So you think you wanna be a programmer: web dev edition

So you think you wanna be a programmer: web dev edition

If you haven’t already check out my article on what it takes to be a programmer without getting into the specific area (https://www.mulanlau.com/blog/so-you-think-you-wanna-be-a-programmer)

To recap:

Successful programmers have a few common traits. They are:

• Patient

• Persistent

• Enjoy problem-solving

• Logical thinkers

• Resilient

Being good at math is not a requirement to be a good programmer. Being the kind of person who continues to try and figure something out even when it’s hard and you want to throw your code across the room is a requirement. And it will happen multiple times both as you learn to code and as you improve your coding skills. Immense frustration as a programmer is inevitable. If that sounds awful then this might not be the right career for you.

Alright now let’s get into the web dev specific part.

Web development is another large category. Web development consists of two main categories, each with a ton of smaller ones. The two main categories of web development are front-end and back-end. Front-end web development uses (at its core) HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and is responsible for creating the part of the website that you see and interact with. Back-end web development can use a variety of different languages depending on preference and or the existing tech stack. Back-end web development is responsible for handling all the information passed back to it from the front-end side of things. For example, you wouldn’t host a database on the front-end part of your website, that would live in the back-end side. Another way to think of it is that front-end web development deals with creating the part of the website that is sent to your computer to play with while back-end web development is all the little inner workings that you can’t see or touch from your computer.

If you like to be able to see a direct result from your code, for example code a few lines and look at what happened, then you probably want to explore front-end web development. If you don’t care about seeing the direct result as you code and are more interested in the data side of things, you might want to look into back-end web development. A little disclaimer: I’m not the best person to ask about back-end web development because I have hardly any experience with it.

In other words, if you like to see and touch and play with your work as you go, you’re probably going to enjoy front-end web development more. If you like understanding how data is stored and processed and creating data structures, you’re probably going to enjoy back-end web development more.

As always, the best way to figure out if you will enjoy being a web developer (front or back end) is to try it. This helps you figure out if you like it, which language you enjoy using, etc. So, if you think you wanna be a web developer, start coding! And remember, you can always change your area of expertise. I started with front-end web development then learned mobile development (both iOS and Android) before choosing to focus on android development.

Here are a few free resources to help you get started:

• Free Code Camp: bite sized, interactive lessons, and certificates for completing each track – https://www.freecodecamp.org/

• The Odin Project: project based and community-oriented learning - https://www.theodinproject.com/

• W3 Schools: lots of bite sized tutorials and exercises with optional quizzes - https://www.w3schools.com/

• CodePen: online code editor, community, and weekly challenges - https://codepen.io/

If you want a longer list of free programming resources, you can get the full Ultimate Free Coding Resources List here: https://www.mulanlau.com/free-coding-resources-list