9 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started as a Web Developer
By: Ali Haider
Tags: Technology, Programming, Tech, Web Development, JavaScript

TO ALL THOSE ASPIRING WEB DEVELOPERS IN 2020/2021

9 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started as a Web Developer

If I had known these, it would have halved the time taken.

Photo by Joshua Aragon on Unsplash

Web Development is an amazing career that is in demand right now and there is no sign of decline instead the demand has been skyrocketing!

Along with high job satisfaction you also get paid well as a web developer, but there are many more perks. Some I have listed down below.

Highly satisfying profession 🖥️ Pays you good bucks 💲 You get to build cool stuff 🔨 You can work remotely from your home 🏡

It has been reported that the employment of web developers is projected to grow 13 percent from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations. Demand will be driven by the growing popularity of mobile devices and ecommerce.

I have been developing websites for around 5 years and what a journey it has been! But while learning web development it is important to know some things beforehand so that you don’t face frustration and disappointment. You can possibly waste your time and might take longer to become a web developer.

I have listed down 9 lessons that I believe every developer needs to know.

That being said let's dive into further.

1. You won’t become a good developer 💻 in 3 months

A lot of online courses make these crazy promises that you’ll be a great developer after 10–12 weeks and it’s not true.

You will probably have a good foundation to start on, but it won’t be enough to do the really complex things from day one. It’ll take a lot of practice, time, and frustration in the beginning. Be prepared to tackle it!

2. Don’t just read 📖, implement

I’ve often seen developers read through tutorials or sometimes even whole books without practicing what they have learned. Learning by practicing works best while learning to code. Do a lot of projects, these will help you solidify your concepts better.

If you want to learn React js, try to develop a small application as you are going through the documentation or a set of tutorials. If you want to try the MERN stack, get it running in your local machine and explore the different options — that’s the best way to learn!

3. JavaScript first, framework later

People often first learn the tricks of a framework and then move on to the language. That’s actually not the right way to go.

The simple reason here is that if you know about the underlying JavaScript, it helps you understand how the framework works. If you have no idea about the trades of a language, there is no way you will understand why something is done a certain way in the framework.

Avoid Frameworks and Plugins until you have an intermediate understanding of JavaScript.

4. Write Clean Code 💎

The first thing you realize when you start making large applications is that a huge amount of time is required for debugging. Often, you’ll spend more time debugging than writing new code. You are going to spend 25% of your time writing code, and 75% debugging that code.

In such a situation, it’s highly important you write properly indented and commented code, which adheres to best practices.

Code without comments and indentations will lead you in big trouble. Imagine you have hundreds of lines of code, and you have no idea what’s causing a small bug. What’s worse is that if you write an unreadable code, you’ll probably fail to understand what each snippet does after a few days.

5. Design Patterns

One of my biggest mistakes was that I never learned any design patterns early on. So, I approached each new project with a blank slate.

Not leaning Design Patterns leads to a lot more work, a lot more frustrating, and leads to poorly written code (usually).

Invest some time in learning a design pattern and become a master of implementing it. Believe me, it is worth all the effort.

6. Learn version control

In today’s world, it’s very rare that you work on a project alone or you will need to in the future. To collaborate with others, you need to learn something called version control!

Developers usually don’t dive into version control until they absolutely need to do so. However, as version control is necessary to work in a team, it’s a good idea to understand how it works and the basic commands that get you started early on.

The most popular one is Git from GitHub, literally I haven't seen a professional developer who doesn't use Git.

7. Jack of all trades, master of none

It’s good to explore new technologies, but one must remember to stick to one language for most purposes. I prefer to use JavaScript, I love it a lot.

It’s always tempting to learn multiple languages at the same time, but it’s advisable to stick to one until you develop a certain level of mastery over it.

8. Learn from the work of others

Mastering a technology on your own is great, but sometimes you learn a lot by just looking at the code of others. Be it your colleagues or random tutorials on the internet, try to find why someone approaches a problem in a certain way, and ask questions if necessary, don't be shy, developers are friendly and willing to help.

9. Google is your best friend ⌨️

As a developer, we have to learn a lot and we as humans suck at it. That's why Google was built for. Like learning to learn is important, the skill of googling is a must In a developer's life.

There are many ways to submit a search query on google. Try to google and find out.