Starting Out As A Web Developer: 101

Developer of Web and mobile applications. Head with gears and programming technological clouds

Web programmers, also known as web developers, vastly improve websites whilst making them ‘do things’. To put it another way, they progress and move forward a sites interactivity and functionality. Everybody uses the web for things like making comments on forums, booking flights, viewing your bank balance, reporting a complaint, just to name but a few. And web developers will be involved in ensuring the entire following just mentioned are in working order, which can be a lot of responsibility.

Is being a web developer a career with potential prospects? Just think about the fast growing rate at which the internet is growing and continues to grow. Plus the fact more and more sites request intelligent functionality so visits can carry out tasks efficiently, so there’s your answer in regards to potential prospects.

Strengths Required

So, how can you identify if web developing is for you? Which qualities and skills are essential to building a high achieving career as a web developer? Now it does help if you attain a high level of interest in computers, the web and internet – even if you have not yet learnt a program in the technologies that makes the internetting world turn. Patience is also a key aspect in order to be methodical, whilst having an inquisitive mind. Whilst it’s not absolutely required knowledge, if you acquire strength of what looks good on the internet, it’ll stand you in good stead.

When it comes to the skills required, ideally a good place to start with is learning HTML & CSS, which are the basic stepping stones of pages on the web. Whilst WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs similar to Adobe Dreamweaver make it a realistic target for designers to skip the requirement of learning these vital skills, most developers are expected to be able to code using only a simple text editor.

After this there are then various languages that can contribute functionality to websites: knowledge of PHP, and databases like ‘MySQL’ which are particularly useful when working with dynamic websites, such as the increasing numbers powered by a CMS (Content Management System) to store and call upon content into templates from a database when needed.

Another language worth conquering is JavaScript. Adding functionality to web pages is not all JavaScript is useful for, applications beyond the web can also be used. There are also various other programming languages that can compliment your HTML and CSS skills, that can be useful additions to your web developer’s tool kit, including ‘Perl’ to ‘ASP’.

A final element that will help you troubleshoot websites more effectively is developing your understanding of web standards outlined by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). And how different browsers may render pages differently.