Learn these Skills to become a Great Web Developer.

What is web development ?

Mostly web development term is used to refer the tasks associated with developing the websites for hosting via internet or intranet. The web development process includes web design, web content development, client-side/server-side scripting and network security configuration and other tasks.

Many people use these two terms- web design and web development interchangeably, but they both have two different meanings. A web designer is the person who designs the layout of the website and concerns with how site will look. And a web developer is the person who is either a front-end developer or a back-end developer that takes that design and turns that static design into a fully working website and available to the world.

Skills required to become a great web developer

Setting up your Base

You need to learn/know some basic concepts of web and fundamentals of some core languages like c, c++, java, ruby. We all know that technologies on the web change very fast. Maximum number of new frameworks or technologies are built around some core languages like PHP, ruby, java and core concepts like Model-View-Controller and OOPS concepts. If you think it deeply, things don’t really change or move so fast, they are just rearranged. Like that only if you learn Javascript it will be easier for you to move between two different libraries. So try to learn Javascript rather than JQuery. It doesn’t change.

Beyond the Base

HTML and CSS can be the base of everything, but you need to think beyond the base. You need to know skills that enable you to meet the needs of your client. This may include HTML, CSS, PHP, but you have to look forward. For e.g. if you want to build an online store, you need to know some e-commerce platforms like Magento, Shopify, etc. When you decide what to learn next, do focus on developing skills that help you to build specific types of websites.

Be a Code Optimizer

Code optimization is any kind of method that improve code quality and efficiency. An optimized code means a smaller size code that consumes less memory and executes more rapidly with fewer i/o operations. And a web developer must have these skills to optimize the functions, methods and queries. He need to evaluate his code by himself first.

Be a Master Researcher

Another important skill for web developer is to research and find the information about the language you’re coding in. You don’t need to be pro in that language but you need to know how to find information you don’t have at your fingertips. Sometimes, a well-phrased google search can get you to your answer faster. You don’t need to memorize all the code. Learn how to research.

Be a Team Player

If you can work together with your co-workers and can be a valuable part of the team, you can be successful. Being a good team player will help you to develop worthy relationships with them and will make you stand out as a great employee to your managers.

Be a Learner

Another important skill is learning new techniques. A web developer needs to know new techniques and tools and should be able to implement them. Learning is the treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

Stay Sharp

Stay sharp, find competition. Without any competition it becomes habit to see yourself above average. Join projects outside of the box, contribute and seek out feedback and criticism. The people who accept criticism are the ones who are genuinely interested in self improvement.

Basic Testing Knowledge

Don’t build something if you’re not prepared to make sure it works properly. You need to learn both the things problem solving as well as debugging the code. A web developer must have basic knowledge of testing tools to ensure quality of code.

Basic Deployment knowledge

Deployment means the process of getting your program ready for market. A newly created program may work fine in your compute, but that doesn’t mean it is ready for others to use. There are many other programs features need to provide if the program will be used by others. For e.g. help docs, exe files, icon library, licence agreement, trial version, install wizard, uninstall program, etc. And a web developer must have core knowledge of deployment tools and resources.

Some Design Sense

Developers now a days need to have some designing knowledge. Those days are over when you said “I don’t know, I’m not a designer”. It is not like you need to be a design expert. But you need to understand typography, color sense, grid examples, etc. It will help a developer in many ways. Like you will not get frustrated when you can’t find a designer to ask a question.

Non-Technical Skills

Non technical skills contains communication skills, time and stress management, leadership qualities, motivation, etc. This is more essential when you work in a team or with clients. A web developer must have ability to understand client’s requirement. He should take more responsibilities and leadership.

I hope this gives you a clear pictures of what skills you need to know to become a great web developer.