How to become a Front-end Web Developer
With such amazing resources available on the internet, it’s quite easy to learn to code on your own. To become a Front-end developer you just need to follow a track and work on few projects to make your portfolio stand out. Before diving deep into the skills required, let’s quickly understand about who the front-end developers are and what they do in their day-to-day life?
Front-end Web Developers works on the visual and interactive elements of the website. They bridge the gap between a designer and back-end developer so, they need to be creative and at the same time be tech-savvy as well. It’s the practice of developing the user interface elements of the web applications using the languages like HTML, CSS & JavaScript.
Start by learning HTML & CSS
HTML & CSS is the fundamental block of Front-end development. You should be an expert in these two languages. The good thing is that it will just take a couple of weeks to understand the basics and get things started. There is a number of websites which will help you in learning HTML & CSS. You can try LearnShayHowe.com or Codecademy.
Work on Projects —Once you are done with the basic concepts, start working on the projects. Make sure you have worked on a few websites or UI elements. It can range from building something simple like about.me page to complex landing pages like Pinterest.
Explore more about responsive web design and media queries. In the year 2019, you need to have a website which provides a great user experience in all the different devices, be it a mobile, tablet or large screen desktops.
Move down to JavaScript
Front-end development is more than just building websites.
JavaScript gives you the ability to add tons of interactivity to your website. All the image slider, popups, collapse buttons are built using JavaScript.
According to StackOverflow survey, JavaScript is the most popular programming languages in 2018.
You can learn JavaScript from Codecademy, Mozilla docs or Javascript.info. If you are someone who loves reading from book then EloquentJavaScript will be a great choice.
Again the same thing, move down to the projects like a To-do List app, Add to cart feature or a simple typing test game. You need to make sure that you practice a lot instead of just reading the theory.
Learn jQuery
jQuery is a popular JavaScript library. It gives you the ability to add ready-made elements to your website, that can be customized as per the requirements.
You can learn jQuery from Udacity Free course — Learn Jquery for FREE
Start using front-end Frameworks like Bootstrap
Bootstrap is a popular front-end framework which gives you the ability to add common UI templates like forms, image slider, typography, icons in your website. You can learn Bootstrap from — getbootstrap.com
Git (Version Control System)
Used mainly for source code collaboration.
This Youtube playlist will explain you git in less than 30 mins — WATCH NOW (It is designed by CodeSchool which got acquired by Pluralsight in 2018)
Once you finish Git, explore few JavaScript Frameworks like AngularJS, ReactJS, VueJS and create a web application using REST API’s. Before you start working on frameworks, make sure that you have got a good understanding of JavaScript.
Front-end development is huge and at the same time changing rapidly. Keep yourself updated with the latest tools and trends.
This info-graphics might help you -
If you are interested in learning Front-end Development in depth then you can try mentor-led course provided by InternStreet — Become a Front-end Developer with 1-on-1 mentoring from industry experts.
