How To Become A Web Designer And Developer (2021)

What is a web designer and developer?

A web designer is a coder or IT engineer who is responsible for website structure or layout, visual appearance and the user interface (UI) of a website. Web designer is also called a web developer. 

Joining the tech industry from switching your current career or as a fresher in a job market is not so tough. 

Yes, we are addressing you if you want to take the leap but wondering whether you can join the industry. But will it be the right career shift, and can you pull it off? 

You have such thoughts, right! Yes, you can, and it’s indeed a great career choice too, with flexibility and a good salary. However, you have to go through the learning curve first to attain your desired salary and position. 

Web development and web designing have become two versatile ways to enter the tech industry. Besides this, you may need logo design services to focus on only web designing and/or web development.

Web designing and web development are two key parts of building a website. Without the presence of any of the parts, the other one is incomplete. 

But you can choose to learn both or just one to jumpstart your career as a website builder. So, how to become a web designer and web developer when you have no prior experience with them?

How To Become A Web Designer And Developer

So you are making a choice of a career shift or as a fresher looking forward to being a web designer. 

But, you may feel that it’s a long learning process, and you don’t know where to begin with. Don’t worry! Learning web designing is not as hard as you may think. 

You just have to dedicate your time and effort to learn it. In the tech market, there are plenty of self-taught web designers.

However, to become a web designer, you have to know from where you should start. Follow the basic steps to become a successful web designer:

Know Web Designing Game Well

As a web designer, you will be creating the visual elements for a website like layouts, colors, formats, etc. 

Therefore, you must have a good grasp of designing fundamentals and learn the designing software. 

Graphic designers, logo design services providers, and web designers mostly get equal recognition as all of them must have computer graphic skills. 

However, there are differences between all three of them. Web designing requires some specific knowledge related to the web designing field along with certain skills.

Software To Master To Become Web Designer And Web Developer

So, which graphic designing software should you learn to use? Without any doubt, learn Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. 

Also, you must have a grip over Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe Fireworks. Though the usage of these tools is not difficult to learn, they are complex to master. 

In addition to learning the designing tools, you have to learn a few basic programming languages like HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, Flash, and JQuery. 

At least have good applicable knowledge about HTML and CSS. Of course, learning about SEO is important to nail in the industry. 

As it is a constantly changing field, you will be on your toe learning new skills. As the industry offers something new to learn, and it can feel a bit overwhelming sometimes. But when you witness growth, you will love it.

Create Sample Portfolio As You Walk Down The Path

To master the skills and become an expert, you will need experience. That means you must create a design that shows your web designing capability. 

At the beginning of the journey, you are less likely to land a client, so you must focus on designing your own website pages.

After all, you will have to showcase a portfolio to your client to land a job as an employee or freelancer. 

You can always go back and upgrade your website when you improve your skills. When you are designing your website, it may take a long time as you subconsciously enter into the infinite loop of constant improvement. 

But it is advisable to set a date to complete the design and start with the web development part of it.

Step by step Guide To Become A Web Developer And Developer

So, you have very little or no experience in web development, but you want to start at some point in time. 

It may sound like a distant-goal but with dedicated effort, becoming a developer isn’t too hard at all. 

Instead of picturing the goals you have to acquire in years, think in small segments. So, focus on what web development skills you have to learn, then think in months. 

You will find a whole sea of resources on the internet to learn each skill with better understanding. Many of these resources are available free for you to embrace. 

Here are some basic steps you have to follow to become a website developer:

1) Select The Skills You Will Need For Web Development

Anyone can do web development works when they are well-equipped with their skill sets. You don’t need a bachelor’s degree or any other associate’s degree to ace in the field. 

All you need is the skills at your fingertips to do the job. However, the most important step is identifying what skills you would need to walk on the path of becoming a web developer.

However, you must remember there are two main categories of web-development jobs:

2) Front-End Web Development Skills

Working on the visual parts of websites is the task of front-end web developers. This part of the web interacts with users via a web browser. 

To work as a front-end web developer, you have to learn lots of coding languages. After all, coding languages are the backbone of the front-end web development process.

Both HTML and CSS are markup languages. Whereas HTML defines parts of a single web page, CSS defines its style with colors, fonts, and layout. 

For controlling the dynamic content of a web page, JavaScript is at your rescue. To imbed animated graphics, scrolling video, and interactive maps, JavaScript is an essential scripting language to learn.

3) Back-End Web Development Skills

The Back-end programming team deals with writing codes to fetch and request data from databases. Then the data, which contains CSS, JavaScript, and HTML content, is displayed.

Back-end web developers use web frameworks like NodeJS, Ruby on Rails, etc., for web development. 

These web frameworks have collections of pre-written codes that developers can utilize on repetitive tasks.

Of course, you will need skills to shine in either type of web development job. 

However, your personal motivation and steps will also determine your place in the field. Keep your enthusiasm high to learn new things, taking on new challenges while enjoying your work completely.

4) Start Your Learning Process, Practicing Web Development Skills

As you have picked up the skills that you need to learn and become a web developer, now is the time to learn them. 

Do you have to join a tech school for a four-year degree in computer science or computer engineering? 

Not at all! Of course, you can learn HTML, JavaScript, and CSS from a school, but you can also learn them at your own pace and at home environment.

5) Start With Basics: HTML, JavaScript, And CSS

On the web, you will get plenty of free tutorials on HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, like w3schools and Codeacademy.

Meanwhile, you can also check out the paid online classes if you want to learn more structurally and get support. 

Of course, it bypasses the time and expenses of joining a college for long-term courses.

6) Join A Web Development Community For Guidance And Feedback

You are learning web development skills from online classes and tutorials. But you must join online web development communities like Stack Overflow and GitHub. 

GitHub is a wonderful forum where  Web designer or web developers post the projects they are working on, share valuable codes with other developers, etc. 

You can get advice, feedback, and guidance from these groups. Both are ideal platforms to try out what you have learned, besides getting real-world experience. 

You may get to know people who provide logo design services. It will help you focus on the web development part only.

7) Take Test Projects For Building Portfolio

Taking test projects is a useful strategy with which you can build a solid foundation on web development. 

You can do some small paid jobs for people you know, like friends and family, or do some hobby-project of yours. 

When stakes are relatively low, building real sites will give you lots of confidence and comfort.

8) Increase Your Web Development Knowledge With Free Tools

As you are getting familiarized with the skills, use the available free tools. You can find these free tools on the web, so choose the most valuable one. 

You will find lots of web browser extensions, text editors, or content management systems, all free of cost. 

Also, there are some high-quality paid tools that can help you further in the journey to becoming an excellent web developer.

9) Find Yourself A Right Job As Web Developer

You have acquired a solid foundation in web development skills. Now it’s time for you to think about whether you want to work as a regular web developer in an established company or want to freelance? 

Of course, if you want to pursue freelancing web development as a full-time career, you will face both pros and cons. 

So, you must have the right vision of how you want to see your web development career to be. 

But no matter what kind of work you choose as a web designer or developer, both are possible irrespective of your career switch or as fresher with no technical degrees.

10) Consider Freelance Work

Are you a fresher, or are you transitioning from your 9-5 job? If you are into a 9-5 office job, you may feel freelancing a bit intimidating. 

Having a 9-5 job where others take care of your workflow feels like a safe haven. But when you are the boss of your company and looking for your workflow, you may feel a little uncomfortable at first. 

However, as a freelancer web designer, you would earn a lot and get hired by companies as a freelancer. So, it is a win-win.

11) 9-to-5 Web Development Jobs Are Also In-Demand

Even though you learn the skills, it is best to start your career in an established company. 

It helps you to learn the latest practices and their exact implementations on live projects. 

After all, the codes will go through review and tests before submitting to the clients. 

Therefore, as a web developer, it will be your ideal environment to grow in the field. 

Of course, some developers would prefer to work freelance instead of working with colleagues in a team. 

So, you get all the options available for you once you learn the basic skills of web development.

12) Use The Following Job Resources As Web Developer

As you seek web development works, you must keep your eyes on online job boards. 

If you look into general job boards like Indeed, Glassdoor, you will find various web development jobs in different web designer or web developer positions. 

However, if you are interested in flexible, work-from-home, and freelance works, you have to look into other boards like FlexJobs, Arc, Remote.co, etc. Find this type of web development job across various sites on the web.

13) Network With Other Web Developers

There are sites like Women Who Code, Meetup.com, etc., where you can network with other web developers all over the world. As these sites offer events related to a niche, you may connect to other people face-to-face. 

Joining web development conferences, workshops, and job fairs are also a great way to connect with other web designer or developers.

14) Become A Key Player

You have already prepared the design for your website; now it’s time to combine the web designing skills and web development skills. 

You are well-equipped to create your own website. Without delaying, fix a date to launch your website and finish with building your website to get work. 

You would want to work for others showing your website as the portfolio. Of course, you must decide whether you want to be a freelancer or join a reputed company. 

Either way, you should keep on updating your portfolio site as you learn new things. It’s a continuously changing field, so your website should be updated to the trends of the time. 

Of course, your first job won’t be about making money in the field but about gaining first-hand experience in the real world. 

So, you must learn how you can sell your skills to earn in the freelancing world if you are not opting for another 9-5 job.