web development

[Happy Lizard]

I'm kind of in the middle of a career dilemma, 

I've been working on getting into web development for the past year, possibly so that I can get a well paying job and start a career. my major in college was Information technology, I graduated with a cert. Now I find myself wondering if this is a path worth pursuing. Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely be happy if I got a role as a web developer. programing is my one of my favorite subjects and I'm cool learning many things and/or coding for hours. 

However; it seems like jobs are not a guarantee in this field, I don't want to spend a hell a lot of time and effort to not be employed afterwords. it is however the most obvious and reasonable choice that I can make as of now for myself, relative to my life situation and circumstances. 

Any web developers in out here ? wondering if can get some guidance or change my beliefs about availability of jobs in this career. 

 

[bazera]

@Happy Lizard

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However; it seems like jobs are not a guarantee in this field

What makes you think that?

I've been working as a Front-End Developer for the last 4 years, it's the 3rd company that I'm in right now, and as far as I'm aware, job opportunities are growing year by year, and there is a shortage of quality developers on the global market. 

I'm pretty sure you can land a well-paying job once you get enough experience in the field. You can get that experience working as an intern or a junior developer in some company. 

Also, most companies adopted a remote-working style after Covid, so you'll probably have an option to work remotely from home as well.

The most important skills you need to have to succeed in this are:

• Understanding core concepts of programming and software development in general
• Having a solid big picture grasp of your language and framework, having good technical knowledge in it
• Problem-solving skills (maybe you should prioritize this above all else). Being proficient at solving Leetcode style problems, because solving problems is basically what we do as software developers
• Communication skills. Because you'll have to work in a team environment, and you'll have to deal with lots of egos lol

There are other things as well, but if you focus on these, I'm sure you'll succeed in this field without worrying about not having job options.

Edited January 3, 2022 by bazera

[Happy Lizard]

@bazera Thanks for replying, I feel motivated 
 

3 minutes ago, bazera said:

What makes you think that?

honestly I'm very new to the field, no one in my circle works as web dev, so Idk where to get a solid opinion on this. I've stumbled upon web dev after trying many things in the field of IT, and finally landing on something close to what I like most (programming and design).
 

 while searching reddit, it seems like people are commineting that jobs are saturated, which is what got me worried...
 

11 minutes ago, bazera said:

There are other things as well, but if you focus on there, I'm sure you'll succeed in this field without worrying about not having job options.

I've found good bootcamp and I have been studying to get through their entry test. I'm wondering if you recommend Udemy courses ? I have that as a backup plan, in case I don't get through the bootcamp test, so that I don't waste any time. 

[bazera]

@Happy Lizard 

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I'm wondering if you recommend Udemy courses ?

Yes, those are fine, but that shouldn't be your only source. But if you do a couple of Udemy courses, and build a portfolio, then apply as an intern or junior web dev (depending on the skills you learn from Udemy), I think you'll land a job.

Most important is to actually do stuff independently, not depending on Udemy or any other courses. Make your own projects, as portfolio projects. That is the best way to learn except for maybe landing an actual job and working in a team with actual projects.

Quote

while searching reddit, it seems like people are commineting that jobs are saturated, which is what got me worried...

That might be true for people who don't want to invest in learning skills and building a solid portfolio. A company must see the value in you, that you are a valuable asset to make an investment in you.

Show them that 

Edited January 3, 2022 by bazera

[puporing]

I've done a Web Development bootcamp before. They're pretty efficient at getting you entry-level jobs ready, some even offer job search services where they have connections with companies looking for entry level devs, I would go for those ones if you're investing alot financially. And then like @bazera says, build a portfolio of projects (the bootcamp usually already has that) on Github, prep for technical interview questions. It's one of those jobs where if you're good at what you're doing you will eventually get hired because there aren't many people who can handle the cognitive demand in that job. I hope you don't give up if it's something you truly want to be doing!

[something_else]

On 03/01/2022 at 4:19 PM, Happy Lizard said:

it seems like jobs are not a guarantee in this field

It's probably one of the fields with the most abundantly available jobs that there is right now

I work as a web developer now btw, sort of full stack so I do frontend and backend. It's not something I want to do forever but it's a fantastic starting point. Good money, usually pretty chill companies, often remote or hybrid working 

You also learn a lot of the basics of online marketing and design which is great if you want to start your own business in the future

In regards to online courses, I've never taken one. But I did do CS at uni and it taught me nothing about web development

Having a good portfolio of personal projects was what made me stand out when applying for my first web dev job. If online courses expose you to the job market and let you build up a decent portfolio of projects, then they're probably worth it

[InfinityBeats]

I also want to second what everyone else is saying: the job market in the web development field is ridiculously good and almost feels unfair when comparing it to other career paths, there is literally so much demand and not enough high quality workers. I've been getting messaged by recruiters on linkedin probably at least once a week for the past year or more and I'm not even 3 years into my career. I'm not even ridiculously good or anything like that, but I definitely have those 4 skills that @bazera mentioned which I also agree are basically the most important parts of working in this field - If you have a solid understanding of coding, which you only truly solidify by actually building stuff (although courses are still important at this stage), and you also have good program solving skills and you know how to communicate/have a good attitude/are a good person to work with, you're golden.

If you follow everyones advice here and build a portfolio of personal projects on top of continuing to take courses, you should be good to land an entry level job. And if you continue to learn and grow in that first job, you will probably fall into the high quality category after a couple years and at that point your resume/linkedin profile will speak for itself, and people will start coming to you, and you will be able to start choosing companies that actually sound appealing to you rather than just taking any job you can get. 

[IAmReallyImportant]

Web developers are usually the least skilled types of programmers. And it is also one of the easiest ways to get a job as  one. You cannot sink deeper.

However, it is better if you specialize and learn something that is more demanding and niche. This will make it a little bit harder to find a job, because these are less available. But if you get into the business, it will grow organically and becomes more secure for you.

Edited January 17, 2022 by IAmReallyImportant

[Happy Lizard]

@puporing @something_else @InfinityBeats  thank you all for posting. this is very encouraging! 
 

I realize that my post was a bit negative, so here's some background:  I've been feeling bad in the past 2-3 years with my major and finding a good job in IT during and after college. I live in an area with many people are working in IT. I've almost went and learned a little bit about the entire menu of IT fields : networking/databases/data engineering/cloud/security ect.

-but never knew about web development, it's almost like it was hidden in plain sight for me! -

I thought I'll never find a job that I like and spend my time doing mindless tasks. I knew intuitively that I wanted to do something with code.

web dev so far has the perfect balance for me, and sounds - more than all the IT fields I looked at - like the right kind of work I want to do. 

I'm wondering what kind of projects are desirable ? I have a very limited idea of what a web project can be. I Imagine something like a replica of a popular websites : yelp, Twitter, IMDB ? will a good looking website with decent design and functionality be enough ? 

I would appreciate any resources you could share !

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Happy Lizard

[Happy Lizard]

On 1/17/2022 at 3:27 PM, IAmReallyImportant said:

However, it is better if you specialize and learn something that is more demanding and niche. 

what's in demand/will be in dmeand right now ? I'd like to know so that I can keep it in mind for the future. 

[puporing]

@Happy Lizard Yeah web dev can be pretty fun, also super overwhelming if you are trying to pick up like all the popular languages out there and get sucked into every job posting LoL. Do you have an idea if you'd prefer front end or back end? Well either way it's good to learn both so you can understand how they might interface, but depends on if you're more of a design person or math/algorithmic leaning. 

I started with Javascript, it was very versatile. So maybe figure out what languages, frameworks, libraries you want to start with. My stack was JS, React (frontend), CSS (frontend), Node.js (backend), PSQL (database) and I really liked that stack coz both React and Node are JS based. Also what kind of companies do you want to work for? Maybe do a bit of research on what stack they use if you're trying to get a job with them.

Project wise, I think they mainly look for finished web pages, "replicas" are totally fine you don't have to invent something, or a component of one (like a chat bot for example...), contributions you've made to an open-source project on Github. I guess in general it's also good to know a bit about security and authentication but don't have to dive too deep. 

[IAmReallyImportant]

7 hours ago, puporing said:

@Happy Lizard Yeah web dev can be pretty fun, also super overwhelming if you are trying to pick up like all the popular languages out there and get sucked into every job posting LoL. Do you have an idea if you'd prefer front end or back end? Well either way it's good to learn both so you can understand how they might interface, but depends on if you're more of a design person or math/algorithmic leaning. 

I started with Javascript, it was very versatile. So maybe figure out what languages, frameworks, libraries you want to start with. My stack was JS, React (frontend), CSS (frontend), Node.js (backend), PSQL (database) and I really liked that stack coz both React and Node are JS based. Also what kind of companies do you want to work for? Maybe do a bit of research on what stack they use if you're trying to get a job with them.

Project wise, I think they mainly look for finished web pages, "replicas" are totally fine you don't have to invent something, or a component of one (like a chat bot for example...), contributions you've made to an open-source project on Github. I guess in general it's also good to know a bit about security and authentication but don't have to dive too deep. 

Nodejs is a platform on which frameworks like react run on. 

Today every idiot Starts programming which creates the perception that developers have no Status.

@Happy Lizard you don’t want to be like these. Often times it's better when you Start with cpp right away and specialize on an area like virtul Reality or crypto, Block-Chain etc. I heard from people who specilized on solving pdes analytically as an additional skill. Most people who Start with something which has low cognitive load like web developing get stuck in it and become dumber over the years.. 

[Gesundheit2]

1 hour ago, IAmReallyImportant said:

Most people who Start with something which has low cognitive load like web developing get stuck in it and become dumber over the years.. 

Lol. I don't think getting your mind ripped with heavy cognitive tasks has that many benefits.

[IAmReallyImportant]

2 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

Lol. I don't think getting your mind ripped with heavy cognitive tasks has that many benefits.

It keeps you from dying the boredom-death and it is fun. Moreover, you don't have that much boring people around you, who nearly all the time contradict themselves, tell you old-news combined with petty conversations.

Edited January 20, 2022 by IAmReallyImportant

[Happy Lizard]

10 hours ago, puporing said:

Yeah web dev can be pretty fun, also super overwhelming if you are trying to pick up like all the popular languages out there and get sucked into every job posting LoL. Do you have an idea if you'd prefer front end or back end? Well either way it's good to learn both so you can understand how they might interface, but depends on if you're more of a design person or math/algorithmic leaning. 
 

I like both logic and design, I guess many people would not want to touch programming, or think it's boring/bland (the people I knew in college hated it) I'm different myself, I like programing, figuring out difficult problems, I find the logic and methodology really interesting. 

and I would say I'm really artistic and drawn to design, so I comfortable with both. I'd probably go more towards front-end though since it's more my type. 
 

11 hours ago, puporing said:

I started with Javascript, it was very versatile. So maybe figure out what languages, frameworks, libraries you want to start with. My stack was JS, React (frontend), CSS (frontend), Node.js (backend), PSQL (database) and I really liked that stack coz both React and Node are JS based. Also what kind of companies do you want to work for? Maybe do a bit of research on what stack they use if you're trying to get a job with them.

I'm currently going through a Udemy course. it has JS/CS /Node.js and mangoDB. I like Js, and I have learned a bit of sql, as far as styling form what I've learned so far (html/CSS) I think it will the most fun. 

I think saying I like to work somewhere like twitter google, apple, reddit ? is cliché, but I can list a number of companies and websites I like.

I'm not sure which criteria should I base my choice on ? how interested I'm in the company ? or where I'd imagine myself working ? I'm also open to challenges, like working at a company just to learn the ebbs and flows and gain experience before I go to a company I really like.

[IAmReallyImportant]

If you like to work at google you should do udacity courses at least and look at the skills in their job applic actions. Moreover i think angular would be a better fit for that. 

[IAmReallyImportant]

Workimg at google is overhyped and there a not necessarily real gs. I also know people working there who get a Salary short above average. And pay attention that you are a small cog in the system as it is always the case at big companies. The competition is bigger etc.. It is only good for a reference if you want to become self employed e.g.. Imo. 

[Vision]

On 1/16/2022 at 3:03 AM, something_else said:

You also learn a lot of the basics of online marketing and design which is great if you want to start your own business in the future

@something_else Do you still do web development? 

And how would web development teach you online marketing and design? Is it just from working for people who do these things?