Tips on becoming a web developer rockstar

You would like to create your own website or websites for other people. You have a keen eye for design and see yourself becoming an expert in web development field. You have a determination to succeed and want to become known as a Web Development rockstar. Then you have come to the right place.

You don't need a Masters or PhD to become good at this. A bachelor's degree will help but you have to know that many web developers didn't even finish a degree on it. Number one tip: everything can be learned online!

All you need is patience, determination and consistency.

When I was in college taking Information Technology, I was more immersed in web design and honing my Photoshop skills. This wasn't all bad until I was looking for a job and I didn't have enough experience in coding front end and back end.

I landed a web developer job after 3-4 years of doing something else. The pay was not satisfying BUT you get to have your hands dirty on coding from scratch, reading documentations, learning the systems, and finding that bug that's been haunting you for days.

Four years forward, I can say I'm a Full Stack Web Developer rockstar/ninja. I've learned the basics, and the fundamentals and being able to build websites from scratch and even for free

Here are the things you can do:

1. Learn, learn, learn and repeat

   Youtube is a good free resource. Waiting for that sale in Udemy is also absolutely a worth it strategy as well. You can search anything online but what if you don't know where to start.

   As an aspiring web developer, you will always have to start with plain HTML, CSS and JS. Don't be afraid with the syntax or get confused with all the tags.

   Once you know them, then you can dig in to back end, like PHP, Python, Java or NodeJS! When you know all the basics, you can start looking into using frameworks. Frameworks help you build applications without doing anything from scratch and giving you guidelines to have a neat structure of your application.

2. Use an IDE

   I personally suggest using VScode. It's free, it's fast and extensions and plugins can be easily installed. If you came from other IDEs, you can easily use an extension of that IDE (sublime, webstorm) to VScode.

3. Go to web development community meetups

   Another good way to learn is to learn from other people who are doing better than you. Talk to aspiring web developers on your struggles and blockers, exchanging knowledge always is a powerful way to enhance your memory.

4. Don't be afraid to create a website for someone for free

   If you want to know what it takes to create a web app, do it for someone. It doesn't matter if it's free, paying you is an added bonus! Learn the ropes, learn how to communicate with a client, know how to argue or convince them. This way you come out more experienced and you can finally say (and have a testimonial from someone) I have created a website. Then you can charge your next client, because you can gauge how much is your rate per hour/day.

If you agree or disagree with what I said, comment below!

Cheers, FM