How Hard Is Learning Web Development?

November 24, 2024

Learning web development is an exciting but challenging journey. Websites aren’t just about coding—they combine design, functionality, and digital marketing. Surprisingly, many who excel in languages like Python often know little about web development, proving it’s a unique discipline. It’s a mix of hard coding, design, and marketing, wrapped up in evolving technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

If you’re passionate about coding alone, languages like Java, C++, or Python might be a better fit. These involve pure logic and syntax. For design lovers, tools like the Adobe suite paired with CSS and UX/UI principles can be your playground. But if you want to combine all these skills, web development is your calling!

The Hard Coding Side of Web Development

Web developers handle heavy coding tasks such as:

• Using JavaScript for interactivity.
• Fetching data via APIs.
• Working with back-end languages like PHP or Java.

In WordPress development, for example, you’ll need to understand the WordPress loop and integrate PHP, HTML, and tools like NPM for package management. You’ll also manipulate APIs, process data, and structure layouts with CSS and HTML.

Depending on the industry you work in, the size of a company, or your role in the company – all play into the type of coding you will do. If you are a junior more than likely you will not be touching any ‘production’ level code. Even if you are a mid-level, the production level code will likely be left to the senior dev on your team. Only senior level developers will be messing around with the API’s since they sometimes do cost money.

What Do Junior Developers Do?

As a junior developer, your tasks are more beginner-friendly, like:

• Adjusting font sizes or colors.
• Ensuring mobile responsiveness.
• Building pages based on design comps.
• Tracking tasks using tools like Asana.

You’ll often wear multiple hats, especially in smaller companies where the roles of front-end and back-end developers blur. Beyond coding, you’re expected to have a basic understanding of design principles, SEO, and accessibility.

Some things that are expected, but unsaid are the fact that you need to have an eye for design (if you work on the front-end) – oftentimes smaller companies do not differentiate between backend and frontend. You will have to wear multiple hats! You will have to get along with the designer on your team (if you have one! LOL). There is also an expectation for accessibility & SEO knowledge. If you build a webpage that sucks on the search engine optimization and cannot be read using a screen-reader.. consider your job toast! Unless you work for one of ‘those’ companies that doesn’t care.. hopefully you don’t.

The Ever-Changing Tech Landscape

The web development industry evolves constantly. New frameworks, libraries, and tools are always emerging. While classics like React and TypeScript dominate now, many tools fade into obscurity. Staying relevant means mastering fundamentals while keeping an eye on new technologies. It is this constant updating that keeps this industry fresh and exciting, while also being a detriment to beginners. More than likely you will not get hired into these new stacks without a mastery of the fundamentals, although sometimes it happens.
Read more on our tech stack blog – What is a ‘Back-End’ Developer?

Most Developers Are Full-Stack

Companies prefer hiring full-stack developers to save costs and streamline workflows. Full-stack developers build both the front-end (interface) and back-end (logic) of a web application. While it can feel overwhelming to balance both, it’s a rewarding skill set to have. Understanding full-stack is to know the web application in all of it’s aspects, and if you are worrying about spreading yourself too thin – we all do! 😉

Don’t Overlook Accessibility & SEO

Consider this.. a website doesn’t do much on it’s own. It needs to rank on the search engine (SEO), people have to know about it (marketing), and it needs to meet legal protocols for everyone to access / navigate your website (accessibility). This all extends beyond just ‘coding’ a website. All of these factors will determine how well your website ranks, whether your brand succeeds, and you can reach your sales goals. Now there are cases where these things are not the responsibility of the developer but you can bet that SEO & accessibility starts in the code!

Web Development Is In a League of It’s Own

Web development truly is in a league of its own, but don’t let that scare you! It’s a rewarding career filled with creativity and innovation. Stay patient, practice consistently, and trust the process. Remember, you’re not alone—follow the Coding Sensei (that’s me!) and you’ll do great! The projects that we are building in my courses cover all of this – using code, only amateurs rely on plugins. It isn’t that complicated – but it takes time. Be patient. So is learning web development hard? Sort of.. LOL

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