8 Things You Should Know as a Web Developer

Web Developing isn’t as straightforward as you may think at first glance. If you want to be a successful Web Developer, aside from the needed skills, you’ll also need to up your planning game and utilize every resource you have to make it big. And making it big, especially in the upcoming 2022, is a tricky thing to do.

While practice can only get you so far, many other methods have been proven to be very beneficial to the longevity of a Web Developer’s career. Let’s look at some of these tips and see how you can build your arsenal and name so that clients come screaming at you.

Be The Web Developer Polyglot

We can’t talk about Web Development skills and not mention the fundamentals—the languages you’ll use to develop things. We’re talking about HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript, the Holy Trinity of Web Dev that everyone must know to start a career in this field. So, if you don’t know any of these, learn them and come back! We mean it!

Code, code, and then code some more!

While we’re at programming languages, it certainly won’t be enough to know them. Ask any programmer, developer, and even creative writer, and they’ll tell you the same thing—write and write a lot. That means you should set aside a smaller chunk of your day, maybe an hour or two, where you sit down and code.

It’s like every other skill, really, and it’s time you look at it like that. It doesn’t have to be anything special, but every line of code counts. Some people like to practice making small apps or games, and some want to follow tutorials and try random stuff out. 

You can even spend time picking at your Integrated Development Environment (IDE). You’d be surprised at the sheer number of features and options these robust programs offer.

Never Stop Learning

When you’re working with technologies that get updated and even replaced with other ones daily, your job will constantly require you to learn and adapt new things into your workflow. There are many free and paid online courses that you can enroll in and learn a new valuable skill or two. 

The good thing about these courses is that, if you don’t know what to practice on, many of them give you projects to work on so you can use what you’ve learned in real-life situations. And, some of them allow you to create full-fledged applications and platforms which you can discuss in chats and forums.

Know Git

Git is a version control system, and by now, you’ve probably heard about the popular GitHub platform that allows you to push your Git projects and collaborate on them. Learning these two services is crucial if you ever want to work with another person, or team, in the future.

Now, what exactly is it? A version control system like Git allows you to clone from or make your own repositories (the place where your project is stored). It’s also used to push changes to those repos, make branches for new features you want to work on, merge your branches with other branches, pull changes from other people to your local machine, and many other things!

GitHub allows you to host your code so that specific, or all people, can see and collaborate on the project you’re working on. Case in point, you can’t be a Web Developer without using Git at least once.

Learn Browser Developer Tools

When developing a project, it’s going to be a lot easier if you know what’s happening in the backrooms of your application. That’s why it’s vital to utilize the DevTools options. They’re in every well-known browser, like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.

Let’s say you’re working on an input form for your website. All good, until it isn’t. When you launch the server, you see a few errors that you weren’t expecting to be there. Maybe the client requests aren’t going through to the server as you intended? Well, that’s where DevTools come in all their magnificent glory.

With DevTools, you can use them to troubleshoot, edit HTML and CSS, debug errors, etc. The various tabs in the DevTools window offer a deep glance into every working part of your project. You can look at the elements, console messages, sources, network, storage, etc. You’ll be able to see everything that’s being communicated back and forth between your device and the server—and that saves a ton of time in debugging!

So, if you don’t want additional headaches and sleepless nights, don’t forget to open up DevTools next time you’re working on anything Web-related. 

Pay Attention To Detail

As a Web Developer, people will expect of you to take close looks at every piece of code and element on a web app. If you’re working within a team of a few people, it’s common to miss a mistake that someone else will find and fix. But, if you’re alone, you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled for those pesky syntax errors or something way worse. And the worst things are always the ones that are hiding the best.

Freelance Is A Great Option

If you’ve been trying to get work in an established company for a while now, you know how hard the interviews can be and how devastating the rejections are. But, don’t think that you have to work at a firm to be a great Web Developer—it’s quite the opposite! Many freelancers are the greatest in the field they work in, which further proves that some people are just better off to work alone, and that’s okay!

A lot of Web Developers, especially in the beginning, think that working in a team of ten to fifty people in an office is the norm of “the way to go” or “professional”. But let’s be honest, you can achieve so many great things with just your laptop and passion. That’s why Web Development is a great career choice. It’s flexible, creative, and fun!

Summary

Speaking of having fun, isn’t that the most important thing whatever you do? If you’re already looking at becoming a Web Developer, then you’ve chosen a path that could bring you not only financial freedom but freedom in general. Rare are the types of jobs like Web Development, where you can use your creativity, wit, and practical skills to create amazing stuff that is potentially going to land on thousands of peoples’ phones. Get to coding now; you have such a long road ahead of you!