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General Discussion

Posted by Travis Joyner
Travis Joyner
14,553 Points

For the working designers/developers here, what are the most common things clients ask you to build?

There's such a vast amount to learn about web design and development that as a beginner, I often wonder if I'm spending my time focusing on the right things or practicing what's truly crucial. For those of you who code/design websites professionally, what are the common trends you find yourself working on, and what do you recommend beginners put in their tool belt? What should we absolutely know by heart and what is more reasonable to pick up when the need arises? What do you spend most of your time coding?

Hypothetical examples of what I'm looking for: "We use Flexbox consistently and it's becoming very important" or "You really need a firm grasp on e-commerce", or "You don't need to memorize X, but you really need to have Y down pat", etc.

1 Answer

Andrew Shook
Andrew Shook
31,709 Points
Andrew Shook
Andrew Shook
31,709 Points

Travis, it sounds like you are looking to focus your efforts in order to maximize you returns. When it comes to web development/design your area of focus is kind of up to you. If you wan to be a WordPress developer than learn Wordpress. If you want so specialize in E-commerce than learn E-commerce. What ever area you decide on there are alway opportunities of employment. That being said, you should know the basic, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript/jQuery. With CSS and HTML, you should be able to code something without having to look anything up. JS/jQ you should know well enough that you don't have to look things up 90% of the time.

After you get those down, then focus on a server side programming language like Ruby on Rails, Python, or PHP. Each of those languages have their own Pro's and Cons, so it's really a personal choice. I prefer PHP, mostly because I started programming in C. Since the PHP syntax is so similar to C it was easy for me to pick up. I would recommend taking some courses in all of the server side languages and then pick the one you like best. There is plenty of employment opportunities with any of those languages.

At some point you might also want to decide that you want to focus in either web design or development. I personal feel that its better to start of as an expert in one area then to be a jack of all trades. Others might disagree, but I feel like that in order to be a good web designer and developer you need years of experience. Where as being good at one or the other could take you a year or two. I feel like trying to be both initially spreads you too thin when there is so much to learn. I started out as a front-end developer, building templates and doing JS/jQ. As a front-end developer, I worked along side back-end developer who used PHP and MySQL on adding features to websites. Working with them helped me develop my skills with PHP, MySQL, and Wordpress. Eventually, I started doing both and got a new job. At my current job I work solo as a web developer build WordPress sites. Now I work along side designers and I have started to pick up some design skills.

Hope this helps.