Web programmer is one of the most trending IT professions. According to CareerCast, by 2024 the popularity of the profession will grow by another 24%. In Russia, a website developer receives from 90 thousand rubles for his work, and the upper salary threshold can reach 600 thousand. But money is not the only benefit. What a specialist does and what it is like to be a World Wide Web programmer, read on.
Profession Description
Who is a web programmer? This is a person involved in the creation of the technical part of sites and applications. To make it clearer, open any page in your browser. Everything you see in front of you was created by the joint efforts of webmasters.
The designer developed a sketch, thought out the color scheme, favicon, the location of the footer and header. The coder translated the designer's ideas into a language understandable to the browser and created the markup. The content manager filled the resource with text, headings, necessary information, and at this stage the static version of the site is ready. Why then a programmer?
To enable visitors to interact with the web resource, register in guest books or subscribe to updates,The site must be dynamic. This is exactly what a web programmer does.
Thanks to the efforts of the developer, the content is not reflected in static HTML pages, but is generated in the process. The content is generated depending on the HTTP request and the user's URL. The site actually "recognizes" its visitors and communicates with them. This means that the essence of the profession of a web programmer is to develop interactive Internet sites and applications.
Frontend vs backend
The activity of a programmer consists of two stages. The first is the development of the client side, or frontend, the second is the backend, that is, the server side of the application.
The frontend includes the entire visible part of the resource, which, upon request, opens in the browser window. Slideshows, drop-down menus, various forms to fill out, clickable buttons. Each interactive element is created by a web developer.
What a client-side web programmer should know:
- HTML markup language;
- cascading CSS style sheets;
- JavaScript.
Back End-development consists in writing a part of the application hidden from the user, located on the server. Backend web programming is much more difficult. Includes work not only with the application itself, but also with the database and the server.
To write code, a programmer no longer uses client-side HTML and JS, but server-side languages Python, PHP, Ruby. Backend development also involves the use of the following technologies:
- Oracle;
- MicrosoftSQL Server;
- MySQL;
- IBM DB2;
- Apache;
- MongoDB.
These are relational database management systems that contain all information about the site.
Developer Tools
App development is a complex and painstaking process. To control it, programmers have defined a set of basic tools for themselves.
Text editor is one of the most important elements. With the help of the editor, a web programmer interacts with his code, forms elements of the future site design.
Text editors have their criteria. The developer works with several files at the same time. Therefore, the editor should provide comfortable and fast use of the file system and code correction.
Also, there are editors with a graphical interface and terminal ones that work via the command line. The former, of course, are more convenient, they have hints and syntax highlighting. The most popular GIU editors are Coda, Text Mate and Sublime Text.
There are IDEs like Eclipse or Visual Studio. They provide fast editing and code management, but are difficult for beginners and include many tools for developing industrial software, not web applications.
Programmers use version control to create breakpoints in their code that the entire development team can see. At the same time, each project participant works on his own fragment, without interfering with others. most popularuse Git, SVN, Mercurial.
Browser is an indispensable assistant to a programmer. The most commonly used browsers for web development are FireFox, Google on the Chromium engine and Safari on the WebKit engine.
Profession benefits
Every activity has its pros and cons, and web programming is no exception. The obvious advantage of the profession is its demand. Unemployment does not threaten web programmers. Every self-respecting firm or company has its own website that you need to work with and manage.
Another plus is the salary. Web programmers receive solid salaries, and sometimes earn more than the CEO. If the requirements, schedule, conditions are not satisfactory, the developer can always go freelancing.
In addition to salaries, young and energetic people are attracted to the profession by the possibility of self-study. A web programmer does not need an official diploma. All knowledge is on the Internet. For additional education, free platforms and many interactive online courses have been created:
- Codecademy;
- Udemy;
- courses from Google;
- Coursera;
- Stepic.
A huge number of books have been written for beginner web programmers, which are freely available. The best publishing house for learning the basics of coding is Oreili. On YouTube, enthusiasts have posted a lot of training videos of any level of complexity.
Why is it difficultbe a web developer
The main disadvantage of the profession "web programmer" is that it is a sedentary job. Labor is fraught with pain in the wrists, back and lower back, problems with the spine, poor posture. You must have noticed that most computer geeks wear glasses.
During the development process, a web programmer interacts with team members, and it is not always possible to reach a consensus. Sometimes there are difficulties with customers who are sometimes far from programming and do not always clearly explain their requirements. Another disadvantage is irregular working hours. When urgent revision and editing of the project is required, programmers spend days on the code.
Representatives of this profession have to constantly adapt to the latest trends in technology and engage in continuous self-education. A web programmer is not a profession in which, having reached a certain level, you can rest on your laurels.
The World Wide Web is the most volatile and fickle field. Every day there are new developments, tools, web 2.0 turns into 3.0, and the programmer must be aware of all the new products.
Who suits this profession
You want to become a web programmer, dream of creating interactive applications and living in Silicon Valley. But where is the guarantee that the profession suits you? There is a risk that, having spent thousands of rubles and hours on training, you will ultimately be disappointed. This profession suits you if:
- You love the Internet and everything connected with it, notice the subtletiespage design, know what progressive apps are and are interested in world news www.
- Ready to work in a team, cooperate with designers, project manager, adequately accept the requirements of the customer and management.
- You are diligent and can do monotonous work for a long time, because this is what coding looks like.
- You have a rich imagination, creative taste and love to come up with something new.
If these statements fully describe you and you are not afraid of the difficulties ahead, then the profession is really for you.
How to become a web programmer
So you've made up your mind to develop websites and applications. The first thing you should do is to improve your English. It is in this language that free courses are held, libraries and all official documentation are written.
The next step is to learn HTML, CSS and JS. There are two ways to do this:
- On my own, through books, videos and online platforms.
- With the help of a teacher, enrolling in paid courses.
In the learning process, write simple applications, one-page sites. Be sure to practice and gradually become familiar with Node.js for scripting on the server. Once you've mastered the frontend, move on to the backend, libraries, and database.
Select server language
It's not enough for a web programmer to know one language. To write full-fledged applications, in addition to JS, you will need other server-side languages. According to the TIOBE index headlinerstoday are:
- Java;
- Python;
- C;
- JavaScript;
- PHP, but its ratings are gradually falling.
We recommend staying with Python. It is an object-oriented language with great features. A lot of libraries and modules are written under it. The language has a very simple and clear syntax that is easy to learn in a short time. Not only web applications are written in Python, but desktop programs and even video games.
After choosing a language, learn frameworks for it. They greatly improve application performance and ease the development process. For Python, this is Django, the most popular Laravel framework for PHP in the US. If you are determined to work with JS, then Angular.js will come in handy.
Promote your services
The first thing you need is a portfolio. Collect your works in it, advertise them on social networks and stackOverflow. Be sure to create a GitHub account with colorful examples of your creations. Potential employers need to see what you can do. You will also compare your portfolio with others and better understand your weaknesses and where to go.
Join large communities of web developers, chat on the forums and stay up to date with all the news, subscribe to important updates. Register on freelance sites and try to take some simple jobs. Having created an impressive portfolio, go to the next level. Take on complex projects, startups, advertise yourself and notstop learning.
