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How to Light the Fire and Become a Web Developer

by Clint VeaseyJanuary 8th, 2022

Too Long; Didn't Read

This article is part of a series of articles aimed at those very new to the scene of Web Development. Whether you are a teenager in a bedroom or an ‘old salt’ looking to upgrade your way into a better standard of living, perhaps you can find something of use in this piece. In the beginning, things can seem very overwhelming. The fact you’ve managed to zero in on this specific facet of IT (web development) means you are already better at making decisions than myself who fell into this.

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featured image - How to Light the Fire and Become a Web Developer

This article is part of a series of articles aimed at those very new to the scene of Web Development.

Whether you are a teenager in a bedroom or an ‘old salt’ looking to upgrade your way into a better standard of living, perhaps you can find something of use in this piece.

In the beginning, things can seem very overwhelming. The fact you’ve managed to zero in on this specific facet of IT (web development) means you are already better at making decisions than myself who fell into this.

Making Web Pages

HTML

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Start</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Start making web pages</h1>
  </body>
</html>

A good place to start is making the very thing you are looking at right now. It’s not sexy or impressive, but learning the basics of HTML is pretty important.

If you’ve never written a program before, HTML is a fairly simple formatting language. It is a nice easy trial by fire to learn whether or not coding is something you are cut out for.

Personally, I learned from a book from the library. This was 2004…

Right now you are a Google Search and a lazy afternoon away from learning HTML.

Don’t be in a rush, make a few pages. Hyperlink them together. Some good first projects may be:

Choose your own adventure.
Family recipes.
Dashboard of resources for your own use.

CSS

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Start</title>
    <style>
      body {
        background: red;
        color: white;
      }    
      h1 {
        font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Start making web pages</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Being able to theme your websites and write style sheets is an essential skill. If you’ve become acquainted with HTML, then learning the basics of CSS should not be too much of a step up.

You will be surprised how quickly knowing just HTML & CSS how you will be able to cobble together some rather smart-looking pages.

Core Programming Fundamentals

If you have never written a program before I would recommend taking a slight break from web development and working your way through a tutorial of any language where you don’t have to worry about the browser, formatting etc.

You just want to be able work your way from Hello World, to basic programming fundamentals such as:

Conditions.
Loops.
Importing and using external libraries.

#include <stdio.h>

void main() {
  printf("One step at a time!");
}

I would recommend something you can just run from your terminal on your own PC such as C or Python.

Scripting Languages

JavaScript

I started with backend server-side scripting first. However, I wish I had begun with the frontend as it would have been a much less steep learning curve had a started with JavaScript.

console.log("You will be debugging using this method a lot");

The rationale behind this as server-side languages require running up a server. Whereas frontend development in JavaScript typically runs in your browser, so you have less to learn.

Also, JavaScript can add interactivity that is very marketable. However, if you’re after a bit more money and to compete against fewer other candidates I would always recommend backend development.

When beginning with JavaScript you can quickly jump into using 3rd Party Libraries such as jQuery which will see a lot of return in what you can accomplish for a relatively small amount of time invested in learning it.

WAMP / LAMP Stack

Firstly, I am going to dive straight in and suggest you learn PHP as a server-side language. Firstly I have a bias as that is what has been my bread and butter for the past six years.

PHP is easy to learn and used a lot where I am from (UK) by a lot of businesses that are local to me.

<?php 

echo "A lot of my career has been working on procedurally written PHP codebases";
die("That are a nightmare to debug");

To start running PHP scripts you will need to get comfortable running up a development server. Running up this environment is an article in itself.

By the time you have a development server running, you will have already begun wrangling with some very basic server admin which will be a handy skill to have.

Finally, you will inevitably require a database, probably MySQL. This is a further service you’ll need to run up and then familiarize yourself with.

To Summarise

For backend work I would suggest you learn:

How to run up a development server.
Basic PHP scripting.
Install MySQL and perform simple queries.
Interface with your MySQL via PHP.

My Story and Survivor Bias

I began my journey with HTML and CSS in 2004, hardcoding websites for small local businesses. I used notepad exclusively and had to pick up some basic graphics editing skills using Adobe Fireworks and a lot of time.

Making websites was more of a hobby back then, and it was shelved for a few years whilst I joined the military.

When I realised I wanted to leave the army but had no serious civilian qualifications, I took a couple of years during my nights and downtime to pick up Python, PHP and MySQL.

My learning really consisted of just deciding I wanted to create something such as a text adventure, or a blogging platform and just reading up on each next step.

My first attempt at an image board is still on GitHub as a way of always humbling myself as to where I started.

All in all I would say it took me around 10 years from first picking up a “Teach yourself HTML” book to starting my first full-time job as a developer.

So take it one step at a time, nice and easy.