Tips for a Successful Career as a Web Developer
Last updated on September 20th, 2023 at 06:51 am
Today, many of these professions are emerging thanks to the Internet and digital technology. From web marketing to web mastering, including web design, network architecture, and multimedia development, the web professions are legion. They make their practitioners people whose profile is highly sought after and in demand in many companies. Web development has not remained on the sidelines of this transformation and developers are in great demand these days. In this article, learn some tips for a successful career as a web developer if you are just getting started.
Web development, what is it?
Web development is a profession linked to the Internet which is all the rage today. It refers to a technique of writing a site or a web page in a coded and very precise language. This process is an important phase so that web content is put online and can reach Internet users or readers. Web development is an activity that is essentially based on the knowledge and mastery of certain computer languages such as:
- HTML / CSS;
- Java;
- JavaScript;
- Swift;
- C ++ or C;
- PHP;
- Angular ;
- Node ;
- ASP;
- Python Etc.
Knowledge and mastery of these various languages will be used to write programs that will be executed by computers. These programs, which are in fact registrations, are built on the Internet and run on servers.
So what about the web developer?
The web developer is the one who exercises the profession of web development. It is dedicated to the creation of all the technical features of a page or a website or even a web application.
To excel in this field and have a successful career, a few tips are needed.
Choosing a good training center
If your goal is to become a web developer or to retrain in the profession, choose an excellent center or establishment for you to be trained. Because web developers are in high demand, many people get trained. The competition will therefore become increasingly fierce and one of the criteria for selecting recruiters could be the origin of the training; as is the case in American law firms where graduates of HAVARD or YALE are highly sought after.
If you have decided to become a web developer on a self-taught basis, it would be best to take online courses from a reputable institution or multinational. You can follow for example the training programs of CISCO NetAcad, MOOC, Udemy… However, avoid training that is too short (less than two months).
Having and knowing how to keep your passion for web development
To do what you do well, you have to love it. It is therefore important that you like web development before you get started. Love everything that goes with it: coding, programming … If you do it just because it’s a job that pays well and because its rating is high these days, you may well get into it, you surely will not be more successful than those who have a real passion for it. Think about it!
Have a good mentor
Even the powerful “Crime Mediator” Raymond Reddington from the American series “Blacklist” had a mentor. This is to tell you that you need a mentor. The latter will pay particular attention to your work, your research, and others. He will guide you and help you raise your level in the profession; allowing you to surpass yourself and have a successful career in web development.
Do many internships
Doing internships is very important. After your training, think about it, even if your wish is to practice freelance. Internships will help you gain some practical experience in the field. Moreover, most companies recruiting in this sector of activity always ask the question of whether the applicant has real experience in web development before recruiting him. Internships enrich your experience and count even more than where you were trained. If you are not interested in doing an internship in several companies, you can always request a long-term internship to compensate. For those who do not have a mentor, this is the perfect opportunity to find one.
Develop your analytical mind
It’s very important. Develop the web, okay; but you will not succeed without having such a developed analytical mind. A work related to coding and programming must follow a certain logic. For that, you have to constantly try different formulas, and ask for criticism of your work. Thus, you will have the material to succeed as a web developer. You must also love complex situations, which require more thought. It will also boost your analytical mind and your creativity.
Develop a knowledge network in your field
If you want to have a great career as a web developer, it is imperative to have relationships with a panel of other developers like you. At best, you can join a community of web developers in your area of activity, or even elsewhere if possible. These relationships will be useful to you when you need help for a large project or to have crucial information about the results of the work of other developers, just to be up to date and not to be ahead.
Watch out so as not to be overwhelmed by the progress
The Internet is gaining more and more ground, digital too. To always stay in the trends, a web developer who wants to succeed in his career must watch. In other words, you must go out and find anything that could tell you new things about your industry. Websites, Practical Programming for example, and documents will be your best companions in this watch. You must stay at the heart of new technologies and, above all, adapt to them.
To have team spirit
“If you want to go fast, walk alone, but if you want to go far, let’s walk together”. This African adage fits perfectly with what we want to teach you here. Team spirit is essential if you hope to succeed in your career as a web developer. Freelance developers may be disappointed with this advice, but you should know that even as a freelancer one can be brought to ally with other developers with totally different profiles, and this, for the same structure. Team spirit will allow you to stand out from the crowd and have a good reputation with your colleagues.
Knowing how to impose yourself and recognize the merits of others
You need to assert yourself when you need to to be able to stand out from the crowd. In freelance or in business, your decisions, your point of view, vis-à-vis your client or your boss, must be able to be taken into account. At the same time, you need to take the time to listen to the suggestions of others. This is the only way you will improve your project ideas and the like. This is essential for a successful career as a developer. These are personal virtues that are essential to go far in the profession. And don’t forget, recognizing the merit of the proposals of others is one of the best ways to progress in web development because it is an industry in perpetual progression.
Develop its technical culture, its “product culture”, its business culture, and its human skills
In addition to monitoring which also contributes to the development of your knowledge, there is also the technical culture, which must be developed. The web developer is more and more confronted nowadays with the problems that his company seeks to solve. He, therefore, left his pure field of web development and began to gain a foothold in a completely different field: engineering. Programming, coding… developers are gradually starting to learn new things. DevOps, Frontend, Backend or SPA, SSR… so many areas that are slowly but surely beginning to enter the domain of web development (or vice versa).
The “product culture” is also important. The web developer enters here in the managerial sector. As a Product Manager, he must also devote himself (apart from coding and programming) to the conception of the design, to the management, to the development of the marketing plan, and then to the technique. Building, delivering, and finally constantly improving a product (web platform, mobile application, software, tool, etc.) to meet market demands and business needs are among other new roles for developers today.
Business culture has become essential in almost all areas today. And for good reason, everyone starts an activity to make a profit. Web development is also a concern and developers must learn more about the business language of decision-makers to understand their strategies and learn more about potential competitors.
Human skills or “soft skills” also need to be constantly improved. Creativity, empathy, a sense of collective and organization, adaptability, and interpersonal skills are the main human qualities that you must strictly watch as a web developer. Ask questions of comprehension even if it is your subordinate opposite, put your ego aside when the good of the company is at stake. In short, be humble and courteous.