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In this course, you’ll learn all about becoming a web developer,from the responsibilities that a web developer performs on a day-to-day basis to the set of skills that you’d need to succeed in such a role. And, of course, you’ll also get your hands dirty with code: We’ll introduce you to the fundamental building blocks of the web and make sure you leave this course having developed your very first website!
learn what the role of a web developer is and discuss the different types of web developers
Take a look at the skills required to become a web developer
Preview what we’ll be learning over the next 5 days
Create your first webpage using a text editor and browser
Ready to dive into the magical world of web development? Let’s go!
A web developer is at heart an interactive artist. They’re someone driven by a
deep desire to create things. A web developer’s canvas is a user’s web browser.
Much like how a curious child takes pleasure in making toys by joining LEGO blocks—and then
experiences a similar joy in taking things apart to see how they’re made, a web developer’s
job is to use the basic building blocks of the web (like HTML, CSS and JavaScript) to create
something complex like a webpage. Don’t sweat it! We’ll get into all of those terms soon.
It is also the web developer’s job to diagnose problems in a website’s functionality, to understand
how something works by reading the code behind it, and to make changes to fix any issues. That
essentially makes web developers the physicians of the world wide web. When we talk about the
world wide web, we’re mainly referring to websites and web applications. At this point, the
curious aspiring developer in you might be wondering, “What’s the difference between the two?”
Well, we’re glad you asked! A website is usually a simple page or a group of pages (the popular
web comic site, xkcd, for example). However, modern websites are much more than that. Take Google
Docs, for example. It has a nice interface that, once opened, looks very much like a desktop
software like Microsoft Office. Such complex websites are often termed web applications. A web
developer today is expected to know how to create and work with web applications. Having said
that, most people use the terms interchangeably, so don’t get too hung up on the terminology!
There are different types of web developers who focus on different areas. These include:
Frontend developers: Frontend developers implement web page designs using HTML and CSS. They make
sure the website looks pretty on different devices, and that the forms and buttons work.
Backend developers: Backend developers create the backbone of the web application. They write code
logic that handles a user’s input (for example, what should happen when you click the signup button
after filling in a form).
Full stack developers: Full stack developers do bits of both backend and frontend. Depending on the
problem at hand, they can switch cape and move stacks. You can learn more about the differences between
frontend and backend development in this guide.
There are many other specific roles in web development, like system architects, AI, machine learning and
security engineers. These roles require more specialized knowledge of one or more of the above types of
development, so many professionals in these roles will start by gaining some general web development experience.
What does it take to become a web developer? Essentially, just three things: HTML, CSS and
JavaScript—the three pillars of the web, which we’ll be learning about over the next few days. Together, these
three pillars make every website work, defining the content to be displayed (HTML), telling a browser how to
display that content (CSS), and making the content interactive (JavaScript), respectively.
A web developer is well versed in these three technologies. They can read other people’s code and make changes
to it. They can find and debug bugs (shortcomings in existing code). A web developer might, at times, work on a
new project (a new website) from scratch, or may have to work on an existing website and make it better. A
typical day in the life of a web developer involves fixing bugs, developing new features (that is, enhancements)
and webpages, and working with other developers to discuss ways to solve problems.
Don’t be overwhelmed by all of these details. You’ll soon see that they’re all very connected, and learning one of
these automatically makes you good at a few others!
In short, very good. Employment of web developers is projected to grow 13 percent from 2018 to
2028, much faster than the average for all occupations. Demand will be driven by the growing popularity of mobile
devices and ecommerce (Bureau of Labor Statistics). It is a great time to be a web developer as startups are
flourishing, which results in above average salaries for web developers in most parts of the world.
Also given the nature of the job, finding a remote job as a web developer is easier than many other domains. As a result,
it opens up the entire world’s job market to everyone irrespective of where they’re physically located.
No web development course is complete without a hands-on project. In this course, we’ll be using the
three pillars of the web (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) to build your first project, a personalized portfolio website. Once
you have these under your belt, picking up other tools and languages is much easier. Pay extra attention to the basics,
as a shaky foundation leads to loads of confusion later on. We’ll also give you the resources needed to put your website
online so that you can share it with your friends and family.
Today, we’ll start by getting a fish eye view of the web development world. We’ll talk about the tools we’ll use in this
course, and we’ll also write some HTML.
On the second day, we’ll write more HTML and HTML elements, and create the rough layout of our project website.
On day three, we’ll write some CSS to make our website mobile responsive, which means that our website will be
viewable on computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
On the fourth day, we’ll dive into some advanced CSS and add cool effects to our page.
On the fifth and final day, we’ll learn how to write basic JavaScript. We’ll also look at form validations and
other common elements of JavaScript programming.
To give you a tiny glimpse, this is roughly how your website will look like at the end of this course. Pretty cool, right?
