BECOMING A WEB DEVELOPER

Since the advent of the computer, they have been so many technologies and services; these services and technologies have given birth to other technologies. The web is among the technology that was given birth to.

The web has been around for a long time now, and has created opportunity for other technologies and services to exist. The web is a world that has been under construction by web developers, it is still under construction and still need more web developers to take part in its construction.

Becoming a web developer is not an easy process, but could be easy for someone that is ready to do the work. The secret to becoming a web developer is to be curious, ready to learn new stuffs and always learning new stuffs.

The road to becoming a web developer does not have an end; it is a continuous learning process that requires lots of practice.

To become a web developer, you have to start from somewhere and walk down the road to perfection. The following are the different paths to follow in order to become a web developer:

• The PHP way
• The Ruby way
• The Python way
• The Javascript way
• The Java way
• The ASP.NET way

         

Before going into details of the different paths, it is very important I say this: Web development has some languages and technologies that are compulsory in all paths; these languages and technologies are:

• HyperText Markup Language(HTML)
•  Cascading Style Sheet(CSS)
• Javascript

The above three (3) listed are a must for all paths to becoming a web developer.

THE PHP WAY

PHP is one of the most easy to learn server side web programming language. It is a recursive acronym meaning "PHP Hypertext Preprocessor". PHP is relatively easy to learn and develop applications with. All you need to do is master the basics of PHP and maybe switch to PHP based web development frameworks like:

• Laravel
• Zend PHP
• Cake PHP
• Symphony, …

Or leverage the power and availability of PHP CMS like:

• WordPress
• Jooml
• Drupal, …

If you are building an application that will need database, you can use MySQL or any other Relational Database Management System (RDBMS).

Finally, you will need to learn Structured Query Language (SQL).

THE RUBY WAY

Ruby is a programming language developed for both web and native PC applications development. Ruby is also easy to learn, and it is so sweet because of its short syntaxes. With Ruby alone, you can build web applications, but you don't want to do that. It is easier to use a Ruby based web application development framework.

Rails (Ruby on Rails) is a Ruby based web applications development framework built for developing web applications with Ruby. Rails is fun to learn and develop with, all you need do is master the basics of Ruby and dive into Rails.

THE PYTHON WAY

Python is a programming language that can be used for both web applications development and native PC applications development. Like Ruby, you don't want to build web applications with vanilla Python; you need to leverage the power and availability of Python based web applications development framework.

Django is a Python based web applications development framework, it makes Python web development easy and fun.

THE JAVASCRIPT WAY

Javascript is a client-side web based development application programming language, but can also be used on the server. This means with Javascript, HTML and CSS alone, you can build rich web applications.

Actually, vanilla Javascript alone cannot do it; you need other Javascript based backend technologies like Node.js.

Node.js is a server-side technology; it was built with Javascript. Node.js is easy to learn, all you need is to learn Javascript and head straight to Node.js.

THE JAVA WAY

You can also go the Java way by using Java Server Pages (JSP). All you need to do is learn Java and jump into JSP.

THE ASP.NET WAY

ASP.NET is a technology that is kind of similar to PHP. Although the differences between PHP and ASP.NET are great, but if you take a close look at them, you will see few similarities.

ASP.NET is easy to learn, and it is straight forward.

CONCLUSION

We have come to the end of the different pathways to becoming a web developer; all you need to do now is choose a path. You can choose more than one path, but it is better to start with one and build your skills until you can walk on more than one paths.

Welcome to the world of web developers.