Nowadays a lot of people are left without jobs or can’t find a steady position. That’s why many of them are turning to the Internet and decide to become front-end developers and web designers. They’ve heard there’s some serious money involved and want to get paid. But, deciding you want to become something isn’t the same as learning it, and the sooner people realize that the better. There are two question you need to ask yourself – should I become a web designer or front-end developer, and how? – and here are the answers.

Well, Should You Learn Web Design?

Getting into such a specific online business as developing is harder than you think. If you’re looking for a way to earn some money on the Internet, try graphic design first – it’s relatively easy, you can be self-taught and it pays off quite nicely. Only after you’ve understood the rules of working online should you consider transferring to web development.

The thing with so many developers out there is that a huge number of them are quite incompetent, unskilled and inexperienced. Ultimately, they make poor choices, create bad designs and are in a great position to do you more harm than good. From the point of view of the employer, these developers are risky and can jeopardize the entire business in just a few clicks. But, if you don’t want to become such a developer, there are several things you can do.

Understand the 101

People don’t become professional pilots by entering a cockpit and pressing a bunch of buttons, do they? The same goes for developers – you need to understand the basics and learn them before earning the privilege of calling yourself a developer. Of course, you don’t have to know all programming languages perfectly, but excelling in one or two is simply a must.

So, what are the basics? To begin with, it’s HTML, CSS and PHP, followed by JavaScript, and then there are the bonuses: Less & Sass, Bootstrap and Design Patterns. To top it all off, get familiar with SMACSS and Webpack, and you’re ready to go! Don’t worry, you don’t have to learn all of these at the same time, or even before you start working, but the knowledge of HTML/CSS/PHP and JavaScript will definitely be necessary as soon as possible.

Think About Security

Security is a major factor for every website, but is still not something all web developers – especially the bad ones – pay close attention to. That’s why security breaches happen so often, and you can be sure that self-proclaimed web designers and coders are behind them. Maybe they think their designs are bulletproof and that nobody could hack them, or maybe just believe that they are not prone to failures.

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No matter what, security should be taken very seriously and no website should be left in the hands of untrustworthy developers. And this goes for all cases, no matter how small or big they are – and even huge websites have security issues. LinkedIn, for example, has been down several times, and even Weebly got hacked in February, leaking sensitive data of millions and millions of users. The lesson here is simple – if the big boys are under attack, the same could happen to your websites. Therefore, understand that security is not a joke and learn more about it.

Find Proper Sources

Don’t forget – the learning process is never over. Even though you can master HTML and CSS and be the best JavaScript expert out there, the opportunity to upgrade your knowledge is always there. With things changing at the speed of light, you have to try extra hard to keep up. What you can do is turn to Amazon or Book Depository and purchase books that will not only explain the basics, but also the developments and most important trends. Alternatively, take a paid course or two, it’ll surely pay off.

But, if you want to find out about the latest advances and updates, you might want to turn to the Internet. Luckily, there are tons of reliable success stories that track the process of becoming a developer – from the idea to the realization. For example, Sergei Garcia is one of those people and his well-documented journey to success is something you should definitely bookmark and revisit from time to time.

Learn Web Design: A Couple of Places to Start

Treehouse Library

Here you’ll learn how to design and build beautiful websites by learning the basic principles of design like branding, color theory, and typography which are all instrumental in the design process of a website. You’ll also learn HTML and CSS, which are the common code languages that all modern websites are built on. These are useful skills to acquire as they are needed by nearly every single business in the world to communicate to customers. By the end of this track, you’ll have all the skills required to design and build your own websites or even start a career with one of the thousands of companies that have a website.

Learn Web Design: 50+ of the Best Online Resources

The very best ways to learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the art of building websites, including free and paid tutorials, courses, instructor-guided courses and reference material. Fifty resources, selected from a list of over 140.

Codecademy

Everything you see in a website is a result of the combination of HTML and CSS. With these two languages, you will have the skills you need to bring your website design to life. By the end of this course, you’ll learn the basics of HTML and CSS and how to structure and style your webpage.

Further Ideas

What more can you do before starting to develop websites for a living? First of all, find your own style. If you are good at HTML and CSS, use them. If JavaScript is your forte, go with that – don’t let others dictate what you can and can’t do. Also, improve your offer, follow the trends and develop your skills. That’s the only way to remain at the top. Finally, learn from your mistakes and try not to make them again.

Bio: Marcus Jensen is a writer from Australia and the Editor-in- Chief of Technivorz blog. Besides working on Technivorz, his work has been featured on several prominent tech and business editorials.

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