From No Programming Experience to Web Developer in 11 Small Steps

5 min readJun 12, 2022

Web Development can be difficult, especially for beginners. But don’t fret! This article will provide you with a comprehensive list of simple steps & a few resources too, that you enable you to become a Top-Notch Web Developer (provided you put in the effort)!

Step 0: Get a Code Editor

Before you get your hands dirty with coding, getting yourself a Code Editor can drastically boost your productivity as it streamlines your workflow by getting rid of the mundane tasks.

If you want to learn how Pros Automate the Boring Stuff in VS Code, check out this article.

Step 1: Learn HTML

HTML is the fundamental skill required to start Web Development, but don’t bother to learn each and every HTML tag as most of them are rarely used. Learning the structure of the HTML only is enough to get you moving!

To get started, you can check out this course

If you still want to hone your knowledge of HTML, check out this article

Step 2: Learn CSS

CSS is responsible for styling your website. It is crucial to have a good understanding of CSS, as in this day & age if your website doesn’t look appealing, people just won’t use it.

I highly recommend the course by Academind as it’s where I learned CSS from.

Here are a few other articles to sharpen your CSS skills:

Step 3: Do funky stuff using JavaScript

Till now, your website was LOOKING SOMETHING. But now it’s time to make it DO SOMETHING!

If HTML was the skeleton, CSS is the skin, then JavaScript is the muscle, which enables it to be interactive. Learning JavaScript opens up a whole new world of possibilities for your website!

Step 4: Build!!!

Now you know enough to build something… so build something!

You must put the skills you learned to use, otherwise, you will end up misjudging what you can do, as everyone can build stuff while following a tutorial.

Step 5: Harness the power of Dev Tools

Dev Tools is your best friend when it comes to debugging your website! You can check out the DOM elements, styling they hold, and the control flow of your Javascript code too.

Step 6: Familiarize yourself with Responsive Design

Your website looks cool and does cool things, so now it’s time to make it work on every device.

The Academind course got this covered too!

Step 7: Deploy to the Web

When you’re happy with something you’ve built, you want the world to see & appreciate it. It’s something you can show off to employers and something they can have a look at quickly as they are not going to spend more than 2 minutes looking at your resume.

You can use Netlify Drop or GitHub Pages as a starting point, then move on to more robust deployment sites like Vercel or Netlify.

Step 8: Get acquainted with Git

Git is an absolute must-have for any developer. It’s a tool that allows you to track your changes and keep your code up to date. If you are working in a team environment, you can be confident you will be using Git.

Some helpful articles for Git:

Step 9: Toy around with a Framework

While working on a large project, if you try building everything from scratch, you will end up with code-mares (read: coding nightmares).

Frameworks provide pre-built code that you can use to build your project, thus significantly speeding up your workflow!

If you are confused about which framework to start with, check out this article which weighs the pros and cons of each framework.

Step 10: Start applying to jobs!

Once you have a Github with a few projects and something deployed on a domain, you’re ready to start applying to jobs.

Even if you feel totally unqualified, go for it anyway! You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take

You will learn what to show off on a resume and what might be asked in interviews.

Step 11: Never Stop Learning!!!

Every single developer is learning every single day as the technology landscape is everchanging. Keep building new projects and trying new things. But make sure to take a break when you require it!

There are plenty of other routes to becoming a web developer, like mastering HTML, CSS or Javascript without knowing any frameworks, or getting accredited at a university or Bootcamp. But these 11 steps are the best and simplest if you want to learn by yourself, and they WORK.

Good luck my nerds!

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