How I Got Started In Web Development

Intro

When I was a student in college, getting my Computer Science degree, I took a course in web development. It was a challenging course for me, and I struggled in the class. I saw that it came easy to my friends, but I could not say the same about me. The JavaScript was the most difficult for me to understand. I ended up getting a B in the class, but I was very confused and definitely did not feel like an expert on the subject.

But that didn't discourage me from learning more. That summer I took online courses, both free and paid, where I learned full stack web development. I learned how to setup a web server, and how to connect the frontend code to the backend, and even setup a database.

I spent lots of hours and researching many things, but at the end of it,  I felt much more confident in my skills to build a website. Through all this practice, I felt like I had a good grasp on HTML, CSS, and Javascript. There was one problem. Up till this point, the only training and formal education I had on the subject was strictly on the development, coding, and the technical side of things. I was lacking marketing and design knowledge to come up with a good website.

I jumped in and went for it any ways. I spent months creating my own website. It was probably the ugliest and least user-friendly site I have ever built. I still remember the colors and awkward background image I used, sort of like a wallpaper. Everything was difficult to read, and the site did not provide value to the user. Overall, I'd rate it a 1/10 in terms of design, and a 4/10 on the development/coding side.

But this website did one major positive thing for me. It gave me confidence. It was a way into the web design space. And I knew that my skills would only get better from there. So I continued. I took more courses, read books, and watched lots of youtube videos.

My First Site For Someone Else

The first site I built for someone else was for my aunt, who owned her own business. I created the site from scratch, using HTML and CSS. And minor JavaScript. I deployed the site, and even though it didn't look and feel great, neither of us knew the difference between a quality site and mediocre one. So it went live. And it worked for them. They wanted a place to have their business, and to have a place for people to be able to contact them. Even though I didn't charge anything for this site, it was another learning phase. I discovered what people need in a website, features they could use, and much more.

Expanding

While I was doing this, I was still a full time student finishing up my Computer Science degree at UC Santa Cruz. After I graduated, I had a friend from college hit me up. He said that he had someone looking for a web developer. I got on the phone with the lead, and after a couple conversations, we closed the deal. My first website for $600. A fully functional landing page, with no use of website builder. It took me about two months and lots of effort, but I finished it and got paid. This was a major milestone for me: my first paid client. Now I had something other than my own personal projects to put on my portfolio.

Today

Since then I've worked with many business owners, small and medium sized companies throughout the US and Canada. I even had the chance to build some sites for Shopify - a pretty cool experience.

It's been lots of fun and I am grateful for the opportunity to do this work. It's not something I picked up overnight, it took me many hours, and lots of headaches trying to debug code. Marketing and design were also new concepts to me when I got started, but once I dove into that, the value I could deliver to my clients dramatically increase. It's all been worth it.

If you are thinking of getting started, I'd recommend first going on YouTube and learning the basics. It's good to try it out for free before you start paying for courses, coaching, and software you may not need or use. Have fun! Reach out if you have any questions.