Is Web Development Hard?

Entering new career paths is always a stressful event full of uncertainty. Whether you’re a fresh out of college newbie or a pro changing fields, it’s essential to understand all characteristics of a job you strive to land. The IT industry has many different lines of work but with the current transition of all technologies to the web realm, web developer experts are especially in demand. Many people eagerly start pursuing this vocation with dreams of interesting projects and high incomes, but they also must ready themselves to face the typical hardships and obstacles of this career.

Then, how hard is web development? Our talented web developer, Vladyslav, shares his professional and personal experience in this career path. Find his expert opinion and other valuable insights in this article.

Is being a web developer hard?

To determine the answer to the question “How hard is it to be a web developer?”, let’s take a look at the main tasks and responsibilities, web developers usually have according to their specifications (front-end, back-end, or full-stack development).

Main responsibilities

Front-end development

A front-end developer is a programmer with a focus on designing user interfaces for websites and applications. They collaborate with designers to convert graphic designs into clean code. Their line of responsibilities includes implementing the website's design, navigation, and interactive elements. Looking further into duties, we can outline the following common tasks:

• Produce logically organized, understandable code. 
• Build reusable code and libraries.
  
• Optimize performance to provide quick loads and seamless user experiences.
  
• Ensure design responsiveness for various devices.
  
• Test and debug the code to fix any potential problems.
  
• Write tests for their code.
  
• Create CSS sheets compatible with different browsers and platforms.
  
• Ensure the accessibility and usability of interfaces to create a great user experience.
• Provide maintenance and improvement services for websites and web applications. 

Back-end development

A back-end developer is a specialist who is responsible for server-side programming that organizes communication between a web application and a database. The list of back-end typical tasks includes API creation, writing libraries, taking care of system components, maintaining servers, etc. To conclude whether being a web developer is hard in this specification, let’s look at the duties in more detail.

• Writing server-side code.
• Designing and realizing server-side architectures and arranging the system’s logic.
  
• Creating and maintaining databases.
  
• Integrating back-end functionality with front-end interfaces.
  
• Developing and managing APIs.
  
• Code testing and debugging.
  
• Applying best security and data privacy practices.
  

Full-stack development

Experts in both the front-end and back-end, i.e. the full stack of technologies that comprise a website or a web app, are full-stack developers. They are skilled in front-end and back-end languages and frameworks therefore their responsibilities usually include tasks of both lines of work.

Q: Is it hard to be a web developer?

A: It's not difficult, but it can be challenging when you're just starting because it's hard to get your first job. However, as a web developer, you work with different technologies and services daily to integrate them into your projects. You never know what to expect tomorrow, and that's exciting because there are challenges and interesting tasks every day. Most importantly, a web developer needs to stay up to date with the latest trends because the web evolves rapidly. Something new comes out every month, and you need to be aware of it and sometimes even apply it.

Vlad Horobets

Professional web developer at Atlasiko

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Is becoming a web developer hard?

Before finally getting into the profession, applicants usually go through trials and tribulations trying to gather all the required skills and qualifications to fit the job. Then the question arises “Is it really hard to become a web developer?”. The answer is not necessary. To increase the chances, you need to make sure to match the job description fully, leveraging essential hard and soft skills. Knowing exactly what requirements to expect and what skills you need to obtain before applying for a job in web development helps to advance in your career.

Needed skills and requirements

Web developer hard skills

• Proficiency in programming languages. Having a high level of proficiency in required programming languages is fundamental for both front-end and back-end web devs. Three of the most popular technologies used in front-end web development are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Back-end programmers need to be fluent in Java, Python, Ruby, or PHP.
• Knowledge of modern technologies. Web devs need to be well-versed with popular web frameworks, IDEs, editors, DBMS, Node Package Manager (npm), Node Version Manager (nvm), REST API, etc.
  
• Testing and debugging. Debugging and testing are crucial steps in the web development and maintenance process that need to be completed regularly.
• SEO basics. In one of our previous articles in this category, we’ve already defined the importance of SEO for web developers. Although web devs don’t carry out search engine optimization tasks, they need to understand the basics and apply practices during the development process to ensure the proper performance of their websites. 
• Cross-platform and cross-browser development. Following the principle of design responsiveness, web devs need to know how to ensure cross-browser and cross-platform consistency and compatibility of their web apps.
  
• Understanding UI/UX design. Website developers usually work in close collaboration with web designers, so they need to speak a common language on the matter to be able to implement intended interface features and functionality fully.
  
• Version control. Through the use of version control, developers can work together on a project and roll back to earlier iterations of the code as needed. Version control is a mechanism that measures changes to code over time. Using version control systems (VCS) is an essential skill for any web developer.
  

Soft skills for web developers

• Communication. You will work as a part of a web development team, so it’s crucial to be able to establish proper communication with your teammates for successful collaboration.
• Problem-solving. Sometimes clients or the development process might set what seems to be impossible tasks. As a professional, you need to be creative and inventive to solve any problem.
  
• Research and learning. Self-learning is one of the most useful skills for many professions including the one in hand. Web developers always research recent innovations in technology, advanced methods, and answers to their problems.
  
• Time management. Whether web devs work for a company or freelance, they need to know how to manage their time to complete their tasks following project timelines.
• Adaptability. New trends in web development emerge basically every day, so you need to be flexible in your skills and knowledge to stay relevant in the job market. 

Q: How hard is it to become a web developer?

A: You need to be good at searching and have great soft skills to be able to ask colleagues if you don't know something. But if you don't have colleagues, you can always find answers on Google. Of course, you need to spend a lot of time practicing. Knowing the theory is important, but if you know the theory but can't apply it, it's very difficult to become a sought-after web developer.

Vlad Horobets

Professional web developer at Atlasiko

Talk to expert

How to ensure web development is easy to learn

Learning anything can be easier if you listen to the experience of seasoned professionals and use some hacks. Web development is easy for those who know what to start with and establish a self-regulatory system of studying to acquire new skills. Here are our recommendations for what to do to make web development easier to learn for beginners.

Tips to make learning web development easy

1. Start with the basics.
   

   Throwing yourself into the most advanced and newest technologies head first will get you nowhere if you lack an understanding of the basics. Ignore all of the other stuff, including dockers, .io, .js, frameworks, compilers, etc. Learn the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to comprehend structure, style, and interaction. Choose back-end technologies, such as PHP, Ruby, Node.js, or Python. Everything else is an extension, designed to ease a problem or make syntax simpler. More advanced resources and paths are all available to assist, not to confuse. When you comprehend the underlying technologies, picking them up or learning them on the job is typically something you can do in a few days by simply reading the documentation.

2. Be consistent.
   

   As with any other skill, you need to constantly practice to master web development.

   Q: How to make web development easier to learn?

   A: I would advise learning every day. It doesn't have to be 8-10 hours, but at least 1-2 hours every day. Most importantly, after learning some theory, try to apply it immediately in practice. Come up with a task related to that technology and implement it.

   Vlad Horobets

   Professional web developer at Atlasiko

   Talk to expert

   
3. Use official docs for learning.
   

   The first resource you need to turn your eyes to when learning a new programming language or technology is its documentation. Technology providers typically strive to make their docs 100% comprehensive by offering introductions, explaining concepts, providing advanced guides, overviews of different features, etc.

4. Use the wisdom of the community.
   

   Your dev community can also be a great help if you need assistance in understanding some concepts, ideas and hacks to solve a particular problem, recommendations on tools, and whatnot. StackOverflow is a well-known source of knowledge where beginners (and not only them) can find answers to their questions from their more experienced colleagues.

Conclusion

We hope this article helped you find the answer to your question “Is web development hard?” and threw light on all the characteristics of this career. Undoubtedly, becoming a professional in any job takes lots of time, effort, and dedication to your choice. Becoming a web developer might be hard if you take it lightly and don’t work systematically to acquire essential knowledge and skills. Specialists at Altasiko like Vladyslav know for sure how important it is to learn consistently, research new methods, and implement them in practice to master technologies. All our web devs have achieved a high level of proficiency in their line of work and completed many projects so they can speak confidently from their experience. If you want to see more about the profession and the industry in general, follow our blog where we post valuable insights.