Technology-related careers are currently some of the most lucrative. Having skills as a web developer will allow you to find work nearly anywhere, as companies and individuals are always looking for somebody to help them build a website. Whether you want to build a website in-house for your company or be the go-to freelancer in your area, taking a web development course online can help you realize that dream.
What Developers Do
Web developers, in simple terms, are the people who create websites. When you look at a website, everything on it was put there by a web developer. The layout, the text, any applications or widgets included on the site, etc. were all coded and designed by a web developer.
Web developers also manage technical aspects of a website like tracking website traffic and monitoring performance and capacity. They don’t just sit behind a computer all day, either; web developers have to meet with their clients in order to understand what they want for the website and what kind of person or business it is that they are representing in the website.
Web developers have to know a variety of different coding languages and some even create the graphics and images used on the websites as well. Back-end developers are the people who establish the basic framework and foundation of a website while front-end developers create the actual layout and integrate things like graphics and text into the site. Both types of developers are essential for the overall look and functionality of a website.
Where to Take Web Development Courses Online
Obviously, if you don’t think you’re tech-savvy enough to take a web developer course online then you probably aren’t thinking about becoming a web developer in the first place. Taking courses online is a natural way to take web development courses, as all the projects and assignments you complete need to be done on a computer anyway.
One site where you can take web development courses is Udemy. Udemy offers thousands of courses in over 50 languages and has helped millions of students learn the skills they need to succeed in the workplace. Businesses also utilize Udemy to help train their employees in order to help the business run more smoothly.
Udemy understands that people aren’t always able to access the education they need and part of their mission is to provide affordable, accessible education to everyone. The team behind Udemy is constantly looking for new ways to connect students to the knowledge they need and is always researching to find out what skills people want to learn.
Web Developer Bootcamps
Udemy has two courses that are “boot camp” style web development courses. One is The Web Developer Bootcamp. This course will teach you HTML, JS, CSS, Node, Semantic UI, and many other programs and coding languages you can use to create websites and applications. It has a whopping 46.5 hours of video, 77 articles, and 85 downloadable resources so you know that this class is going to be intensive.
You will learn a huge amount of new skills in this course, all of which will enable you to create your very first website once you’ve finished. The course has 31 sections all dedicated to going over different aspects of web development, including an introduction to front-end development and modules on HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Javascript, and Jquery.
After that, you’ll go over the basics of backend development and learn about Node JS, APIs, server-side frameworks, and authentication. You’ll also learn about the open source projects from Git and Github. You may not feel like an expert after taking the course but you will certainly have the foundation you need to practice and become a great web developer.
Another course is The Complete 2019 Web Development Bootcamp. This is a great course because all of the material is as current as it can be, having been fully updated in 2019. The goal of this course is to teach you how to build any kind of website you want, not just one that fits within the templates you’ve been given.
It has 43 hours of video, 81 articles, 19 downloadable resources, and four coding exercises for you to complete. The course starts with front end development and goes over many of the same programming languages as the other boot camp course, including HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, and Javascript. You’ll also go over DOM manipulation and the Unix code line. After that, you’ll dive into backend development.
Some of the different things the course goes over include Mongoose, MongoDB, EJS, and SQL. You’ll also learn about databases. Throughout the course, you will complete challenges related to different aspects of web development that are related to the skills you’ve learned. Once you’ve learned how to put all your skills together, you should be able to build your very own website from the ground up.
Courses for Beginners
These courses are great for people who have no previous knowledge of any programming languages or other tools needed for web development. One such course is The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0. This course is less intensive than the “boot camp” style ones. It does have 30 hours of video but those are only divided up between 15 modules. You won’t learn quite as many skills all at once but you’ll be able to dive further into the ones you do learn.
The course also includes 143 articles that you can peruse in order to learn more. In this course, you will learn HTML 5 and CSS 3, the latest versions of both programming languages. You will also learn Javascript, JQuery, PHP, and Bootstrap 4. The course has a section on WordPress, one of the most accessible website development platforms, and how you can use it to create websites.
You will also learn Python, a great programming language for beginners. One thing this course covers that others don’t specifically go over is mobile apps. All the exact same skills you use to develop websites can be used for mobile apps as well and this course will show you how. The final module talks about where you should go after completing the course. Hopefully onto creating amazing new websites!
Beginner Full Stack Web Development: HTML, CSS, React, and Node is another good course for beginners who want to learn the basics but not learn quite so much at once. The course has 30 hours of videos, 13 articles, 37 downloadable resources, and 16 modules. You will start off by learning how computers work, in addition to the basics of HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, and Javascript.
You will also learn about version control using Git and get introductions to Flexbox, Sass, and Facebook’s React framework, three things that are not gone over in the other courses. You will learn how to set up web hosting for any web applications you build as well.
You’ll get a well-rounded web development education with this course, as you’ll learn front end and backend development as well as a little bit about being a webmaster. Whether you’re a Computer Science student, a hobby web designer, or someone looking to change careers, this course is a good choice.
The Web Development Business
Once you’ve learned all those web development skills, how are you going to use them? Some people may get jobs working for a web development company but others may want to branch out and start their own business or become a freelance web developer. Running a Web Development Business: The Complete Guide will show you how to do just that.
Programming experience isn’t required in order to take this course so it can be taken alongside a web development course, that way you can learn how to program and how to run a business at the same time. The course has 11 hours of video, 3 articles, and 15 downloadable resources. The goal of the course is to teach non-developer entrepreneurs how to start up a web development business as well as help current web developers grow their work into a business.
You will learn how to make a business strategy, how to get the word out and establish your presence, and how to decide whether you should subcontract out or hire in-house employees to do the web development work. You’ll also learn how to build portfolios and proposals in order to gain and keep clients.
Best practices are a huge part of the course, going over everything from how to spot a bad client, how to develop quotes, and launch dates. At the end of the course, you should have all the knowledge you need to start setting up your own web development business.
Start a New Career in Web Development
Moving into a new career is as easy as taking one or two web development courses online. From the comfort of your own home, on your computer, you can learn everything you need to begin building websites and apps. You can even learn how to start your own business! Web development is a career that is going to continue on into the foreseeable future. Technology will change and grow and web developers will adapt right along with it, learning new skills and continuing to supply quality websites and apps to their clients. Why not join them?