61–70 of 246 posts
The problem with the Web Dev job market is that everyone and there dog is doing what you are doing. If you want to be taken seriously you need to set yourself apart from this crowd as a professional developer.
But, of course can you still make a career in nearly everyting where there is demand, and for webdev there is demand. The question is whether your skills can match the demand. And frankly spoken, six month's is nothing, especially if it's just learning, not actual work.
The base-level of learning for solid software development is usually measured in years, and that would be 30-40h/week of real learning. But there is also the student-market where you can earn get some pocket-money for low level-work. And depening on the country you live this can be a serious amount. There are several people from poorer countrys working remote for low money.
So when you wanna take this serious, you should really know your position, market and demand. What can you offer? With whom do you compete? And how much do you must earn to survive, to grow higher?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In theory I agree. But learning something just well enough to get your foot in the door as a junior will have immediate rewards and then you can learn more deeply.
Absolutely, I agree. But don't get lazy then and really take the time to learn the basics. Aside from all the webdev focused MOOCs and courses on the internet there is plenty of stuff about Computer Science theory and whatnot available, so the opportunity is there.
Most developers will never need to solve “hard problems”. They will be working on yet another software as a service CRUD app or a bespoke line of business app that will never see the light of day outside of their organization.
I’ve found studying architecture, soft skills, and my business courses (before I dropped out of graduate school) to be much more helpful in my career.
* Within Web Dev, others have pointed out that there are many technologies you can work with, but there are also very many different kinds of output. Some web developers produce production code. Some web devs focus on producing early prototypes, and have some mix of UX Design and WebDev skills. Still others work for agencies where there is a heavy emphasis on delivering prototypes to pitch, but then the team will need to produce a production version of it. All of these start with a common skill set, but depending on what you want to do you might need more depth in some areas than others.
* While I think it is a great career choice, there is still some Computer Science elitism in some circles - depending on where you apply for jobs, you may get asked interview questions that have little to do about WebDev itself. This practice is obviously not helpful, but it is a reality in some places.
* Try to focus on getting an area of depth as well as sufficient breadth. You want sufficient breadth so that you can make it through most situations, but it's also really helpful in selling yourself as being an expert in a particular area.
Are you asking because you are concerned about the field dying? This would be a viable question, so I will assume this is your actual question.
I would get involved today, not tomorrow, today. Contact a web development business in your area, or online and talk with someone. Ask them about what kind of work they are doing. Contact a few different types of web businesses. The smaller/medium sized ones are more likely to give you the time of day instead of just a secretary that will give you someone's voicemail.
My son is 17 and got an internship last year with a local company doing web design. (minor dev work) And now he contracts with them from time to time. The business owner would hire him right now full time, but agrees with me that he really needs some life/education under his belt first.
Every field out there _needs_ hard workers. People that will show up, have a good attitude and learn, learn, learn. Being a rock start is far less important. This is odd to hear when you are on the other side of this equation, but trust me, people hiring these days will hire for character and work ethic over perfect job skills, you just need to be able to get your foot in the door.
Last, find the kind of "web dev" you want to actually do. You couldn't make me do anything else right now in life, I have to do web dev, it's not a choice I could walk away from, it's what I like doing and I have no interest in other work for the time being.
You asked "risk more time and money", everything is a risk in life. There's very few absolutes. The question is are you willing to make it work? Web dev isn't like driving a truck or being a nurse where they teach you almost everything you need to know to do your job. With web development you have to keep learning and be ok with this. And you start off not knowing enough to really do the job perfectly. I am mostly self taught, and I had to go through years of re-educating myself out of bad habits, and deciding to chose industry standards and chosing the hard, but right way, to do things.
It's always paid off for me, but then I like learning, I like seeing fascinating solutions, I like puzzles and problem solving. I'd do web dev as a hobby if I didn't do it for work.
My last suggestion is to get started how I did, build something you actually want. And keep doing this over and over. I never wasted any time doing this. I made everything from my own text-to-speech tool (silly and half baked) to a full CMS. When in school I made multiple websites, games, apps, multiple portfolios, (trust me, a lot of this stuff was total crap, but I really learned a lot). Everyone else in my class did the minimum to get by. I've learned databases, server management, a few different version control systems, multiple languages, animation, design theory, etc... It's all been interesting, fun, often stressful, often exciting, but always useful.
In the end, if you don't find work, either keep looking until you do, and keep up your skills (always, always be working on something) and eventually you will find something. It's just a numbers game. Or find satisfaction in whatever job you find yourself in outside of web development, it's always an option for some people.
Cheers!
The easiest place to start as a developer in 2019 is Web.
Personally, I had a good friend mentor me and point me at things to learn early on, which helped a lot. A structured program would have the same benefit.
I have no connection with it, but https://lambdaschool.com/ looks very interesting in that they bet on your ability to get a job: you pay nothing unless you do (other than the opportunity cost of spending the time to learn, which could be large).