The Path to Web Development?

Heksmeester

Heksmeester

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Hi all,

I have a serious interest in becoming a Web Developer, however I do not have a university degree. Having done some research, I've read a lot of articles stating that one can be self-taught and that having a solid portfolio should give me a good chance of entering the industry. I do have a few questions though:

1. Where do I start? There are courses on Udemy, etc that claim to cover full-stack Web Development. Are these any good? Will this provide me with the skills I require in order to become a dev?

2. Is there even a degree that relates to Web Dev?

3. What are the chances of employers hiring me without a degree?

4. Since I already have a full time job, what is the expected time frame to acquire the necessary skills if I study/code 2-3 hours a day?

Much appreciated.
 
It depends if you’re going to be one of those guys who slap together a Wordpress site and then call yourself a “web developer”.

Sounds like you want to learn to code and be a proper web guy.

Those Udemy courses are pretty good.

Learn HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript / jQuery, OOP to start. Start building stuff and practicing. Then you’ll have a better idea and direction you want to take things further.
 
Ray7905 said:
It depends if you’re going to be one of those guys who slap together a Wordpress site and then call yourself a “web developer”.

Sounds like you want to learn to code and be a proper web guy.

Those Udemy courses are pretty good.

Learn HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript / jQuery, OOP to start. Start building stuff and practicing. Then you’ll have a better idea and direction you want to take things further.
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What he said ^.Dont be a template formatter.
 
You can also check out Microsofts c# and MVC\API and .net core. They have a good starter library online and the tools are free ( community edition ), also arguably best IDE around. You should still learn HTML,CSS , Javascript, Jquery etc as those are common accross all web platforms.

Also time to acquire skills is one of those how long is a piece of string arguments. Development is also strongly about aptitude.
 
Not to hijack the thread (apologies to OP) But I have the same interest. Registered on Udemy and started a course and looks interesting thus far. Is there a market to actually make good money from web development? Or would starting your own business be more profitable.
 
Fury05 said:
Not to hijack the thread (apologies to OP) But I have the same interest. Registered on Udemy and started a course and looks interesting thus far. Is there a market to actually make good money from web development? Or would starting your own business be more profitable.
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:crylaugh:

Sorry, but google most in demand jobs etc or even the mybb articles. Development is rated as, if not number one, then top 3 scarcest resources. Proper development, not template users.
 
Kosmik said:
:crylaugh:

Sorry, but google most in demand jobs etc or even the mybb articles. Development is rated as, if not number one, then top 3 scarcest resources. Proper development, not template users.
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Yeah sure, just thought I'd ask actual people in development to get a better idea.
 
Fury05 said:
Yeah sure, just thought I'd ask actual people in development to get a better idea.
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It is, even mediocre developers earn a decent amount of money compared to other industries. Free-lancing is a different kettle of fish, that I can't comment but it can be difficult. The biggest barrier to entry is actually getting the first proper development job as most places want a minimum of two years experience in a formal environment. Some will take a chance but its a difficult one.
 
Kosmik said:
It is, even mediocre developers earn a decent amount of money compared to other industries. Free-lancing is a different kettle of fish, that I can't comment but it can be difficult. The biggest barrier to entry is actually getting the first proper development job as most places want a minimum of two years experience in a formal environment. Some will take a chance but its a difficult one.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll finish the course and start playing around with developing sites for people for free to build a portfolio.
 
Fury05 said:
Thanks. I'll finish the course and start playing around with developing sites for people for free to build a portfolio.
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Try attend local dev events , if any hosted by software companies. I see you are in PE though so I'm not sure how big the dev scene is there. Otherwise try get active in forums and other sites like you are now.
 
Kosmik said:
Try attend local dev events , if any hosted by software companies. I see you are in PE though so I'm not sure how big the dev scene is there. Otherwise try get active in forums and other sites like you are now.
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I signed up to GitHub and as I go further into the course will probably register on one or two forums to get a better idea of the latest happenings etc. It's at infant stage at the moment and is a big career shift from Finance to Web development.
 
Fury05 said:
I signed up to GitHub and as I go further into the course will probably register on one or two forums to get a better idea of the latest happenings etc. It's at infant stage at the moment and is a big career shift from Finance to Web development.
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Consider looking into excel manipulation or data manipulation ie: Qlikview, PowerBI etc. You can then leverage both sets of skills ( dev and finance ). Development is a HUGE field.
 
Kosmik said:
Consider looking into excel manipulation or data manipulation ie: Qlikview, PowerBI etc. You can then leverage both sets of skills ( dev and finance ). Development is a HUGE field.
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Well to be honest I hate finance so I'm trying to move away completely. I will look into it however thanks for the heads up.
 
Thank you for the feedback thus far. I'm definitely not interested in becoming a template formatter. :crylaugh:

What I'm aiming for is to be able to develop full-stack, and as Ray7905 mentioned, be a proper web guy. I am currently in IT Support and looking to change career paths. Web Dev is a keen interest of mine. Will a Udemy course / Various online courses be sufficient in order to obtain the skills? How does one even start building a portfolio if experience is a prerequisite? Perhaps building sites for free or building "Practice" sites?

Much appreciated.
 
First learn the basics of development, then look at web development.
 
It makes little to no difference that you don't have a degree. The web and design content covered in university is a joke, and most students are only capable of working with skeleton code anyway.

Udemy is the place to start. Grab a bunch of courses on sale and have fun with them. The better courses make the learning experience a million times more enjoyable and comprehensible than university. Be sure to grab a course on making quality website mockups. And grab some based purely on the included projects. If you want to be full stack you need ambitious projects. I strongly recommend the Python language and Django framework. Python can be used for just about anything, is more 'English-like' than most languages and Django can be used single-handedly to build a complex site. Instagram was originally built on Django and last I checked is still primarily based on it. Hosting complex Django sites is a breeze thanks to affordable web app hosting services.

On a related note, pay no mind to the people here hating on devs who use templates. It is insanity to take an approach that only original development should be used for all engagements. Most clients cannot afford the financial cost and time delay of that. At the very least, much of your own work will form templates that you reuse anyway. I don't necessarily recommend WordPress, as even the better implementations always seem to have something off about them, but Joomla 4 is amazing and will let you provide your clients will a very professional back-end for adding content.

As far as your income aspirations go, I recommend finding a niche. Simply building run of the mill websites is generally for suckers.

These are likely to make you more money:
- eCommerce websites
- custom integrations
- specialising in ERP/integrated solutions

From my experience, your best bet is fully managed integrated eCommerce solutions. Finding clients is relatively easy - successful businesses that are well suited for eCommerce but are crap or non-existent in that area. You can mockup what their website could look like to get your proposal stuck in their head and there's a good chance that they want everything handled for them. So website dev, ongoing support, hosting, cloud-based email, storage and backup, eCommerce functions incl returns & ticket support, integration with POS and any ERP, courier integration, social media advertising (which is a technical skill to do correctly, with targeted ads, A/B testing and refined market data over time) and super duper search engine optimisation (not overly difficult to destroy the competition with proper SEO backlink networks - most devs ignore the importance of domain authority - to rank in top 10 for desired queries). These ultra comprehensive packages are loved by successful businesses, because they don't have to admit how terrible their tech situation currently is.

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Edit: I forgot to mention that the above paragraph is how more than a few Chief Information Officers had their start. Initially you will spend quite a while, if not an indefinite period, focusing on a single client due to the workload and being a relative noob. If you do an outstanding job and become indispensable, there's a good chance that the company will produce a juicy offer for you to join them full time to handle the entire eCommerce side of the business. You would not believe how many companies are sick up to their eyeballs of hiring tech people who can only talk the talk. If you're a star they won't give a damn about your qualifications. So you'll also have this additional potential route of becoming a top level employee.

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If there's one skill that I have never seen someone develop though, it's an eye for good design. Being full stack will require a good eye. Both for your proposals but also in everything you develop and comment on. I really hope your ideas for stuff genuinely look good, that you pay attention to detail and that you can identify how bad 99% of stuff on the web is. Make sure you understand colour. Go through the Shopify blog for a treasure trove of useful articles.

Best of luck!
 
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Thank you all for your valuable input. :) I also found this online course (link below). It's a bit pricey, but it seems like it's a local institution and they also partnered with Google, Facebook, Oracle, The University of Cambridge and Python. Your code is also reviewed by professional educators / trainers on which you receive feedback.

https://www.hyperiondev.com/

Thoughts?
 
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