How To become a web developer
The best place to start a career as a software engineer is in the web development space.
HTML, CSS and other web technologies are also great ways to teach developers important, meaningful lessons about how to write code — lessons that programmers can apply to any popular programming languages, from Java to Rust to Go and beyond.
If you want to become a highly paid software engineer, web development is definitely the best place to start.
Web development roadmap
To become a master of browser-based technologies in 2023, follow these steps on the web developer roadmap:
- Master the basics of HTML.
- Expertly style webpages with CSS.
- Learn to code with JavaScript.
- Get familiar with DevTools and browser plugins.
- Create responsive web pages with Bootstrap.
- Gain knowledge of site hosting and domain registrars.
- Work with CMS templates and static website generators.
- Gain competency with a progressive web app framework.
- Know how to push complex logic to WebAssembly.
- Be able to integrate your web apps with RESTful APIs.
First, master HTML
The first step on the 2024 web development roadmap is to learn HTML
HTML is the language of the web browser. With HTML you structure the data you wish to display on a web page with any of the 145 available tags, including the following:
- <table> to present tabular data.
- <form> to take input from the user.
- <ol> for ordered, numbered items.
- <ul> for unordered, bulleted lists.
- <p> for paragraphs.
- <nav> for a collection of navigable links.
- <h1> for top-level headings.
Show your style with CSS
HTML code describes data and explains the overall structure of a webpage.
Cascading style sheets (CSS) format the content on the page, add color, configure fonts and make webpages more readable by adding padding to images or extra space between sections.
Anyone with a creative bent will love working with CSS, as you can also use stylesheets to create interesting two-dimensional artwork and add simple animations to otherwise boring, static text.
Code with Javascript
You don’t need a computer science degree to become a successful web developer, but you do need to become familiar with the JavaScript programming language.
Developers who are new to web technologies use JavaScript to:
- Validate user input on form submissions.
- Handle events such as mouse-clicks and keystrokes.
- Rotate and resize images
JavaScript is an excellent programming language to learn. Web developers who can control the web browser with advanced JavaScript routines are in high demand.
Dev Tools and browser extensions
As you travel further along the web developer roadmap, the ability to troubleshoot code becomes increasingly important.
Browsers including Edge, Firefox and Chrome come packaged with advanced development and debugging tools, accessible by right-clicking on any web page and selecting Inspect. These tools aid in debugging and development by providing functions such as:
- Windows that display JavaScript output logs.
- Network monitoring and analysis tools.
- Source code analysis and color-picking tools.
- Tools for accessibility testing.
Popular Chrome extensions that support web development include the following:
- Cookie editors.
- JSON viewers.
- Lorem ipsum generators.
- Screen recorders.
Responsive web design is essential
There are many responsive web frameworks on the market, including Skeleton and Foundation, but the vast majority of the market uses Bootstrap.
All web developers should become familiar Bootstrap and how its 12-column grid system enables developers to render content differently on devices with varying screen sizes.
Progressive web application frameworks
While HTML, CSS and JavaScript are powerful tools, they tend to run out of steam with development of advanced web applications that store data on the client side and manage complex state transitions.
To simplify the creation of multi-faceted, browser-based, often single-page applications, numerous powerful progressive web app frameworks and libraries have emerged, including the following:
- AngularJS.
- ReactJS.
- Ember.
- Next.
- Vue.
Many of these frameworks work with TypeScript, which is a superset of JavaScript. When adopting a progressive web framework, compliment your knowledge of JavaScript with TypeScript
Integrate with RESTful APIs
To be truly useful, Web applications must reach out beyond the device that displays them.
A web developer must learn how to handle JSON and access RESTful APIs in order to accomplish the following:
- Process payments.
- Integrate with social media apps.
- Authenticate users.
- Query remote databases.
- Access cloud-based APIs.
Through RESTful APIs, the web developer can access a bevy of externally hosted online services.
That’s the last stop on the web development roadmap, because it opens up a new world of possibilities. The web application then becomes an integrated part of a worldwide network of SaaS-based functions and online services.