My Journey into Web Development:
Hello, in this article, I will tell you how and why I started developing websites and how I progressed on this path. If you also want to start web development but haven't been able to, or if the thought has never crossed your mind, I think this article could help you. I will generally tell my own story, but if you only want recommendations, you can click below to go to my suggestions. Enjoy reading.
When and Why I Started:
I was halfway through my second year in computer engineering, and all the code we wrote and assignments we did at school hadn't satisfied me. While I had a solid grasp of algorithms, the design of the projects we worked on was boring. All the applications we made so far worked only through the kernel and didn't look appealing at all. The only thing we could change design-wise was the color of the text. This made me lose interest in the projects I was working on.
(Our first project, the 2048 game)
On the recommendation of my professor, I started learning web development through a Udemy course during the semester break of my second year. The course link. At the beginning of the course, to build a solid foundation, it covered pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Since I had never studied from an online course before, I just watched the videos without doing any hands-on practice. About 1.5 weeks later, I realized that designing with HTML and CSS, which people said was easy, was actually hard for me. It took a long time to write CSS code for even a small application. Learning design in such detail made me lose interest in web development as well. I quit the course before even creating a single site.
Returning to the Course:
At the end of my second year, I restarted the course. This time, I got as far as the React.js section and really liked React. Within 1-2 weeks, I learned React.js, Node.js, and PostgreSQL, and completed the course. However, I still didn't feel very competent because I hadn't built a site from scratch by myself. So, I registered on freelance sites and started looking for jobs. Eventually, I found a job. I'll explain how I found this job in another blog post because it's a detailed topic. After completing the job, my interest in web development grew, and I researched and learned many things.
Recommendations:
Here are my recommendations for web development:
- My biggest recommendation is to be patient. The HTML, CSS, and JS you will learn at the beginning may seem boring to most people, and usually, people give up on it without creating anything.
- If you get bored of writing HTML, CSS, and JS one by one, remember that you need to learn these just for the foundation. In the future, you will be able to create the sites you spent a long time on very quickly and with just a few lines of code, which can be a good motivation for you.
- Do everything with an understanding of the logic and try not to leave any topic unfinished.
- After studying topics collectively, try to create applications related to the topics you studied on your own. I recommend looking online only when you're stuck. Learning through trial and error is, in my opinion, the most effective way to learn.
- Don't hesitate to use libraries and pre-made designs. Using ready-made designs and libraries is one of the most enjoyable aspects of web development. Everyone in the web community shares information with each other. If you don't want a very custom design or just need something for a start, I recommend using libraries and designs. If you want to progress specifically in design, writing everything from scratch might be better for you.
- When using a new library, always read the documentation for the parts you'll use. Even while writing this blog, I encountered many errors just because I didn't read the documentation, so always read the documentation.
I hope you liked my article. All the suggestions I gave in this article are methods that I found good and that worked for me. Everyone has different ways of learning and getting motivated, so I think this article can only give you an idea about getting started.
If there's any mistake in my article or if there's a topic you'd like me to write about, feel free to contact me at ahmetsalihozm@outlook.com