Becoming A Web Designer

Career Advice
#1

So I’ve recently been doing the FreeCodeCamp courses up to the end of Front End Libraries and I’m preparing to do the projects now. But when I’m done I’m left wondering what comes next?

I’m not looking to do full-stack, I don’t have the patience for it, but I am looking to do front end work and loved doing the HTML/CSS course work even when it got frustrating. I know I need to build up a portfolio and prove I can do the work. But I don’t know what resources to use beyond CodePen so help on that would be appreciated.

#2

Honestly, I’m not that much further along in the curriculum than you. And I’m sure others with more knowledge can add to this.

But here’s my two cents:

  • Get VS Code, Atom, or the code editing tool of your choice. Learn how to create HTML, CSS, and JS files with it. See how those files combine together to create a web page.

  • Get a GitHub account and learn about version control and creating repositories and contributing to open source. You can also use GitHub Pages for your projects. I’ve duplicated some of my CodePen projects on GitHub Pages. There’s other sites for that as well.

I’m sure others will have more.

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#3

Not really considered as coding, but have you considered designing UIs?

You can start designing before jumping straight to coding so you already have a guide on what to code. I’m also planning to be a front end developer, so learning how to design (especially user friendly designs) is essential.

I use Adobe XD for that.

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#4

Hi @Smellbringer!

I think there might be some confusion on what path you are pursuing.

Your title of the post says web designer but your message talks more about development.

This is good article talking about the two careers.

Hope that helps!

#5

So, it seems I have front-end developer and web designer mixed up. I’m gonna stick on my current path of learning HTML/CSS/Javascript in order to go into front end design.

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#6

You need to continue on and learn JavaScript. That’s the core language of web development.

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#7

I agree with @ArielLeslie about diving deeper into learning javascript.

I think building some side projects outside of a class will help.

Also, I think doing the next three certifications can’t hurt.

I know you said you weren’t interested in learning any backend, but it might be good to at least be a little familiar with it.