Web development is a very lucrative business and a career many are interested in. Some people who have had no prior experience in programming have switched to web development and found themselves a nice salary and a comfortable job.
The reason why web development is so popular is because the internet always needs a new site or an existing site to be better optimized or adjusted accordingly.
If you seek a career in web development, here are some things you should do.
Learn Web Development Languages
Web development requires you to learn some programming languages. The usual repertoire of languages is consisted of PHP, javascript, HTML, CSS, Python, Ruby, and some even go for C# or Java. Once you master any of these, you should continue your quest by building your first sites.
Practice Makes Perfect
Web development requires you to build sites and projects. That is the next logical step in your career path. Building sites which work, from the ground up, should be a priority. Once you get that down, you can look for clients.
Practice Makes Money
Once you make some of your own sites, test them and see whether everything is working as intended, you should move on to actual projects for actual clients. Once you start earning money, even a little, you can start making your real portfolio. Each successful site and project can be added to your portfolio, as well as to your wallet.
Build Your Portfolio
Building your portfolio requires you to have some projects and sites up, preferably for clients, satisfied ones. If you only have a few such sites and projects, consider Github, and upload your source code there. Uploading your code to Github leaves your mark on the programming world, a very clear mark, and leaves your code to others, to improve it and use it as they see fit. Your code on another site is also good for the portfolio.
Make Contacts – Expand Your Network
Make contacts within the industry, contact other developers and see what they have on offer, whether advice or jobs. Learning from a senior developer, if possible, is not a bad idea at all. Look for other developers, make contacts and go to programming events like Hackathons.
Get a Job as a Junior Developer
If you want to start slowly, doing so in a company is quite possible. You can easily land a job as a junior developer if you follow the steps above. Granted, that does probably mean less money than you would earn as a freelancer, but more time and comfort to learn a specific language, or to master it.
Start Your Own Freelance Career
If you have enough knowledge and a solid portfolio, you can start your own career as a freelancer and earn a lot more than you could as a junior. Freelancing gives you the freedom of choice. You can choose your own clients and projects, both of which is rather important for a developer. You can also work on your own projects, things which might catch the eye of a larger company.
Following these steps, you can become quite the web developer, from learning languages to building your own projects and even putting together your own team. Work hard, but work smart, plan ahead and keep improving.
