It’s hard to imagine that there was ever a time without the Internet.

Living without these web development products can seem challenging in a digital world where everything you need is just a click or tap away. Behind the digital products we take for granted are software and web developers, transforming ideas into tools that shape how we work, relax, and entertain ourselves.

Web development continues to be lucrative, with more businesses and brands looking to cement an online presence. More than ever, a web developer's career path is on the up. If you’re keen to join this sector, you may have Googled questions like: “What skills are needed to become a web developer?” and: “How to become a good web developer?”

Getting answers to these questions is an important step in becoming a web developer. At QualityHive, we understand the web development industry inside out. Our tool helps web developers streamline feedback processes, making project management smoother.

Keep reading for our guide on becoming a web developer.

Becoming a Web Developer - The Steps

First things first, how do you get started as a web developer?

There are more avenues to becoming a web developer than ever, but you’ll need to properly plan to be successful. Here’s the typical web developer career path condensed into 4 steps:

1. Get Coding

Programming is a big part of web development so getting to grips with code is absolutely essential. To start with, there’s no need to enrol in paid online or offline courses, as there are plenty of ways to sign up for free coding resources to find out if coding is your calling.

Free online tutorials can give you the skills to build, design, and style your first website. If you find that you enjoy programming, the next step is to go full throttle by learning the different programming languages.

Coding Skills Needed to Become a Web Developer

Some programming languages are the building blocks of web pages that web developers need to be familiar with. The following are must-have coding skills for becoming a web developer.

1. CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a styling language that gives your HTML sheets a visual appeal. CSS is almost always used in conjunction with HTML to create engaging and aesthetic web pages.

As a web developer, you’ll define certain rules to control page colours, fonts, borders, backgrounds, and page positions. CSS can also create animations with transitions and movement that add life to your web pages. Individual functional components such as CSS Layout, Responsive UI, and CSS Variables make managing CSS easier.

CSS Layout controls how elements are placed and organised on the screen, while Responsive UI uses flexible grids, layouts, and media queries to adapt your pages to different screen sizes. CSS variables allow you to define and manage website theme colours or create dark/light modes. Web developers use preprocessors when CSS gets complicated and development needs to be sped up.

2. HTML

Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, is the foundation on which websites are built. It sets the structure and content of the web page, with text, headings, paragraphs, images, hyperlinks, menus, buttons, and other website elements. HTML forms are used for user interactions on web pages. HTML is written in English, making it easy for developers to understand and modify.

The web is built on HTML and CSS, so these are two languages that you need to understand well when you’re learning how to become a good web developer.

3. JavaScript

Web pages run on JavaScript, making them functional and allowing users to interact with them. You’ll immensely benefit from a strong foundational understanding of JavaScript in your web development journey.

JavaScript begins with understanding the syntax and semantics of data types, variables and functions, conditional statements, and loops. Understanding these concepts allows you to write functional scripts for web pages.

Asynchronous JavaScript is a single-thread language handling operation that keeps apps responsive. You’ll also need to learn about memory leaks, a common JavaScript topic, to optimise web pages and prevent common issues that slow down or crash websites.

QualityHive provides the ultimate programming support for web developers with its JavaScript error monitoring features. Our tool collects any JavaScript errors that have occurred before raising a task. Never miss an error or a warning with our tool specifying the file paths and line numbers, so you can fix the issue faster. Take a look at our tool’s developer-friendly features.

4. PHP

PHP is a server-side programming language used to construct dynamic web pages. It helps display different content depending on the web page visitor.

PHP helps back-end web developers draw information from a website’s database, compile it into a document, and display the document in the browser.

It’s an essential language for server-side programming and something worth learning if you’re on the journey of becoming a web developer specialising in back-end web development.

5. Laravel

Lavarel is a framework for building web applications following the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture. It’s a developer-friendly framework that allows developers to build scalable applications with relative ease.

Learning Lavarel helps web developers simplify complex web development tasks and build high-performance web applications.

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2. Define Your Web Developer Career Path

Your career path as a web developer can be both challenging and extremely rewarding. There are many different approaches you can take to have a successful career as a web developer, and you’ll need to pick the one that’s right for you.

After learning the basic languages, you may want to focus on either frontend, backend, or full-stack web development.

Front-end or client-side web development is about building a website’s front-end, or the part that visitors view and interact with. Back-end or server-side web development deals with database storage, server management, security, and integrations; all the bits that website visitors can’t see.

You’ll need to learn both back-end and front-end website technologies to become a full-stack web developer.

3. Create Projects and Portfolio

Landing clients once you've become a web developer will require you to showcase the skills you have to prove you’re right for the job. While on your learning path, make sure you document your successful projects to display what you’ve learned in programming. You should be hands-on and gain any experience you can, whether it’s making a basic website or a simple game. Previous projects prove to recruiters or potential clients that you have the skills you claim.

Whether you’re choosing a freelance career or a job, building a portfolio will help you attract attention from potential employers and future clients.

4. Network and Consider Work Profiles

Networking can help you get to know the developer community well and improve your chances of standing out in applicant pools. If networking sounds too intimidating, find a mentor who can guide you through coding problems and help you connect with other developers. They can also give you valuable advice in jump-starting your professional web developer career path.

It’s worth giving a lot of thought to which work profile works for you: freelancing or full-time. Make sure you understand the pros and cons of both options before arriving at your decision.

QualityHive, the Ultimate Web-Developer Friendly Tool for Web Development Agencies

Becoming a web developer is a big achievement, but if you want to thrive in your career, you need to make sure you’re keeping up with other professionals in the industry. Along with the skills needed to become a web developer, you also need access to developer-friendly tools to become more efficient in what you do.

QualityHive is a tool specifically designed for web developers, web designers, QA specialists within an agency setting to streamline the QA and speed up the overall web development process.

Make the most of our tool’s features and create top-tier web products with less effort. Contact us to book a demo today.