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General Discussion

Khurram Muslim
Khurram Muslim
12,391 Points
Posted by Khurram Muslim
Khurram Muslim
12,391 Points

Want to become Web developer

I want to become web developer, Should I take front end development track directly or should start with web design track? Also after completing what next Ruby on rails track or php track? Also I want to do some wordpress so when I start that ?

Any one from treehouse staff please give some guidance.

Sebastian Wilson
Sebastian Wilson
15,710 Points
Sebastian Wilson
Sebastian Wilson
15,710 Points

I understand where you are coming from sometimes there are too many options to pick from. When I first started I asked an experienced developer for some advice and the best bit of advice he gave me was to get a good at one area first.

I found the Front-end Web Development track helped me out a lot for when I first started working for a eCommerce website design company.

Khurram Muslim
Khurram Muslim
12,391 Points
Khurram Muslim
Khurram Muslim
12,391 Points

Yes, its confusing at beginning but almost web design and front end development course are same.

and ofcourse, being good at one first then will be able to move or think more practically. So till just want to complete and learn as I also started front-end development course.

Happy learning @treehouse :D

2 Answers

Jim Hill
Jim Hill
1,758 Points
Jim Hill
Jim Hill
1,758 Points

Hey Khurram, the best place to start is somewhere ;) The journey to being a web developer is infinite really (I have been going 15 years+ and since having to learn every day!)

As a quick overview -

A "front-end web developer" will primarily be working with JavaScript, HTML and CSS as they will be dealing with what happens in the user's web browser. HTML tells the browser what is "in" the page, CSS tells the browser what the page should look like and JavaScript can help make it become interactive. This alone takes a long time to learn to do well and can be a career path all of its own. As browsers get more and more sophisticated lots of "apps" and even games can be built straight into the browser. There is a lot to learn for front-end development, from how to markup HTML properly to accessibility, cross-browser nuances, CSS pre-processors such as LESS/SASS, JavaScript frameworks (from jQuery to Backbone.js), the DOM, best practices etc. etc. - in fact you will likely never catch up as it is always changing!

A "back-end web" developer will specialise in languages that tells an application what pages to show with what URL, getting data from somewhere, producing the HTML output, caching, complex tasks like processing data and basically everything that programming enables you to do - i.e. Do stuff! Generally the backend will use languages such as PHP,ruby,python,scala,C,Java,JavaScript (again lots of languages can be used) and often will use a "framework" to make this faster. You may also start to pick up server admin skills and this may also be a route that you progress down as server infrastructure is a beast in itself!

There are then applications that other people have written that are designed to make the journey between the two easier . Wordpress is one such example - it is Content Management System that simplifies the process of administering a website. If you know how to be a front-end developer you can put all that to good use with templates etc without having to worry about the programming behind make a website "happen". If you understand back-end development (specifically PHP for Wordpress) then you can read the entire codebase of Wordpress and customise it completely.

Personally I think from a designer/developer point of view the best place to start for web development is front-end as you will always need to understand HTML, CSS and generally move on from there. Otherwise your mind will be blown by all the technologies and you will stumble early! We call it a technology "stack" as there are many layers of differing technologies that sit on top of each other to make websites happen.

Best of luck!

Khurram Muslim
Khurram Muslim
12,391 Points
Khurram Muslim
Khurram Muslim
12,391 Points

Thanks Jim Hill , quite helpful and yes its time to take seriously HTML,CSS plus javascript. I think it will take 2-3 months to atleast complete this courses and yes its ongoing learning process, indeed ;) After completing then I will be able to think then where to go after, also I'm pursuing CS degree too.