How to get started in web development in 2020
Tags: webdev, javascript, html, css
Published: 2020-07-29 00:35:03

Hello world! Hope you're all doing well. This is my first post on dev.to. The inspiration for this article comes from a tweet, I really wanted to help [Gourav](https://twitter.com/rhcasharma/status/1287968352799924227) and share my experience with you guys. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I want to get start with CODING - Can someone please guide me?<br><br>Please share some useful tips and suggestion.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coding?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coding</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/start?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#start</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/noob?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#noob</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/learning?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#learning</a></p>&mdash; Gourav Sharma (@rhcasharma) <a href="https://twitter.com/rhcasharma/status/1287968352799924227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

1. Start with some introductory courses like [this on Codecademy.com](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-how-to-code) and/or [this on Lynda (LinkedIn Learning) by Simon Allardice](https://www.lynda.com/JavaScript-tutorials/Foundations-of-Programming-Fundamentals/83603-2.html?utm_medium=viral&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=videoupload-83603-0101). It doesn't matter which programming language you pick as your first. You'll have to learn many in your developer journey anyways. Often times people are suggested to go either with Python or JavaScript. I would suggest JavaScript as it is very easy to learn and has a very great and helpful community.

2. If you liked your first exposure on step 1, now you can proceed to step 2. Here you have to first learn HTML and CSS as they are crucial for every developer these days. I found [The Net Ninja channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/TheNetNinja/playlists) very helpful on YouTube for free step-by-step introductory courses. Here's the playlists I suggest from him for this step:

   1. [HTML Tutorials For Beginners](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9ibZ2TSBaGGNrgh4ZgYE6Cc)
   2. [HTML & CSS Crash Course Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9ivBf_eKCPIAYXWzLlPAm6G)
   3. [CSS Tutorials For Beginners](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9gQeDH6xYhmO-db2mhoTSrT)
   4. [CSS Positioning Tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9hudKGi5o5UiWuTAGbxiLTh)
   5. [CSS Flexbox Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9i3FXJSUfmsNOx8E7u6UuhG)
   6. [CSS Grid Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9itC4TxYMzFCfveyutyPOCY)
   7. [Responsive Web Design Tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9g9Vh9MAA-XKnfJsWZnPZFw)
   8. [Responsive Web Design Tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9g9Vh9MAA-XKnfJsWZnPZFw)
   9. [Mobile-First Responsive Build (with CSS Grid)](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9hH1tAjyUPZPjbj-7s200a4)

3. Now you're ready to review everything and build simple websites with your HTML & CSS knowledge. I would recommend using [freeCodeCamp.org](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/) for this. You can also have a look at the learning path they are offering to new developers and follow that! At this stage you are ready to complete their "Responsive Web Design Certification" and do their take-home projects for putting your knowledge to test.

4. I would then suggest you to learn how to work with Git and GitHub for version control. Along the way you'll probably get familiar with Git Bash and learn some Bash commands. You can watch these playlists on Git and you'll be fine:

   1. [Git & GitHub Tutorial for Beginners](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9goXbgTDQ0n_4TBzOO0ocPR)
   2. [Git & GitHub - Managing Your Code](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL55RiY5tL51poFMpbva1IqfO-pylwSNsN)
   3. [Git & GitHub](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWKjhJtqVAbkFiqHnNaxpOPhh9tSWMXIF)

5. Now it's time for you to start learning your first programming language - JavaScript! It's better that you choose an IDE at this stage. I would suggest that you go with the industry standard [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/). If you need help learning how to work with this IDE, you can have a look at [this playlist by Codevolution](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC3y8-rFHvwhleivq1QohBZN4d8IdzG3c). After that you are ready to learn some JavaScript. There are a lot of wonderful playlists out there for learning JavaScript. I would suggest these:

   1. [Modern JavaScript Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9haFPT7J25Q9GRB_ZkFrQAc)
   2. [JavaScript Tutorials for Beginners](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9i9Ae2D9Ee1RvylH38dKuET)
   3. [JavaScript ES6 Tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9gKfw25slm4CUDUcM_sXdml)
   4. [JavaScript DOM Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9gfoKa5la9dsdCNpuey2s-V)
   5. [Beau teaches JavaScript](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWKjhJtqVAbmoiNlqLJg1gxEjEuKHHcn_)

6. After this you are ready to put your knowledge to test once more at [freeCodeCamp.org](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/) with "JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification" and do some more projects for your portfolio.

7. You should now have a good judgement of programming and be able to use google and StackOverflow to solve for problems. If you need a little bit more introduction to programming, then I'll definitely 100% suggest you to take [Harvard's CS50: Introduction to Computer Science](https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/cs50-introduction-computer-science) free online course or [Base.CS Podcast](https://www.codenewbie.org/basecs).

8. You should now decide which path you want to take for the rest of your learning journey. I went with learning React and React Native on the front-end. You can watch [this video by Traversy Media](https://youtu.be/0pThnRneDjw) on YouTube to see what paths are available to you in the JavaScript world.

9. Whichever path you choose, here are some other useful resources that might help you along your way:

   * [Academind's YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSJbGtTlrDami-tDGPUV9-w/featured)
   * [Dev Ed's YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClb90NQQcskPUGDIXsQEz5Q/featured)
   * [freeCodeCamp.org's YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ/featured)
   * [Programming with Mosh's YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/programmingwithmosh/featured)
   * [The Net Ninja's YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW5YeuERMmlnqo4oq8vwUpg)
   * [Traversy Media's YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC29ju8bIPH5as8OGnQzwJyA)
   * [Web Dev Simplified's YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFbNIlppjAuEX4znoulh0Cw/featured)
   * [CodeCademy's Online Courses](https://www.codecademy.com/catalog/)
   * [freeCodeCamp.org's Online Courses](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/)
   * [SoloLearn's Online Courses](https://www.sololearn.com/Courses/)
   * [W3School's Online Courses](https://www.w3schools.com/)
   * [CodeNewbie Podcast](https://www.codenewbie.org/podcast)
   * [Base.CS Podcast](https://www.codenewbie.org/basecs)

I hope this was helpful. If you liked this article please like, share, and comment your learning path and favorite resources down below.