My road to becoming a Web Developer (16 years old)
Hi, my name is Jack Miles and I am a 16 year old student from the UK
From the age of 5, I have always wanted to be a doctor or surgeon working in the NHS. However, due to the recent climate, I have become unsure about this decision. With the rising popularity in technology and the increasing demand for web developers, I have decided to learn to become one at the age of 16 and in the article I will explain how I am planning to do this and how YOU can do it too.
Step 1: Figure out why you want to do it.
There is no point setting a very large, long-term goal for yourself if you don’t have a reason or a motive. Of course, if it’s just something that want to do, then there is no harm in trying and getting a feel for it. However, if you have a reason or a motive to do the thing (in this case becoming a web developer and learning to code), you will be much more likely to stick to the goal, and if you do fail, you will be able to hold yourself accountable and see how you can change to be more successful next time. For me, the reason was because I am no longer that interested in doing a medicine degree and becoming a doctor and I have always been interested in technology my whole life, so learning to code just seemed to be the next step. Having this clear goal and path to that goal will make you much more likely to succeed.
Watching this video by Ben Awad, really helped me to understand what it takes to become a web dev and how to do it:
Step 2: Creating a foundation.
The next step is creating a foundation in a basic programming language, a great example is python. You can do this many ways, very easily and for free. One example is learnpython.org, an interactive free site for learning the basics of python. Another example is codecademy, which is also free but has a pro subscription.
However, there are other ways to get a great foundation to give you a boost on the way to become a web developer and this is the route I have taken. Enrolling in Harvard’s CS50 is one of, if the not, the best ways to learn to program as a beginner. They will teach you the basics of python, SQL and most importantly, it will get you thinking like a programmer.
Step 3: Start Learning Web Development Technologies
Knowing JavaScript is one of the most crucial skills you can have to be a web developer. There are many ways to learn JS (JavaScript) but here are some methods I recommend and the one I am taking.
Freecodecamp: Freecodecamp is a free, online coding bootcamp to get you started with coding. The certification that is recommended on there is the JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures certification. Not only will this give you great knowledge of the basics in JavaScript, but it will also teach you about Algorithms and Data Structures, something that is crucial as a programmer.
However, the route I am taking currently is on Codecademy. Here they will teach you the basics of JavaScript for free, however there is a pro plan to get access to a few more features.
On Codecademy, they don’t teach you about Data Structures and Algorithms, unlike on freecodecamp. This is where I would recommend a free course on a site like coursera to gain that knowledge, here is a great one:
Step 4 (The step I am doing currently): Choosing Front-end or Back-end.
Here is where your journey starts to get interesting. If you feel like you would enjoy dealing with the front-end of websites, like the styling and UI, then I would recommend doing the Responsive Web Design Certification on freecodecamp. This will teach you HTML and CSS, the structure of websites. Once you have done this, learning a front-end JavaScript framework will be the best route to take. These include: React, Vue.js and Angular. You can learn any of these by doing the tutorials on their websites, or they are all available on Codecademy. Also, if you have codecademy pro, you can do a Front-end engineer career path. This is great is you feel like freecodecamp wasn’t enough with regards to CSS and HTML or you aren’t enjoying the JavaScript Framework tutorials.
However, for me I was much more interested in the Back-end so I started the Codecademy Back-end career path. This has the basics of JavaScript built in and also teaches you essential things such as Git, Github, PostgreSQL and Node.JS. However, if you don’t feel like paying, the alternative is to do the API’s and Microservices Certification on freecodecamp. I started on the Back-end developer route on Codecademy and have been enjoying it a lot. If you decide to take the freecodecamp route, then once you have finished this, learn some SQL. There are great tutorials on YouTube, here is my favourite:
And there we go! Here is what I have done so far in my journey to becoming a web dev. I am by no means an expert so do your own research, this is just what I have enjoyed and I hope you will too. I will be writing more when I progress more on my journey to becoming a web developer and I hope this article gave people who wanted to learn how to code and make a living from it, but had no clue where to start.
Thanks again,
Jack
