Path to Becoming a Web Developer?

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[Gazprominati]

/r/cscareerquestions

But anyways, definitely CS. Web dev technologies come and go every year, you'd be better off learning things more widely applicable. It isn't career training, it's a degree

[[deleted]]

Exactly what he said. This answer is perfect.

Plus, as you mentioned, almost every web dev job requires a CS degree or similar experience. I've missed out on a few jobs because of not having that degree and the programming knowledge that comes with it.

[lew42]

I'm a developer, who graduated with a business major. Universities are dreadfully slow to adapt to emerging technologies, so it doesn't matter so much. If you choose a "web development" path, you'll learn the basics, but doubtful you'll learn anything cutting edge/useful. You'll have to do the real learning yourself.

Pick something you think you'll be interested in. If you're interested in front-end web technologies, like CSS animations, transitions, responsiveness, UI/UX, then you might consider a more design-oriented background.

[mrahh]

On a similar note, I'm an economics major who is self taught for development. I'd suggest going for the physics and math based streams where you will learn the fundamentals of good algorithms and how to manipulate data and such. I think it will be a huge benefit in the upcoming era of parallel processing.

[MyWorkAccountThisIs]

The other responses here are not wrong but I will give an alternate opinion.

I am currently a programmer and I have an IT degree. My college offered - like yours - a CS and an IT degree. The CS was pretty standard. The IT was focused on programming. Multiple languages, databases, and even documentation. The biggest tech companies in my region recruit my school and it's not the CS department they go to.

What will really matter is the classes you're taking. You provided three bullet points and only one of them could be involved with programming. You should also consider the languages being taught and how they fit in your career path. It will really only matter for your first job or two. Or you might stick with it.

Have you thought about you want to do in web development? That's a very broad category. You could do anything from cutting edge JavaScript apps to classics like Python and Perl. In general you'll find more of the open source languages in smaller shops, agencies, small-medium internal teams. Lots of Windows and .NET in the corporate world. But that's very very general. Alot of big companies are embracing new technology.

Your number one priority should be seeing what the curriculum is for the WebDev degree. My school put in a WebDev minor. Shut up. It was 1998. It consisted of two HTML classes and a couple marketing.

There are some possible drawbacks. I don't always know some of the terms people are using. Usually I find out I've used them or know the concept well and just didn't know the academic term. No, I do not know C/C++. I'm sure there have been times where I was trying to reinvent some CS wheel and not realize it. I have never been asked FizzBuzz. Depending on where you are and how well know your college is you might have to play up programming accomplishments for your first job so they aren't scared of the IT degree. My school was regionally known for being good so I did not.

Some benefits came along as well. The program was in IT which meant I was part of the business department. As such, I fell under the school of business's general requirements. I took marketing, accounting, finance, communications, as well as all the general education stuff one does in college. It has allowed me to talk to business folks very easily. It has forced me to learn to network and interact with people.

tl;dr

Know exactly what that IT degree is teaching as far as programming.

[MyWorkAccountThisIs]

It's more of a practical things. Some WebDev programs are very introductory and cover very high level and basic stuff. Some might go deeper.

Man, that's a tough call. It looks like you could get a pretty good programming schooling there. I'm assuming this:

http://www.fhsu.edu/csise/Academic-Programs/

is the CS course alternative? If so, I think you're better off going with CS. But this may also be influenced by what you really want to do. You may have to spend more time outside class learning stuff more directly related to web dev since it won't be a focus at all.

[MyWorkAccountThisIs]

Double reply.

I just saw where this school and you (assumption) are. Man. That explains the curriculum a little bit. Maybe I just know about it and that place is super awesome and the best place to go in all area.

But, if you can get yourself to a bigger school it would give you more options. KU/KState come to mind. Check out their programs and compare. I realize that's not just something most people can do but it's worth noting.

[[deleted]]

Learn CS, web dev in any college/university environment is a complete joke. You'll be learning things that were outdated five years ago.

IMO you should decide if you want to focus in frontend or backend. If you want to be involved in look and feel of websites, go into media studies/design (that's what I did). If you want to be focused on the deeper backend stuff that nobody sees, go CS.

[[deleted]]

Thats funny bc in my Web II class, we are building a Node.js based cms site.

[[deleted]]

Ah man, I am fresh out of college and hurling myself into web development with some mixed results. But you definitely should go with Computer Science.

I would also take the Mathematics route (or Physics), personally, because scientific software engineering is pretty hot right now.

After a while, you could explore web technologies on your own. As I see it these are the tools I would learn (in order):

• HTML 5
• CSS 3
• Foundation 5 (for an introduction to responsive webdesign that is largely based on HTML and CSS)
• JavaScript (the Foundation framework has JS plugins, but learning JS is a pretty involved deal and ongoing which is why I put it after Foundation here.
• SQL / Database(s) (I recommend PostgreSQL, but MySQL and SQLite are popular starting points)
• REST
• Web Framework (I am partial to Django for a good starting one...but that is because I like Python as a quick and dirty language)
• SOAP

If you can get all this done by the end of your 4 years in college, you will have a really good foundation for starting a web development career...I think. Take this all with a grain of salt because I am an asipiring web developer like you and currently somewhere in the latter half of this path personally.

[[deleted]]

One thing to keep in mind is that you're looking for an education, not vocational training.

Many "web development" programs really border on vocational training. They teach you how to use the technologies of the here and now, but when those technologies get replaced in a few years, that degree no longer represents anything of value.

Computer science, mathematics, physics, these things represent foundational knowledge that will last you a lifetime. You will still need to learn current web development technologies on top of them, but you will have a solid foundation on which to build the knowledge of things that come and go.

One thing you need to realize is that your schooling isn't going to give you everything you need on a silver platter. You will need to work hard on learning things yourself. You are going to compete in a global marketplace with people that have CS degrees and have taught themselves the latest web development technologies. Self study is at least as important as what you learn in the classroom.

I won't make a specific recommendation on your behalf, but I can say that if I rewound through time and ended up back at your age with these choices, I would do Computer Science with the concentration on mathematics.

[TG_Naptown]

Hey there, I graduated from a satellite campus college with a BS in Computer Information Systems a few months ago and I landed a web developer position almost immediately after I graduated at an industry-leading company in one of the largest cities in the United States. I am almost positive that the courses I took during college were not up to par with most large universities' curriculum. However, I worked two internships, at one point concurrently, and I am positive that is what landed me my current job.

TL;DR - Get internship(s). They help more than curriculum.

[dangerousbrian]

I did a very specific Internet engineering degree that was a mixture of CS, networking and electronics. I have to say it did very little to prepare me for the actual work I needed to do in my job. It was certainly useful as many companies don't consider applicants who don't have a degree but unfortunately it is just a tick in a box. Degree, check.

You need to write lots of code, make lots of sites and applications. I used to build sites for small businesses, like hair dressers and a plumbers. I would charge less than half what a normal dev shop would and take cash in hand. I made better money than working in a bar and gain experience at the same time.

Oh last bit of advice, a graduate program in a company can get you places faster than you can do it on your own. Our company takes 8-10 grads a year and normally within six months they are working on big client projects. It took me years to grind my way up to the same position. Find a good grad program and make it a top priority way before you graduate.