DEV Community

Cover image for Take Your First Steps Towards Becoming A Front End Developer
programa mkenya
programa mkenya

Posted on

Take Your First Steps Towards Becoming A Front End Developer

Have you been thinking about learning web development? This article gives you a roadmap on how to do just that. Web development has got two significant divides, the frontend, and the backend. Now that you’re wondering what the fronted is. The front is the side of the site- visible on the browser. It is what clients see when they surf the internet. The frontend developer is tasked with ensuring that the user has the best possible experience when interacting with the website. Frontend developers also make good money, as much as $80000 a year for senior developers in the US. This article breaks down the major languages on the front end and what you need to do to start working there. Follow the steps listed below:

  1. Learn HTML
  2. Learn CSS
  3. Learn JavaScript
  4. Get familiar with frameworks
  5. Build Projects
  6. Advertise yourself

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language.HTML is the foundation of web development. It provides the building blocks for your website. It marks up the text for the browser to read and interpret. It tells the browser which parts are headers, paragraphs, boxes, etc. You can also link together different pages on your site using HTML.HTML is used to build the structure. It is not involved in the site's functionality. In the late nineties, when the internet was starting to take over the world, most websites were made with only HTML. That's why most of them were so plain-looking.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheet)

CSS is an acronym for Cascading Style Sheet. Evidently, from the name CSS is used to style webpages. After writing your HTML text, you need to style it and make it attractive HTML on its own is a little bit bland and plain looking. CSS makes your webpage a tiny bit more appealing to the eye. The possibilities with CSS are endless, some of the modifications that can be made with CSS include; colour, size ,text-font animation.

JavaScript

JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages. JavaScript breathes life into your site. It is used to make the webpage more interactive. Interactive functionalities such as animation, click responses, audio and video players, maps, and many more are created using JavaScript. JavaScript developers are some of the most in-demand right now, so learning it is sure to make you some $$$😎.

Familiarize yourself with frameworks

Frameworks make programming easier. They are pre-written chunks of code that you can incorporate into your code files. Popular CSS frameworks include Bootstrap and SASS. For JavaScript, we have React, Angular, and Vue. Choose what framework to learn depending on project requirements and market trends.

Build Projects

Build! Build! Build! I cannot stress this enough. Good developers are similar to good athletes. They train every day. Web development is about practice. The more you code do it, the better you become at it. Practice makes perfect, they say. You can start with easy projects before building more complex tasks. One promising project you can start with is to build your portfolio site to advertise yourself to the world.

Advertise yourself

You are now ready to work as a frontend web developer. To find a job, you need to put yourself out there. Thankfully there are vast communities of developers on the internet. Connect with fellow developers and potential employers on social media. Sites like Twitter and Reddit can be used to reach out and broaden your network. Also, contribute to open source repositories and, lastly, send your resume to as many employers as possible.

Top comments (0)