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8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by Nobody: 3:42pm On Jun 02, 2015
I have been in web development for more than five years and it’s been quite a journey — trying out different technologies and experimenting with different styles. I’ve been successful at times, but I’ve also had my fair share of disappointment. In this post, I’m going to talk about certain realizations I’ve had over the course of my life as a web developer, with the hope you can learn from my mistakes.

1.Write Clean Code
The first thing you realize when you start making large applications is that a huge amount of time is required for debugging. Often, you’ll spend more time debugging than writing new code.

In such a situation, it’s highly important you write properly indented and commented code, which adheres to best practices. Imagine you have hundreds of lines of code, and you have no idea what’s causing a small bug. What’s worse is that if you write unreadable code, you’ll probably fail to understand what each snippet does after some time. Are you sure you want to go down that path? Here are some tips to make writing clean code easier.

2.Language first, framework later
People often first learn the tricks of a framework, and then move on to the language. That’s actually not the right way to go.

The popularity of Django can be attributed to the strengths of Python — so it’s important that you get comfortable with Python before trying out Django and not the other way round.

The simple reason here is that if you know about the underlying language, it helps you understand how the framework works. If you have no idea about the trades of a a language, there is no way you will understand why something is done a certain way in the framework.

3.Learn JavaScript, not jQuery
Getting a bit more specific than the idea raised above, I would like to give special emphasis to JavaScript, which is the most accessible language in the world. Any device with a browser is capable of running a JavaScript application.

The mistake that young developers often make is to “learn jQuery”. Questions like these on Quora suggest that jQuery is a very popular option among people who have no idea how the underlying JavaScript works!

jQuery is just a set of wrapper functions written over JavaScript and the only reason people prefer jQuery is because of the fewer number of lines of code required. However, recent versions of JavaScript (or ECMAScript as it is originally known as) have made the syntax more user friendly, making many jQuery functions obsolete.

I am not saying using jQuery is wrong. I am just telling you to follow the correct learning path. If you have no idea about closures and namespaces in JavaScript, how would you explain the use of “$” in jQuery?

4.Don’t just read, implement
I’ve often seen developers read through tutorials or sometimes even whole books without anything much to show for it. However, my biggest concern is how much would you retain if you just read?

If you want to learn Ruby on Rails, try to develop a small application as you are going through the documentation or a set of tutorials. If you want to try the MEAN stack, get it running in your local machine and explore the different options — that’s the best way to learn!

5.Jack of all trades, Master of one
It’s good to explore new technologies, but one must remember to stick to one for most purposes. It’s always tempting for beginners to learn multiple languages at the same time, but it’s advisable to stick to one until you develop a certain level of mastery over it.

Once you have a go-to language for your day-to-day needs, you can move on to new ones. You may also changed your preferred language in this process, but attempting to master one before you move on to others is often a wise decision. Here’s some advice for choosing which one to start with.

6.Learn version control
In today’s world, it’s very rare that you work on a project alone. To collaborate with others, you need to learn something called version control!

Developers usually don’t dive into version control until they absolutely need to do so. However, as version control is necessary to work in a team, it’s a good idea to understand how it works and the basic commands that get you started early on.

7.Learn from the work of others
Mastering a technology on your own is great, but sometimes you learn a lot by just looking at the code of others. Be it your colleagues or random tutorials on the internet, try to find why someone approaches a problem in a certain way — and ask questions if necessary.

It’s also important for developers to realize that it’s impossible to know everything, but the knowledge is out there — you just need to Google it. As a beginner, if you’re stuck there is high probability that someone like you had the same problem in the past and the solution is somewhere out there in the internet (this often happens to the veterans too!)

8.Ask for code reviews (and enjoy them!)
Over the years, code reviews have immensely improved my programming skills. Proper code reviews take time on the part of the reviewer, so you should always ask others to review what you have written — your peers as well as mentors. It helps expose loopholes in your approach, and makes you learn. If you find someone who genuinely takes interest in reviewing your code, take their reviews seriously. Here’s a look at an advanced way to code review.

Lastly, never take code reviews personally. Code is like art — it’s difficult when someone points out errors in what you have created, but code reviews can only make you better — provided you take them the right way!

http://impacttym.com/read/?id=215

28 Likes 6 Shares

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by sisqology(m): 9:28pm On Jun 02, 2015
This is perfect; I must confess. The kind of threads that make me comment! I agree with all. people these days don't even know 90% of what u posted

7 Likes

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by Danyl(m): 10:15pm On Jun 02, 2015
well articulated piece of information. thumbs up.

2 Likes

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by petercephas(m): 5:32am On Jun 03, 2015
Interesting stuff,
Coding is fun when you know what you are doing

4 Likes

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by ChubbyRomeo(m): 8:45am On Jun 03, 2015
Gud day all, m abt to go 4 my INDUSTRIAL TRAINING (I. T) n i want to base in web designing... As a learner n beginner,,, i'll lyk to start d software 2 start with to avoid regrets later on
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by fattbabakay(m): 10:39am On Jun 03, 2015
Nice one
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by StepTwo: 3:30pm On Jun 03, 2015
nice one OP, we are learning.
I wish stuff like this will make FP more often than Tonto Dike.
.


This Moniker below me though.

1 Like 1 Share

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by softnipples(f): 3:30pm On Jun 03, 2015
Op, Now that you know them, pls hit the ground running cool

1 Like

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by CaptainJason: 3:31pm On Jun 03, 2015
nice
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by lovinhubby2wife(m): 3:33pm On Jun 03, 2015
i wish i never gave up on programming

1 Like

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by 5direct: 3:33pm On Jun 03, 2015
Sweet

1 Share

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by skynet006(m): 3:33pm On Jun 03, 2015
please what's the first step to take in web developing as a newbie?
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by johnemeka(m): 3:44pm On Jun 03, 2015
ok...
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by abohrandy: 3:50pm On Jun 03, 2015
ChubbyRomeo:
Gud day all, m abt to go 4 my INDUSTRIAL TRAINING (I. T) n i want to base in web designing... As a learner n beginner,,, i'll lyk to start d software 2 start with to avoid regrets later on

like he said start wit the language. and not a framework or CMS.

Pick a language and hit the road. most languages are same. its just the syntax that differentiates them

one last thing, i dont think you should be asking which software here!! if you are serious about this, you should know where to start by now. FYI, web design and web development are two different things.
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by kayultimate(m): 3:50pm On Jun 03, 2015
well said
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by eljameel184: 3:54pm On Jun 03, 2015
Please which one should I start with as a beginner. WordPress or Dreamweaver?

Thanks. It's inspiring to see people write about what you thought you're the only one that care about.
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by kunletoks(m): 3:54pm On Jun 03, 2015
Very Correct.
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by misterchris(m): 3:56pm On Jun 03, 2015
You can re-start.
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by kunletoks(m): 3:57pm On Jun 03, 2015
eljameel184:
Please which one should I start with as a beginner. WordPress or Dreamweaver?

Thanks. It's inspiring to see people write about what you thought you're the only one that care about.

WordPress is a CMS while Dreamweaver is an IIDE.
It's better you learn HTML, Php and CSS.
They u can learn WordPress later for small jobs.

1 Like

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by Nobody: 4:04pm On Jun 03, 2015
I am now a business man not a coder - makes lots of sense, had to learn the hard-way.. add number 9

9: Learn the Business side of Web Development this is where the practice becomes profitable wink

8 Likes 2 Shares

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by EphraimSpencer(m): 4:05pm On Jun 03, 2015
Educative and informant ive!




T h a n k s

1 Like

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by SWAGGAVILLAGE(m): 4:08pm On Jun 03, 2015
during my webmasterin days,all I wished for was traffic and knowledge to write interesting topics
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by fulfillment22: 4:09pm On Jun 03, 2015
Thank God u know now...
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by AAinEqGuinea: 4:17pm On Jun 03, 2015
I agree with most of op, but in the real world the gospels are never applied.

1 Like

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by bosunjohns(m): 4:17pm On Jun 03, 2015
May19:
I have been in web development for more than five years and it’s been quite a journey — trying out different technologies and experimenting with different styles. I’ve been successful at times, but I’ve also had my fair share of disappointment. In this post, I’m going to talk about certain realizations I’ve had over the course of my life as a web developer, with the hope you can learn from my mistakes.

1.Write Clean Code
The first thing you realize when you start making large applications is that a huge amount of time is required for debugging. Often, you’ll spend more time debugging than writing new code.

In such a situation, it’s highly important you write properly indented and commented code, which adheres to best practices. Imagine you have hundreds of lines of code, and you have no idea what’s causing a small bug. What’s worse is that if you write unreadable code, you’ll probably fail to understand what each snippet does after some time. Are you sure you want to go down that path? Here are some tips to make writing clean code easier.

2.Language first, framework later
People often first learn the tricks of a framework, and then move on to the language. That’s actually not the right way to go.

The popularity of Django can be attributed to the strengths of Python — so it’s important that you get comfortable with Python before trying out Django and not the other way round.

The simple reason here is that if you know about the underlying language, it helps you understand how the framework works. If you have no idea about the trades of a a language, there is no way you will understand why something is done a certain way in the framework.

3.Learn JavaScript, not jQuery
Getting a bit more specific than the idea raised above, I would like to give special emphasis to JavaScript, which is the most accessible language in the world. Any device with a browser is capable of running a JavaScript application.

The mistake that young developers often make is to “learn jQuery”. Questions like these on Quora suggest that jQuery is a very popular option among people who have no idea how the underlying JavaScript works!

jQuery is just a set of wrapper functions written over JavaScript and the only reason people prefer jQuery is because of the fewer number of lines of code required. However, recent versions of JavaScript (or ECMAScript as it is originally known as) have made the syntax more user friendly, making many jQuery functions obsolete.

I am not saying using jQuery is wrong. I am just telling you to follow the correct learning path. If you have no idea about closures and namespaces in JavaScript, how would you explain the use of “$” in jQuery?

4.Don’t just read, implement
I’ve often seen developers read through tutorials or sometimes even whole books without anything much to show for it. However, my biggest concern is how much would you retain if you just read?

If you want to learn Ruby on Rails, try to develop a small application as you are going through the documentation or a set of tutorials. If you want to try the MEAN stack, get it running in your local machine and explore the different options — that’s the best way to learn!

5.Jack of all trades, Master of one
It’s good to explore new technologies, but one must remember to stick to one for most purposes. It’s always tempting for beginners to learn multiple languages at the same time, but it’s advisable to stick to one until you develop a certain level of mastery over it.

Once you have a go-to language for your day-to-day needs, you can move on to new ones. You may also changed your preferred language in this process, but attempting to master one before you move on to others is often a wise decision. Here’s some advice for choosing which one to start with.

6.Learn version control
In today’s world, it’s very rare that you work on a project alone. To collaborate with others, you need to learn something called version control!

Developers usually don’t dive into version control until they absolutely need to do so. However, as version control is necessary to work in a team, it’s a good idea to understand how it works and the basic commands that get you started early on.

7.Learn from the work of others
Mastering a technology on your own is great, but sometimes you learn a lot by just looking at the code of others. Be it your colleagues or random tutorials on the internet, try to find why someone approaches a problem in a certain way — and ask questions if necessary.

It’s also important for developers to realize that it’s impossible to know everything, but the knowledge is out there — you just need to Google it. As a beginner, if you’re stuck there is high probability that someone like you had the same problem in the past and the solution is somewhere out there in the internet (this often happens to the veterans too!)

8.Ask for code reviews (and enjoy them!)
Over the years, code reviews have immensely improved my programming skills. Proper code reviews take time on the part of the reviewer, so you should always ask others to review what you have written — your peers as well as mentors. It helps expose loopholes in your approach, and makes you learn. If you find someone who genuinely takes interest in reviewing your code, take their reviews seriously. Here’s a look at an advanced way to code review.

Lastly, never take code reviews personally. Code is like art — it’s difficult when someone points out errors in what you have created, but code reviews can only make you better — provided you take them the right way!

http://impacttym.com/read/?id=215
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by hahn(m): 4:27pm On Jun 03, 2015
voltron:
I am now a business man not a coder - makes lots of sense, had to learn the hard-way.. add number 9

9: Learn the Business side of Web Development this is where the practice becomes profitable wink

Nice one. Can you share some ebooks on coding please?

My email is soh.8686@yahoo.com

Thanks in anticipation
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by WaffenSS(m): 4:32pm On Jun 03, 2015
Brazenly plagiarized by poster from the link you gave from here

http://www.sitepoint.com/8-things-wish-id-known-started-developer/

to impress the gullible.

this is shameful and unethical.

4 Likes

Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by slimneek: 4:39pm On Jun 03, 2015
Bleep ya bitch to all nairalanders i hate ya
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by Nobody: 4:39pm On Jun 03, 2015
hahn:


Nice one. Can you share some ebooks on coding please?

My email is soh.8686@yahoo.com

Thanks in anticipation

I get most of my ebooks free from this site

bookzz.org 10 ebookz limit per day on downloads
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by slimneek: 4:40pm On Jun 03, 2015
slimneek:
Bleep ya bitch to all nairalanders i hate ya
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by hahn(m): 4:45pm On Jun 03, 2015
voltron:


I get most of my ebooks free from this site

bookzz.org 10 ebookz limit per day on downloads

Thanks. I owe you one!
Re: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started As A Web Developer by uzo200(m): 4:47pm On Jun 03, 2015
great,

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