Grow Your Career – Web Developer
Why Becoming a Web Developer?
Dreaming about freelance while you travel the world? Become a web developer! Web Developers are in great demand and lucrative compensation. According to the US Bureau of labor statistics, the 2018 Median Pay for a web developer is $69,430 per year or $33.38 per hour. It also has a bright prospect, where the employment rate is projected to grow 13% from 2018 to 2028. As a result, there are vast online learning resources throughout the Internet to enhance your career shift in becoming a web developer. Web developers also often enjoy the flexibility of schedule and ability to work online and remotely.
What is a Web Developer’s Job Responsibilities?
Web development is a subset of software programming focused solely on websites and web apps. Web developers will be responsible for building visual and interactive client-facing front end and/or server-side back end logics. Web developers are typically categorized into front end developer, back end developer, or full-stack developer if you handle both front end and back end development.
What Programming Language Should I know?
Time to learn a new language, you will need to know how to talk to a machine. Web developers often specialize and master in at least one or multiple programming languages, including but not limited to JavaScript, Java, HTML & CSS, Python, SQL, Ruby, PHP, Go, C#, etc.
Online Coding and Software Engineering Courses
Coursera
Coursera offers a vast number of high-quality programming courses online by partnering with reputable universities and organizations.
Program range from 4 to 6 weeks.
The courses are free, but they also offer certification in some areas for you to show off on your resume. The price of the certificate starting $39 or a university-level MasterTrack™ Certificates that can count toward a master’s degree starting at $2,000.
Online Degrees span over 1-4 years of study that earn you an accredited university bachelor or master’s degree.
Web development and Coding from the University of Michigan.
edX
edX is an open-source and non-profit education platform that offers over 2000 online courses from 140 leading institutions. edX helps people gain new skills, advance their careers, or learn for fun with courses in computer programming, data science, business, finance, marketing, engineering, language, humanities, science and more.
edX has various degree oriented programs, including McroBachelors, MicroMasters, and online Master’s degree programs. The programs are a series of courses from universities designed to advance your career and potentially earn college credits. However, those are not a substitution for your diploma, but a certified program as an indicator to employers that you have taken action towards your personal growth and holding the core skills that workplace value. In this case, edX works with the public university, Thomas Edison State University, in New Jersey provides credit for most MicroBachelors programs. It offers an average of US$166 per credit. edX also works with Arizona State University on the college credit courses with a limited set of courses.
edX offers two types of certification programs, professional certificate programs and XSeries courses that are designed to advance your career or deepen your knowledge in a specific area of studies. You can pay to obtain a certificate upon course completion to polish your resume.
Computer science and mobile app development with React Native
Coursera vs. edX
Now you might ask what are the differences between Coursera and edX? Since both of them are offering very similar if not identical courses, programs, and certification.
Master’s Degree
Coursera
Coursera works closely with universities to curate online master’s degree programs. Where you can either pick the areas you’re interested via MasterTrack™ Certificates or pursue the full-fledged master’s degree online. MasterTrack is the portions of online Master’s degree programs split into multiple online modules if you are only interested in taking some specific courses to enhance your knowledge of the field. However, if you’re interested in pursuing the online Master’s degree program by Coursera and its partner universities, your MasterTrack coursework can be counted towards the degree you’re working on.
Partner Universities:
Business Degree: HEC Paris, University of North Texas, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Macquarie University
Computer Science and Engineering Degrees: Arizona State University, Universidad de Los Andes, University of Colorado Boulder, Penn Engineering, and University of London
Data Science Degrees: National Research University Higher School of Economics, University of Michigan, University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Imperial College London
Public Health Degrees: Imperial College London and the University of Michigan
edX
Very similar to Coursera, edX has master related certificate programs called MicroMasters, which are a series of graduate-level courses from its partner universities. There is an opportunity for you to apply to the university course credit toward the Master’s Degree. The tuition is depending on the type of degree you’re obtaining, ranging from US$10k to 25k per degree.
Partner Universities:
Georgia Tech, the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, Purdue University, Arizona State University, and Boston University
Professional Certificate Programs
Coursera
Coursera has two types of certificate programs Professional Certificates and MasterTrack Certificates.
Many of the certificate programs are oriented toward in-demand workplace skills for the specific type of jobs, especially in information technology and software development, i.e., Google IT support, IBM Data Science Professional Certificate, Project Management Professional certificate, etc.
edX
edX has two similar certificate programs Professional Certificate Programs and XSeries Program.
Professional Certificate Programs by edX are meant to advance your career skills and help you stand out from the crowd by obtaining certifications from top universities. XSeries programs provide a very similar purpose if not identical, which you can earn a certificate of achievement to demonstrate your knowledge.
Codecademy
There are some free courses on the platform but also premium paid pro version with additional learning materials.
Codecademy is based on NYC. It is easy to get started with its guide helps you navigate and find the proper programming course you would need to take.
Udacity
Large selection of free courses, besides web and mobile (iOS and Android) development, they also cover the topics about AI, robotics, data science, deep learning, VR, etc.
Udacity offers robust guides to many different topics, with seriously advanced courses including Nanodegree, which teach you topics in great depth and offer job placement upon course completion. Nanodegree programs are priced around $399 per month, get your 10% off here.
Python free course
Udemy
Udemy has an extensive course selection, filled with thousands of other topics, from personal development like hypnosis to career-oriented courses like marketing and software development.
Inexpensive courses $12.99 for the majority of the courses.
The great news is that Udemy has essentially all the programming topics covered, including front end and back end for web development, mobile app development, different programming languages, software project management, database, AWS hosting, and beyond. The downside is that you would need to beware of what courses are you selecting from, as not all courses are created equally.
freeCodeCamp
freeCodeCamp is a nonprofit community that helps you learn to code by building projects. You can also earn verified certifications after around 300 hours of dedicated self-paced learning.
Thousands of people who join the freeCodeCamp community get their first software developer job through freeCodeCamp. Here is their alumni network on LinkedIn.
What are the Common Curriculum for Web Development?
Computer Engineering Fundamentals
Design Patterns
Algorithms
Responsive Design
State Management
application programming interfaces (APIs) and RESTful API
OOP (Object-oriented programming)
Data Structures
model–view–controller (MVC)
Agile development
Popular MVC Framework
C#/ASP.NET
Python
Django
Java
Spring MVC
PHP
Laravel
Ruby on Rails
Front End – Client-Side (Browser)
HTTP/Ajax
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
jQuery
Bootstrap
Handlebars
Cookies, Local Storage
Modern JavaScript frameworks – Angular, React, Ember, etc
React.js (React, Redux, React Router)
Back End – Server-Side
Deployment & Cloud Hosting
Heroku
AWS
GCP
Server-Side Development
Express
Security and Session Storage
User Authentication
MERN Stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, Node.js)
Databases
SQL and NoSQL databases
MySQL
MongoDB
Source & Version Control
Git (GitHub)
UNIX command line
Quality Assurance
Debugging, testing script, testing cases, etc
Digital Marketing & SEO
Semantic HTML
In-Classroom Bootcamps
What is Coding Bootcamps?
Web and mobile development bootcamps often offer a structured curriculum to prepare you for the software developer career. Coding bootcamps offer intensive and accelerated programs through small class size, in-person instruction, and project-based learning to land you a developer job asap. Although boot camps often offer online courses, they generally focus on in-classroom learning where you dedicate 10 to 12 weeks of full time immersive along with the instructors and fellow students.
What are the Pros and Cons of Bootcamps?
The benefit of joining a bootcamps is that bootcamps have a strong incentive to assist you in job placement asap, whether via their partnership with companies or outside networks. Most boopcamps have a community where students can mingle and alumni network for mutual support.
The downside of the bootcamp is that the tuition is not inexpensive. The average full-time programming bootcamp in the US could cost $12k to $20k in tuition depending on the bootcamp you choose. However, bootcamps often offer financing options to assist you along the process, whether it’s deferred tuition or via income share agreements after you land a job. Bootcamps also often offer job placement services to help their students scoring jobs.
Types of Bootcamp
Coding Bootcamps generally have minimum requirements and on students’ commitment in order to benefit the most for both parties.
Full-time intensive coding – intensive bootcamps usually require full-time in-classroom participation 5 days a week that last for 12 weeks. You will be taking a break from your full-time job and devote the next 12 weeks for the intensive bootcamp. Students often put up a 60+ hour week to keep up the fast learning pace.
Part-time program – Part-time coding bootcamps usually meet on nights and weekends.
Online program – the traditional onsite bootcamp started to incorporate online learning programs to provide greater flexibility to their students. Typically students pace themselves with the step-by-step instruction and curriculum and meet with a mentor several times a week.
General Assembly
General Assembly offers full-time and part-time courses taught on-campus, online, and on-site with companies, giving individuals and teams flexible options for growth and development. Courses include short and long courses in web and mobile development, product management, data science, business in online and in-classroom settings
It has a global network of 40,000+ full-time and part-time alumni and 10,000+ hiring partners provide recent graduates with opportunities to find jobs and make connections, setting them up for success on the job, and in life.
GA also has Visual Design Bootcamp for UI/UX designers to expand their skillset or one without prior design experience but interested in visual design as a potential career.
Flatiron School
Flatiron School offers immersive on-campus and online programs in software engineering, data science, and UX/UI Design in NYC, Brooklyn, Washington D.C., London, Houston, Atlanta, Austin, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Online, and more.
It has immersive courses aim to launch students into careers as software engineers, data scientists, and UX/UI designers through rigorous, market-aligned curricula, and the support of seasoned instructors and personal career coaches. Through test-driven labs and portfolio projects, Flatiron teaches students to think and build like software engineers and data scientists. Flatiron School’s UX/UI Design Immersive includes a client project to give students client-facing experience and an industry-vetted portfolio.
Hack Reactor
Founded in 2012, Hack Reactor is a 12-week immersive coding school providing software engineering education, career placement services, and a network of professional peers. Hack Reactor has campuses in San Francisco, Austin, Los Angeles, and New York City, as well as an online, remote immersive (full-time and part-time).
During the first six weeks at Hack Reactor, students learn the fundamentals of development, full-stack JavaScript and are introduced to developer tools and technologies. In the final six weeks, students work on personal and group projects, using the skills they have learned, and learning more. After 800+ hours of curriculum, students graduate as full-stack software engineers and JavaScript programmers.
Hack Reactor’s immersive program is known for demanding a starting skill set beyond that of a beginner, so the applicants should allow 2 to 4 months for the admissions process. Applicants should start by enrolling in one of Hack Reactor’s free or paid prep programs to learn the basics of JavaScript and prepare for Hack Reactor’s technical interview. The technical interview lasts an hour and covers coding problems in JavaScript related to the prep course curriculum. After passing the technical interview, students begin Hack Reactor’s 80-hour precourse.
Job preparation is integrated into the curriculum, and students will build an online presence, resume and LinkedIn profile by graduation. Hack Reactor places alumni in mid-to-senior level positions at companies in tech, including Google, Salesforce & Microsoft, with an average graduate salary of $105K (2017 San Francisco student outcomes survey; 81% survey response rate).
Lambda
Pay nothing until you make it. No upfront tuition. Lambda trains people to be software engineers for free, in exchange for a small share of their future income. You won’t pay any tuition until you have a job making at least $50k/year then you pay 17% of your income for 24 months. Learn more about ISAs
Trilogy
Trilogy Education is a sorkforce accelerator and bootcamp, it has programs that include web development, coding, data analytics, UI/UX design, cybersecurity, etc.
Full-Time program – The immersive full-time program takes place Monday-Friday over 12 weeks.
Trilogy Education was acquired by 2U, Inc in 2019. 2U and Trilogy Education are both trusted partners to universities, helping them deliver life-changing outcomes to students by delivering quality learning experiences and career services support.
App Academy
12-week intensive software engineering course in San Francisco & New York City.
Over twelve weeks, you’ll learn all the skills needed to begin a career as a web developer. Through hands-on projects, we train you to build web applications with Ruby on Rails, JavaScript and React/Redux. Prior programming experience isn’t required. However, you will need lots of tenacity and a passion for building cool stuff.
You can find a long list of bootcamps here by Coursereport.
Additional Online Learning Resources
Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a free online school that’s not just focused on coding – there is a wide range of courses on offer, from economics to arts and humanities.
It has a collaborative learning community on its platform.
Free computer programming and JavaScript course
PluralSight
Pluralsight doesn’t have as many courses as others, but it offers different paths, which will guide you through a succession of different courses.
Monthly subscription for $35/month
JavaScript trial course
Skillshare
Skillshare is a subscription-based service that offers thousands of classes taught by industry professionals.
Skillshare offers courses focusing on the creative realm, creative writing, photography, music, graphic design, UI/UX design, etc.
MIT OpenCourseWare
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a great initiative undertaken by MIT. As part of this platform, all the study materials of the MIT undergraduate and graduate-level courses are brought online so that you can study them at any time and anywhere with free access to all.
Some of the introductory programming courses include online learning for Java, Python, C and C++, and MATLAB programming. Many of them are free courses.
Free Python course – Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python
Stanford
W3Schools
W3Schools is a free developers resource.
W3Schools is a web developer site, with tutorials and references on web development languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, Python, jQuery, Java, W3.CSS, and Bootstrap, covering most aspects of web programming.
The site derives its name from the World Wide Web (W3) but is not affiliated with the W3C.
W3Schools was originally created in 1998 by Refsnes Data, Norwegian software development, and consulting company.
Learn to create websites on your own computer. Learn the server basics in less than a day. Learn to add databases to your website
Android Development
Treehouse
Treehouse is an online technology school that offers beginner to advanced courses in web design, web development, mobile app development, and game development.
Treehouse Apprenticeship – 80% Apprentices convert to permanent employees. Treehouse actively supports the new employees for 3 years so they can navigate challenges and advance their careers.
The Odin Project
Founded in 2013, the Odin Project provides a free open source coding curriculum available on Github that can be taken entirely online.
Since it’s inception, it has helped many students get hired as developers and has assisted countless others learn enough programming to work on their own personal projects.
The Odin Project is now sponsored by Thinkful, provides 1-on-1 learning through its network of industry experts, hiring partners, and online platforms to deliver a structured and flexible education.
Skillcrush
Skillcrush offers online courses in tech-related career advancement, including web development, digital marketing, and UI/UX design.
Free coding camp
SitePoint
SitePoint has a good selection of web development related tutorials, blogs, forums, books, videos, courses.
Code.org
Code.org is a non-profit that focuses on computer science teaching for children and teens by allowing students to access a wide range of tutorials in the form of how-to guides, development of games for grades K-8, JavaScript programming, videos and so on. It also conducts several instructor-led (or teacher-led) lessons for easy and quick learning.
It does not make post-secondary courses.
Build Your Own Website Without Coding
Wix
Wix allows you to build your very personal website without prior knowledge of coding by applying website template and drag and drop action on UI arrangement.
It also takes care of both the web browser and mobile optimization. Easy to access marketing email campaigns, and even payment if you’re running an online store.
Glitch
Glitch is a simple tool for creating web apps
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