Sam is a local hero. After a career as a musician, Sam enrolled in Career Foundry’s Web Development Course. He is now Head of Web Development. True story.
His inspiring story is a testament to his character and ability to rise so high and so quickly. It is a powerful affirmation that you can also learn to code and move on to web development later in your life.
1. Don’t panic
Web development is a vast field with a lot of information. It can be overwhelming to know where to start. Don’t be afraid. Trust me, the overwhelming number of tools, languages, trends, and frameworks available to developers is overwhelming. Focus is the key. It doesn’t take you forever to master everything. Instead of being overwhelmed by the field, learn incrementally and take time to recognize your progress.
2. Begin with the basics
You’re not panicking, and your pulse rate remains within the 60-85 beats/minute range. Excellent. You’re now in a state of calm contemplation and wondering where to start. It’s normal to be confused. Some people begin with the easiest programming languages in order to get started. It is best to start at the beginning. This means that you should use HTML, CSS, JavaScript (ES5).
3. Realistic goals are possible
You’ll spend a lot of your time online if you’re learning web development. You can easily get overwhelmed and distracted by the sheer volume of information online if you spend a lot. Facebook, YouTube and Instagram notifications are just a few examples. (If the internet were a surname, then “overwhelming”, and “distraction” would be its middle name. How can you stay on the straight and narrow? My best advice is to create your own passion projects. Break these down into manageable goals. What app would you most like to create? What is your grand idea? When you are deeply involved in your project, motivation becomes intrinsic. Every time you feel like you don’t know how to do it, you push yourself to find out. This project-based, problem solving approach has always been my favorite way to retain and remember what I have learned.
4. Reinvent the wheel
People will tell you that you don’t need to write much code because there are plugins for everything. Or that you should use a framework that more experienced developers have created. This is a common misconception. Open source is something that the developer community is known for. It builds things that make our lives easier. It makes our lives simpler and our learning easier. You need to have depth in order to be a great web developer. While you will learn how to use the plugin, you won’t be able to learn the language behind it. You will be a much more proficient developer if you master the language, even if you only manage plugins. You should try to build things. While your code may not be perfect and you will make many mistakes, you will learn quickly and get better results. Some of my projects I have rewritten three to four times. Why? Because I realized that I could code them more efficiently and cleaner a few months later. It’s in these moments that you realize how far you have come, and you can revisit your code.
5. Find what you love
There are many aspects to web development. It’s not necessary to be able to do everything and you don’t have to do anything that isn’t interesting. If you don’t find bugs in the backend annoying and it isn’t making you feel dopamine-streaked, then don’t become a backend developer. It’s perfectly fine. You might enjoy making things beautiful. We all know that the internet could use a little more beauty. This is the case if you feel this way. The division between backend and frontend development is only the first level. If you aren’t good at fixing bugs, but love them finding them, then QA engineers could be for you. Web development offers a wealth of possibilities. Don’t just do it because you feel you must. Pursue a passion.