College is not the only way to gain knowledge that you can use professionally later on. While it may be the most obvious path to take, you can seek and acquire the desired skills elsewhere. This stands for all fields and industries, including web development.
Learning web development outside of college is completely doable. You can become a brilliant, skillful, and leading web developer without an official academic education. If you want to learn how we’ve got your back. Below, you’ll find the 5 best tips for learning web development the other way.
source: Pexels
- Set a Foundation
To get started with web development, you first need to set up a strong foundation. This is the part of the job that you can do on your own. It’ll prepare you for the other stages in the process of acquiring web development skills and becoming a professional.
So, what is implied under ‘’setting foundation’’? There are several simple steps you need to take:
- do as much reading and research as possible
- learn about the basic programming language that exists
- find out what the best starting point is
- explore the main types of web development
Once you have the whole picture of this field, how it works, and what your options are, you can proceed to the next steps on your journey.
- Join Web Development Communities
Next, you’ll need to start networking and connecting with people from this field. There are online communities you should join to stay close to the fire and never miss out on the news or opportunities that may arise.
These communities include:
- forums
- social media groups
- online events
Being a member of this community will regularly expose you to the newest information, best advice, useful discussions, and exchange of opinions. You’ll learn about potential employment opportunities as well. And, considering that the employment of web developers is expected to rise by 13% by 2030, there are going to be opportunities.
- Find Online Courses
After the preparation period is over, and you feel like you’ve done everything you could to set a foundation, it’s time to start learning. Luckily, there are online resources available to you, no matter where you live.
These resources are typically platforms that offer courses in a variety of subject matter. That includes Udemy, Coursera, Codecademy, or FreeCodeCamp.
They all work similarly. You find a course you’re interested in and read information about it. You learn about the lessons, duration, price, and other details. If you like it, you pay for the course and start learning.
Most of these courses are extremely affordable, and you can even run into discounts and special offers. You can check this info to learn more about the specific steps to take.
- Practice Restlessly
After finishing one or more selected courses, you’ll have a lot of theoretical knowledge on your hands. You’ll even gain some practical knowledge through projects and tasks assigned in the course. But this alone won’t do the trick.
You need to practice more.
So, find small projects you can work on to improve your skills and gain experience. You can do some work for free for your friends and come up with your own projects. You can even volunteer in companies that need simple work, like developing a new app for patent translation companies or testing the latest product of a web development company.
- Start Working
Finally, after you’ve done everything you could to learn and practice web development, it’s time to start taking jobs.
Try to build a portfolio and a CV to have something to show when applying for internships or jobs in the future. TopEssayWriting can help you polish your writing for future job applications. Use it to leave the best first impression.
Freelancing may be the best option to begin with because it allows you to:
- choose small projects
- set your work hours
- slowly work your skills up
- gain confidence
After successfully finishing some minor projects and starting to feel more confident, you can look for more advanced professional opportunities that will further guide your development.
Final Thoughts
Becoming a web developer without attending college is certainly a challenge. You need both courage and determination. Still, with the resources available to you today, you can quickly go from knowing nothing to being fully confident about your skills and knowledge.
Use our 5 tips to build your way up the professional ladder slowly but confidently.
Author’s Bio
Mary Herd is a blogger dedicated to informal education. She writes about different ways of learning and acquiring professional skills that have nothing to do with the official classroom experience.
