Fastest way to become a Web Developer in 2024

Summary

This video script is a comprehensive guide for aspiring web developers, highlighting the common pitfalls and providing a structured approach to learning front-end and back-end development. It emphasizes the importance of understanding HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and introduces tools like Tailwind CSS and React for front-end, and Node.js, Express, and MongoDB for back-end. The script advises against overcommitting to full-stack development initially and suggests building a basic Instagram clone to solidify skills. It concludes with an encouragement to trust the learning process and persist in the journey to becoming an employable web developer.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Web development consists of front-end and back-end development, akin to a restaurant's dining area and kitchen.
• 📚 Front-end development involves HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which respectively define structure, style, and interactivity.
• 🏗️ HTML is like a house blueprint, CSS is an interior designer, and JavaScript is an electrician installing smart home features.
• 📈 Focus on learning the top 20% of concepts that cover 80% of use cases to become employable faster.
• 📚 For CSS, learn frameworks like Tailwind CSS to manage large and complex styling efficiently.
• 🛠️ JavaScript frameworks like React make UI development manageable by using reusable components and a virtual DOM.
• 🔗 Tailwind CSS is recommended for beginners due to its utility-first approach and ease of learning.
• 📊 Start with small projects like building a basic Instagram clone to apply and test your front-end skills.
• 🔄 Node.js allows running JavaScript on the server, making it suitable for back-end development.
• 🔧 Express is a back-end framework for building APIs, which serve as the server's communication channel.
• 🔒 Trust the learning process and avoid skipping steps; persistence is key to becoming a successful web developer.

Q & A

What are the two main parts of web development?

The two main parts of web development are front-end development and back-end development.

What is the role of a front-end developer?

A front-end developer is responsible for programming the feel and behavior of a website, which is the user's actual experience when visiting the site.

How does the speaker describe the analogy between a restaurant and web development?

The speaker compares the front-end to the dining area of a restaurant, which is the user's experience, and the back-end to the kitchen, where all the behind-the-scenes actions like ingredient preparation and order fulfillment occur.

What are the building blocks of front-end development?

The building blocks of front-end development are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

What is the speaker's advice on learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript?

The speaker advises focusing on the top 20% of concepts that cover 80% of use cases, and to learn the remaining concepts later as needed.

Why does the speaker recommend learning Tailwind CSS?

The speaker recommends Tailwind CSS because it is a utility-first framework that has pre-written repeated code, making it easy for beginners to learn and be productive quickly.

What is React and why is it popular among web developers?

React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, and it's popular because it breaks down user interfaces into small, reusable components, making development more manageable and efficient.

What is the speaker's advice for learning React effectively?

The speaker suggests using the official React documentation, particularly the quick start guide and the learn React section, to understand the basics and then building projects to reinforce learning.

What is the speaker's recommendation for a first project to build as a web developer?

The speaker recommends building a basic version of an Instagram app, focusing on photo sharing and a news feed, without worrying about features like videos or real-time updates initially.

What is the speaker's advice on becoming a full-stack developer?

The speaker advises not to rush into full-stack development. They suggest starting with front-end development, which can lead to job opportunities, and then learning back-end development on the side.

What is the final mistake the speaker warns against in the learning process?

The final mistake the speaker warns against is not trusting the process. They emphasize the importance of not skipping steps and persisting through the learning journey, even if it takes longer.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Web Development Overview

This paragraph introduces the world of web development, highlighting the challenges faced by beginners who are often stuck in a loop of learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the two main components of web development: front-end and back-end development. The front-end is compared to the dining area of a restaurant, focusing on user experience, while the back-end is likened to the kitchen, handling the unseen processes. The paragraph also addresses common mistakes, such as underestimating the learning curve and spending too much time on basics, and suggests a strategic approach to learning these technologies.

05:00

📚 Learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

The paragraph delves into the specifics of front-end development, explaining the roles of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in creating a website. It uses the analogy of building a house to describe the functions of these technologies. HTML is the blueprint, CSS is the interior designer, and JavaScript is the electrician. The speaker advises against spending excessive time on the basics and recommends focusing on the top 20% of concepts that cover 80% of use cases. It suggests learning resources like W3Schools and outlines a learning path that includes mastering key concepts and then moving on to more advanced topics.

🎨 Mastering CSS with Frameworks

This section discusses the challenges of managing large CSS files and the benefits of using CSS frameworks to streamline the process. Tailwind CSS is introduced as a utility-first framework that simplifies the learning curve for beginners. The paragraph provides resources for learning Tailwind, such as the Tailwind playground and official documentation, and emphasizes the importance of practical learning through coding.

🔍 Understanding JavaScript Frameworks

The paragraph focuses on JavaScript frameworks, particularly React, which is described as a library that makes user interface development more manageable by using reusable components and a virtual DOM. The speaker recommends learning React through official documentation and tutorials, and suggests building real-world applications by following YouTube tutorials. The importance of applying learned technologies to new problems is stressed, and the paragraph concludes by recommending building a basic Instagram app as a practical project.

🚀 Transitioning to Back-End Development

This section addresses the transition from front-end to back-end development, cautioning against the rush to become a full-stack developer. It emphasizes that front-end development alone can lead to job opportunities and suggests testing the job market before diving into back-end. The paragraph introduces Node.js as a JavaScript runtime for servers and Express as a back-end framework for building APIs. It also mentions MongoDB as a popular database and provides resources for learning these technologies. The speaker encourages building the back end of the Instagram project to complete the web development journey.

🛠️ The Final Push and Trusting the Process

The final paragraph stresses the importance of building projects and applying the knowledge gained throughout the learning process. It advises against skipping steps and encourages trust in the learning journey, even if it takes longer. The speaker shares personal experiences and provides resources for preparing for coding interviews, wrapping up the video script with a promise to see the audience in the next video.

Keywords

💡Web Developer

A web developer is a professional who designs, creates, and maintains websites. In the context of the video, it emphasizes the journey of becoming an employable web developer, which involves learning various technologies and avoiding common mistakes. The video outlines the path from learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to more advanced concepts and frameworks.

💡Front-end Development

Front-end development refers to the process of creating the user interface and user experience of a website. It involves programming the look, feel, and behavior that users interact with directly. The video uses the analogy of a restaurant's dining area to explain the front-end, highlighting its importance in web development.

💡Back-end Development

Back-end development is the server-side of a website, handling the logic, data storage, and server communication that users don't see. The video compares it to a restaurant's kitchen, where the preparation and cooking occur, emphasizing the role of back-end in making the front-end possible.

💡HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard markup language for creating web pages. It provides the basic structure of a website, similar to a blueprint for a house. In the video, HTML is described as the foundation of front-end development, determining the layout and content of a web page.

💡CSS

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a style sheet language used to describe the look and formatting of a document written in HTML. It is compared to an interior designer in the video, responsible for the visual appearance of elements like buttons and the overall aesthetic of the website.

💡JavaScript

JavaScript is a scripting language that enables interactive features on web pages. It is likened to an electrician in the video, adding functionality like responding to user actions, such as subscribing to a YouTube channel, by communicating with the server.

💡CSS Framework

A CSS framework is a pre-written set of CSS code that helps streamline the process of styling a website. Tailwind CSS, mentioned in the video, is an example of a utility-first CSS framework that simplifies the process of applying styles to HTML elements, making it easier for beginners to learn and use.

💡React

React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, particularly useful for managing the state of components in a dynamic and efficient way. The video suggests learning React to build user interfaces more effectively by breaking them into reusable components, which is a key concept in modern web development.

💡Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that allows developers to run JavaScript on the server-side. This enables the use of JavaScript for back-end development. The video mentions Node.js as the tool to transition from front-end to back-end development, emphasizing its role in making JavaScript a full-stack language.

💡Express

Express is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework that provides a robust set of features for web and mobile applications. It is used to build APIs, which serve as the communication layer between the front-end and the database, as explained in the video. Express is chosen for its ease of learning and its popularity in the web development community.

💡MongoDB

MongoDB is a popular NoSQL database that uses a document-oriented data model, making it suitable for storing and managing data for web applications. The video suggests using MongoDB with Node.js and Express to handle data storage and retrieval, which is a crucial part of back-end development.

Highlights

For every employed web developer, there are at least 10 struggling to learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Web development consists of front-end and back-end development.

Front-end developers focus on the user experience, while back-end developers handle the unseen processes.

HTML is the blueprint, CSS is the interior designer, and JavaScript is the electrician in web development.

Avoid spending too much time on the basics; focus on learning the top 20% concepts for 80% of use cases.

Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript efficiently using resources like W3Schools.

CSS frameworks like Tailwind CSS can simplify repetitive styling tasks.

React is a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces and managing complexity.

The official React documentation provides a quick start guide covering 80% of React concepts.

Building projects and solving problems are key to applying learned technologies.

Start with front-end development to find a job, and consider full-stack development as a long-term goal.

Node.js allows running JavaScript on the server, enabling back-end development.

Express is a JavaScript framework for building APIs in back-end development.

Learn by building real-world applications, like Instagram clones, to apply your skills.

Trust the learning process and don't skip steps; it may take longer, but it leads to success.

The video provides a structured approach to learning web development and avoiding common mistakes.

Transcripts

for every web developer who has a job

there are at least 10 who are stuck in

the endless loop of learning HTML CSS

and JavaScript again and again that's

because people underestimate what it

takes to become an employable web

developer on this path there are so many

different Technologies to learn that

many people give up Midway this video

will make sure that you are not one of

them I'll also cover three mistakes that

you need to avoid at any cost let's get

started web development contains two

parts front-end development and backend

development front-end developers program

the feel and behavior of a website this

is what a user actually experiences when

they visit a website backend developers

make this Behavior possible they do some

things behind the scene that users don't

get to see think of it this way when you

go to a restaurant you just experience

the dining area the tables chairs menu

and the overall Ambiance that's your

front end now back end would be the

kitchen of the restaurant it's where all

the behind thes scenes action happens

ingredient preparation cooking and Order

fulfillment all of that happens in the

kitchen in a restaurant we also have a

server what would be the equalent of a

server in the web development world if

you're thinking that the answer is a web

server that is not correct I'll answer

this when I cover backend development in

detail but if you think you know the

answer leave a comment anyway let's

start with front-end development HTML

CSS and JavaScript are the building

blocks of front- end development to

understand what each one of them exactly

does let's imagine that you are building

a house HTML would be the blueprint of

this house what are the different rooms

in the house how many bathrooms will be

there all of that is HTML for example on

YouTube HTML is what decides that there

will be a like And subscribe button here

CSS is like an interior designer that

decides what your rooms look like for

YouTube it decides the shape color and

size of the Subscribe and like button

when you hit the Subscribe button the

color of the button changes that's also

CSS doing its magic JavaScript is like

an electrician that installs smart home

features in your house in the YouTube

example when you hit the Subscribe

button JavaScript sends a request to

YouTube servers to update the

subscriptions of my channel YouTube

servers will store this information and

use it to recommend my next videos to

you now that you understand the basics

let's see how we can learn HTML CSS and

JavaScript and this is where most people

make their first big mistake they spend

months sometimes even Years Learning

HTML CSS in JavaScript don't get me

wrong I'm not saying that Basics are not

important but the basics are just the

starting point there are a whole lot of

other technologies that you need to

learn in order to become an employable

web developer so I would not spend too

much time here I'll just learn the top

20% Concepts that cover the 80% of use

cases I'll learn the remaining Concepts

in the next steps to learn and test my

knowledge at the same time I'll go to W3

schools for HTML I'll start from the top

and do everything until HTML graphics

for CSS I'll do everything until CSS

grid for JavaScript I'll cover

everything until JS HTML Dom I will add

all the links to the resources in the

description congratulations you have

covered 15% of what needs to be done to

become a web developer let's keep going

when you start working with CSS you'll

see that same things repeat again and

again you'll set height add padding and

fix alignment of different objects and

so on and when you do this for so many

objects in your web app your CSS files

start becoming very big and hard to

manage on top of that debugging becomes

a huge pain because there is so much

repeated code to solve all these

problems you would want to learn a CSS

framework now there are so many

different Frameworks that you can choose

from different people prefer different

Frameworks for different reasons my

reason is very straight forward I would

choose a framework that is easiest to

learn once I know the basics of CSS I

want to be productive as fast as

possible if you're someone like me you

would go for Tailwind CSS Tailwind is a

utility first framework in other words

Tailwind already has all the repeated

code pre-written you just need to go to

your HTML elements and use it this makes

Tailwind very easy to pick for beginners

to learn Tailwind quickly you can go to

the Tailwind playground and play around

with the code you can read their

beautifully written documentation and

test what you are learning in the

playground if you already know HTML and

CSS they should be fairly

straightforward if you need more help

you can also check out the official

YouTube channel of Tailwind Labs we have

covered another 5% with Tailwind let's

move on to the JavaScript framework now

just like CSS Frameworks we also have

JavaScript Frameworks to make our life

easy there are again many popular

options here but we will only talk about

the most popular option which is react

technically react is not a framework

it's a library but that's not important

for now react makes building user

interfac is more manageable by breaking

them into small reusable components

react has a virtual Dom that allows it

to update only part of the web page

rather than rendering the entire thing

if you don't know what that means don't

worry about it you will learn as you go

but why did I pick react over all these

other options my reason Remains the Same

I want you to get to a stage where you

are building your own projects really

fast and react is among the easiest to

learn and most in demand at the same

time so how do we learn react

effectively the official react

documentation has has made it very easy

for us they have a quick start guide

which according to them covers 80% of

the react Concepts this guide also

contains a walkthrough of how to build

Tic Tac Toe in react and they also teach

you how to think in react there's a

learn react section that I highly

recommend you go through but if you're

are short on time you can move on to the

next step with react Basics you have

covered another 10% so far you have just

learned the basics of a few Technologies

but learning Technologies and actually

applying them to solve new problems are

two different things and that's the we

are going to bridge now with everything

that you have learned so far if I give

you a new web app to build most people

are going to struggle with it and that's

totally fine struggle is where you

actually learn so if you're someone who

enjoys the struggle more power to you

please go ahead and start building

because that's how you learn the most

but for others who need a little bit of

handholding in the beginning I have a

recommendation for you you can start

following along with someone who's

building a real world application on

YouTube you'll find many people building

clones of popular applications like

Amazon or Netflix my personal favorite

is his channel by Sony S his videos will

introduce you to popular patterns in

react he also covers some new

technologies like nextjs nextjs is a

react framework that enables extra

features like server site rendering if

you know react nextjs is very easy to

pick if you do all this you will cover

another 10% of your web development

Journey like I mentioned earlier true

learning will only happen if you start

building new things by yourself building

your own projects would be the next 20%

of your journey but what should you

actually build I recommend that you

build a basic version of Instagram app

don't worry about videos or reals for

now just build a version where people

can share their photos and see a news

feed containing pictures of their

friends you can also add functionality

to like photos and add comments showing

pictures from friends might not be

possible right now because we have not

covered backend yet you can use some

hardcoded URLs for now after learning

the back end we'll come back to this

project and build the back end as well

congratulations you have successfully

completed the front-end part of the web

development it's time to move on to the

back end this is where people make their

second biggest mistake which is that

they fall victim to the buzz around full

stack development for those who don't

Know full stack developers work both on

front end as well as the back end now

I'm not saying that you should not

become a full stack developer full stack

is a great end goal the point I'm trying

to make is that you don't have to be a

full stack developer to find your first

job front-end development is enough

there are many jobs for front-end

developers so I recommend that you don't

rush into the backend development test

yourself early in the job market to see

where you stand and you can continue

learning back end on the side for the

backend we'll again pick something that

is easy to learn we already know

JavaScript so the easiest thing to do

would be to use JavaScript in the back

end as well JavaScript was designed to

be a scripting language for web browsers

to be able to run JavaScript on the

server or backend we need to use nodejs

nodejs is a JavaScript runtime for

servers if you don't understand what I'm

saying that's completely fine you will

learn all this when you start working

with node now similar to front end we

need a JavaScript framework for the the

back end as well Express provides you

all the tools you need to build apis

remember in the beginning of the video

we talked about how dining area is the

front end and the kitchen is the back

end of a restaurant an API would be the

equalent of the server of the restaurant

basically you place all your orders or

requests with the API and the API

responds to you with the information you

need an API does this with the help of

the data stored in a database so in

addition to express you need to use a

library like to talk to the

database is a nodejs library for

mongod DB which is a popular database I

know all this sounds confusing but it's

not that hard when you start using it to

get acquainted with Express you can

quickly go through their documentation

but to actually learn Express and

you can follow along with this video by

traversy media and create a web app from

scratch I recommend directly by building

because if you have come so far you

already know enough programming to pick

Express easily with this project and if

you finished this step you would have

already covered another 20% of the

journey now you are on the last leg you

need one final push and that would come

by building building the back end of the

Instagram project that you started add

the capability to upload photos and

follow each other by storing all the

required information in a database

create a news feed that contains actual

photos of your friend and not the dummy

data once you do that you will finish

the last mile of the journey and this

brings me to the final big mistake many

people make they don't trust the process

they start this long journey of learning

web development they copy a few projects

on the way and add them to their resume

eventually they are not able to find the

job and they give up every step of the

journey is important important so don't

skip any step and Trust the process it

might take you slightly longer but

you'll eventually get there now I did

not get a chance to cover how to prepare

for coding interviews in this video if

you're interested you can watch this

video my name is sahil and I'll see you

in the next

one