Ask HN: Is web development still a viable career choice?

I really like how you defined these roles. #1 pays more these days and startups and sf companies want actual front end engineers. But there is still a world of work out there for the classic web developer or "web designer" as we used to call them. In every town and city you have small agencies and web shops building a range of smb to mid size sites. Squarespace, wix and some wordpress plugins are chewing into this market thou.

Simply put, yes.

This is just bypassing OP's question. You could similarly ask if plumbing, plastering or tiling is still a viable career choice in construction, or whether one should focus on general carpentry.

You'd then try to work on projects where your construction specialty is seen to be more valuable than not, that goes to your comment. But that's an entirety different question than whether a specialty should be pursued, and if so what specialty.

E.g. in this case whether it's still a good move for a new developer to start out his career by focusing on web dev v.s. say native mobile dev, or mainframe development or whatever.

Yes

Yes, it is. I spent 8 months studying web development and I am now one year and a half in on my first software development job. I can see clearly tons of opportunities in the future.

My 8 months of studying were full-time studying (freeCodeCamp and plenty of small projects). 6-8 hours every weekday.

Not sure what you mean about "solid path", but you have to have focus.

edit: these are my tips for becoming a frontend web developer, which was my path.

First, learn the essentials of CSS - don't aim to be a CSS wizard because that won't help you get your first job on good jobs (the ones that are not on agencies where your sole job is to transform photoshop images in HTML).

The most basic and true advice is to focus on learning Javascript properly and deeply. Read books (EloquentJS for starters is a good one), read documentation, watch videos (Fun Fun Functions youtube channel is a nice one), practice on code-on-the-browser platforms (I am a huge fan of freeCodeCamp) and create some projects of your head using Javascript only.

At least 3 (full-time) months on Javascript only. Then, move on to focus on React, because that's where all the jobs are going. And I say this being hired to work with Ember on my first job (and I enjoy Ember), but pragmatically, React is the way to go (assuming you have learned Javascript properly before).

Also, pay attention to good software development practices (The Pragmatic Programmer is a good one) that are not about language syntax (e.g. coherent indentation of your code, good variable and method naming, how to make code more readable and maintainable). Become what in the United States they call "an engineer" with certain glamour on it. You don't need to buy the hype that software engineers are a special breed of people superior to all others, but do make an effort to learn best practices, design patterns, clean code and all that.

Don't get into any tech discussions in forums, flamewars, don't take sides, etc. This early in your career you should focus and be pragmatic.

Summary: Learn the essentials of HTML+CSS. Focus first on Javascript, then on React. Create your own projects and learn what good development practices you should use on them.

I wrote a few blog posts of my learning and career change to web development, you might find them helpful: https://rodrigohgpontes.github.io/