Before
we can talk about becoming a web developer, I'd like to spend
some time and tell you exactly what a web developer is. The easiest
way to do that is to tell you what a web developer isn't. Are
you ready?
A
web developer is not a web designer. It
seems that I spend about half my time at networking events telling
folks that I'm not a web designer. Usually this gets me a crinkled
brow and confused looks. I've come to find out, after 7 years
in this business, that most people think of web sites as big monolithic
blocks of code-and that the lay public has come to understand
the person who works on web sites as a web designer. (When I first
started out in 1995, this person was known as a webmaster, by
the way.) Why
is a web developer not a web designer? Simple: a web designer
is someone who has training in visual design. This includes expertise
in placement, colors, alignment, visual aesthetics, and other
issues to make something look good. Web developers don't care
about any of these things-in fact, they rarely have any real training
in this area. Instead, they focus on functionality. For
those who are still confused by the preceding paragraph, I'll
draw an analogy. Suppose you are building a house. There are different
things that need to happen at different stages of the project.
At some point, an architect designs the house. Perhaps before
this point, a realtor has helped you buy the land. And when construction
begins, the framers and roofers start putting your house together.
Soon, the house is ready for electrical, water, and phone services.
At the very end, you might hire an interior decorator to make
the inside as beautiful as it can be. In
this whole process, the interior decorator is most like a Web
designer, and the electricians and plumbers are the Web developers.
In other words, the Web designer will make sure that your site
is beautiful, and the Web developers will make sure that the site
actually does something besides sit and be pretty. A really good
web developer can also be like the architect, who helps you architect
a site that will make sense for your needs (to continue the analogy,
they will make sure the house is in the right neighborhood, and
has the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms). No
way would you ever hire an interior decorator to install electrical
lines-likewise, you probably wouldn't want to live in a house
that your electrician decorated. The
Different Kinds of Web Developers Now
that we know what a web developer isn't, and a little bit about
what a web developer is, let's add another wrinkle. There are
different kinds of web developers, because a web site that requires
development work generally has different sections in it: Some
of you may have thought of web sites as just an interface, and
may be unfamiliar with the other two sections. After all, a web
site is a web site, right? In some cases yes, and in other cases,
no. Think of Amazon.com. I've never looked under the covers of
this site, but I guarantee you that the interface consists of
just a couple dozen templates that contain commands that pull
data out of huge database tables. If they ever need to update
their look and feel, all they have to do is update the few templates
that they have, and bingo, it's smooth sailing. Why
is that? Because the world of web development is all about separating
content from functionality, and both of those from visual design.
Your look and feel elements go in the interface; your functionality
should go in the middleware section; and the content remains in
the backend. In
my experience, each of these three sections comes with so many
unique challenges that I've never found anyone who was good at
more than two sections. They're either great at interface layer
scripting (like DHTML) and working with a language like PHP, or
they're sticking to the middleware and backend systems. If
you plan on working in web development, you don't necessarily
have to choose which section(s) to work in-you'll likely start
in one place and work in all different areas in the course of
your career. How
to Get Started
The first thing you need to do is pick up something that is easy
for you. I can't tell you what that will be. If you are more visually
inclined, then perhaps starting with Flash, Director, or other
multimedia application would be a good place to start. If you
have a mind for understand actions/events and outcomes, then perhaps
JavaScript would be better. Finally, if you understand logical
flow and data structures, then you'll probably want to start with
PHP or ASP. The
only way you can decide is by sampling. You can do this either
by picking up books on a programming language and by visiting
web sites devoted to a language. Take a few tutorials, see if
anything sticks to your ribs.
Once
you've picked something, stick with it until you understand it
completely. Why do I say this? Because it's a fact that you will
switch programming languages many times in your career (PHP/mySQL
is the fourth or fifth that I've picked up). The first will be
the hardest to pick up, bar none, but every other one after that
will be progressively easier. Why
is this? Because most programming languages share the same kinds
of constructs (variables, lists, if branches, while loops, for
loops, and so on) and if you understand how they work in one language
than you won't have any trouble understanding them when you start
learning the next language. Next,
start applying what you learn immediately. Work on your own site,
or do some free work for a local company or non-profit. Do anything
to get the knowledge and experience you'll need. If you're working
with JavaScript, for instance, you'll learn a great deal about
cross-browser compatibility issues once you start working on an
actual site. If you're working with PHP or ASP, nothing beats
solid experience when something doesn't work quite as you expected,
and you need to crawl inside your code to troubleshoot. You'll
likely spend the first three to five years sampling different
languages and working in different sections of web sites, but
eventually you'll find the groove you're most comfortable in.
When this happens, celebrate-it means that you're ready to start
charging the big bucks as a specialist. (I'll talk more about
this in the next section). Getting
the Word Out and Making Money
Generally speaking, there are two routes for a career in web development.
The first involves getting a job as a low-level web flunky and
working your way up the ranks. This isn't quite as bad as it sounds-you'll
get to work on a variety of projects and you'll be able to learn
on somebody else's dime. You'll also always have the option to
strike out on your own-this moment is different for each person,
but you'll know it when it happens to you. The
other route is the freelance route. Although you can charge more,
it's likely that you won't be quite as busy-at least, at first.
The keys to success in freelance-land? Specializing
Every time I tell newbie freelancers to specialize, they freak
out. They tell me it's not possible for them to specialize, or
that it's a bad idea. After all, if you specialize in one thing,
you'll miss out on all the other great opportunities out there,
right? And that means less money, right?
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Thomas Myer is the cofounder of Triple Dog Dare Media ( http://www.tripledogdaremedia.com);
an Austin, TX based web development group. They specialize in
converting old static sites into dynamic ones that actually help
business owners grow their business. He loves to talk shop-email
him at tom@tripledogdaremedia.com.
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