front end dev for now..I'm learning,html,css,javascript and the frameworks,I know there is a lot more associated with the front end,I just didn't mention everything,but I'm aware of everything that goes into front and back end,I'm taking it step for step. I wil be learning more of the backend when I get started in this field,maybe ill even start this year.

Web development is what I wanna do and that is why I'm not doing the bsc computer science,I did think about it for the future,but I found the bsc informatics is the one for me that I whould like to do after a couple of years working as a developer,I also know that I whould need to learn a language for more back end stuff,and this will come with time. My origanel post was about learning for a year so I can just get a job in this field,and progress from there onwards.
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That's why I said your approach sounds good. Not everyone can or want to do a degree and that's fine as it is not a pre-requisite in this field. Plus you can always do one later.

Not completing a degree makes you no less of a "complete package" than someone with a degree. Both start from zero when they start working. And ignore the "you'll never be a professional developer without a degree" nonsense, it is simply not true and by no means valid. If the last 3 decades have taught us anything then it is that a degree is a personal choice and not a pre-requisite. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of university, while Larry Page, Sergei Brinn and Elon Musk all hold degrees, so you can make it either way.

Let me put it to you this way, when hiring developers I pay very little attention to formal education. If they are completely fresh then it's all about attitude, and if not then it's all about experience and knowledge. I know both horrible and excellent developers who hold a degree and the same for self-starters.

Do it the way you want to, do it well, go in hungry and you'll get a job. Good luck!
 
One can do development without a degree, but a degree helps a lot in terms of future career growth, since one part of a degree is learning how to learn and another part is the exposure to some of the more fundamental areas of programming, which provides a stronger foundation for future work. And the sooner you start with the degree, the sooner you will be done with it.
 
Thanks frikkenator,that's exactly why I'm taking the self study route,since there is no degree for web developemt itself.
I whould definitly like to do a degree ,and the bsc informatics is something i whould do,since there is more of a management aproach to this degree.
 
Gonzo.B said:
Thanks frikkenator,that's exactly why I'm taking the self study route,since there is no degree for web developemt itself.
I whould definitly like to do a degree ,and the bsc informatics is something i whould do,since there is more of a management aproach to this degree.
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Not only a degree, but there is also not a lot of money in web development in SA. You will not be doing web design and become a millionaire, but if you do it right, you may be able to make a simple living from it.

If you want to work for yourself, you may not even make a living from it. You will need to do a lot of extra work, often not web design related to scrape by. You may often work months on end on a single website to satisfy a client and this means you will not be able to do much else. If you do decide to work on 3, 5, 8 or more websites at a single time, you will fail.

So, be prepared for this if you want to go this route in SA.
 
Visser said:
Not only a degree, but there is also not a lot of money in web development in SA. You will not be doing web design and become a millionaire, but if you do it right, you may be able to make a simple living from it.

If you want to work for yourself, you may not even make a living from it. You will need to do a lot of extra work, often not web design related to scrape by. You may often work months on end on a single website to satisfy a client and this means you will not be able to do much else. If you do decide to work on 3, 5, 8 or more websites at a single time, you will fail.

So, be prepared for this if you want to go this route in SA.
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There's also the problem that local companies already exist that are charging as little as R3k for a professional but basic 10 page website and as little as R10k for basic E-commerce websites.

It's cut-throat out there.
 
OK development means that largely it means you will be contracting. Fro. A pure contract POV showing you have a degree will give an advantage. There is not a lot of money in web dev as stated, but there is money in specialist languages.
 
That's the thing I don't want to be a software developer,I want to be a web developer there is a difference . I'm looking at doing development and design also, nowadays u have to know both..I will be starting at front end,and then moving onto back end,where I will pickup on a language that web devs use,I will propably be doing both. Are any of u currently working as web developer?
So far there hasn't been much positive feedback for doing this as a career,putting some doubt in my mind.
 
It's a pretty flooded market, but there are good jobs available. You will find a lot of the positions will require you to handle other responsibilities as well, at least to a certain degree - server maintenance, administration, some database management depending on the size of the company, etc...

A lot of the current web devs come from other development fields, and so already have experience in what others have mentioned. Coming in fresh gives you the advantage of focusing on current technology and trends, but the disadvantage is lack of experience and limited exposure to other skillsets...

The bottom line is that people make a living doing this, so if it's what you want to do, then do it. You will pick up experience and fringe skills as you go, the key is to be motivated, ambitious and driven - if you want it badly enough you will become good enough.

Good luck, its challenging but fun :)
 
One other thing that many people don't point out often is that prospective employers want candidates to be an expert and a jack of all trades at the same time in both programming languages, scripting and frameworks. When I was in high school I started with Turbo Pascal (Pascal IDE) and in varsity I learned a little bit of Java and VB.Net

Now I Do:
* Java
* Delphi
* C#
* VB6
* VB.Net
* MySQL
* MSSQL
* Python
* ASP.Net / Classic ASP / MVC
* PHP
* Javascript / JQuery / AJAX / HTML / HTML / CSS / CSS3
* Image manipulation and creation
* And lots of other stuff I probably can't remember off the top of my head. I can't even keep up with the acronyms anymore and I've only been developing for 6 years or so.

The biggest problem is that people see developers, web developers - web designers etc etc, especially those that have worked for a couple of years, and think wow that's great work and good pay. The fact of the matter is that it is grueling work and your employer expects you to be able to do everything from top to bottom and back again and have all those relevant skills. You really have to have a knack and a passion for it.

Don't be fooled, there may be a ton of job openings for software and web developers but there's probably twice as many unemployed because they don't have the passion and the skill to follow through.

Either way if you do really enjoy it and it's something you want to follow then learn in your spare time and build a portfolio for yourself. You would be surprised what a good portfolio of dev work can do for you.
 
Yeah I realised I need to do a lot more,for now I'm focusing on html,css,javascript and maybe a bit of jquery. And also some photoshop for design skills! I'm really enjoying it so far,and also building a portfolia was one of my plans thanks for all the advice.
 
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