If you’re a technological sort of person who enjoys learning new skills, then you might be considering learning web development. Alternatively, you might be trying to build your web development skills so that you become more skilled and employable to open up your career options in the future.
Fortunately, the rapid increase in the size of the internet means that it’s easier than ever to learn web development, with a huge range of resources available.
With this in mind, I’ve put together this short list of the best ways to learn basic web development skills. They include:
Take An Online Course
There is a huge range of online courses teaching basic web development skills available today. Platforms like CodeAcademy and Udemy contain complete web development courses which will teach you both front and back-end coding skills.
If you’re serious about learning basic web development skills then I’d definitely recommend paying for a course. There are plenty of free courses out there, but in my experience paid courses tend to offer much more support and a better overall learning experience including team building exercises.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Once you’ve learned the absolute basics of web development, the best thing to do is to just keep practising. For example, if you’ve worked through a HTML/CSS front-end development course, consider building your own website from scratch to make sure that you’re familiar with everything.
If you’re having trouble working out the best way to practise, do a quick Google search. It doesn’t matter what language or skills you want to work on – you will be able to find practice exercises to help you improve your skills.
And, above all, it’s important to make sure that you practice regularly. Don’t try and code once a week or once every couple of weeks. Instead, try and work on improving your web development skills every single day.
Teach Someone Else
In my experience, one of the best ways to reinforce your new web development skills is to try and teach them to other people. There are two ways you could do this:
- Try and find a student who you can work with on a regular basis. You will find that just discussing things with them will help you reinforce and build your own knowledge.
- Jump online and find questions in forums and online message boards. Do your best to try and answer these questions by drawing on your existing knowledge and anything else you can learn.
Similarly, don’t be afraid to ask other people for help. The web development community is generally a friendly, inclusive place. Post your own questions on forums like Stack Exchange and engage with the people who offer answers.
Final Word
As you should be able to see, learning basic web development skills doesn’t have to be a difficult process. There is a huge range of resources available online, and you should be able to find some that suit you and your needs.
Consider taking an online course, make sure that you practice regularly, and above all, try and reinforce your skills by teaching others once you advance past beginner level.
