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If you are looking to learn web development online, there are more than enough resources out there to teach you everything you need to know. In fact, many (if not most) of the web developers in the world today have launched successful careers by learning web development online from scratch. But even the most ambitious self-starters run into the problem of deciding where to begin. Below you will find our picks for the top 10 websites to help you learn web development online
Why Learn Web Development Online
As a web developer, your credibility is more about the strength of your portfolio than it is about your credentials. Your employment opportunities will often come from concrete skills and samples of your work rather than a degree from a university. It’s not that a proper college education isn’t important or valuable as a web developer. Rather, it’s to say that if attending a university isn’t in the cards, you can learn everything you need to know about web development online. The web development industry continues to grow exponentially so you won’t find a shortage of resources. The most important thing to do is start.
This list should help.
10 Great Websites To Help You Learn Web Development Online
1. Team Treehouse
Team Treehouse is one of the leading online learning resources for web development. You can have access to expert-led video courses and interactive practice sessions.
They even offer a Techdegree program to help you launch a new career in just 3 to 12 months. In addition to learning practical skills, the program also helps build a job-ready portfolio. Their teaching method includes the use of videos, interactive quizzes and code challenges.
2. Lynda.com + LinkedIn Learning
Lynda.com has been around for a while. Now all of the courses from Linda.com have been combined with LinkedIn insights for a more personalized learning experience. Rather than taking you through a specific track, the site offers a staggering amount of courses in various fields including almost a thousand courses for web development. Each course is broken up into a series of videos that are accompanied by walk-through examples and sample code when needed. So you can easily jump into learning practically anything at your own pace.
3. Udemy
Udemy is an online learning giant that offers over 80,000 online courses in a wide variety of categories including web development. Each course that is offered within a category includes unlimited access to a series of video lectures by a specific instructor. Plus you can always interact with Udemy student community for extra help and comradery. You pay for each course separately but you can preview some of the lectures for free to see if its right for you. And the courses range from beginner to advanced. All in all, it offers high quality learning for web development.
4. Codeacademy
Codeacademy is a course-based online learning site that provides a unique hands on approach to learning code. To start learning, you must select a path (like web development). Each path includes lessons that begin with the basics and ends with advanced practical application. Each lesson includes written instructions that help you write out actual code that progresses with each lesson. It is a nice “learn by doing” approach that one does at their own pace.
They also offer what they call Codeacademy Pro Intensives to take your learning to the next level by providing programs that will deliver job-ready outcomes. For example, you can build real-world projects and get professional developer feedback.
5. MDN Web Docs (free)
MDN Web Docs is a valuable online resource created by an open community of developers which is updated regularly by employees of Mozilla, Apple, Google, & Microsoft. You can easily search for what you are looking for and find pragmatic explanations from credible professionals. They even include entire lessons for learning web development.
Their Hacks Blog is also a great reference for the web development industry.
6. The Odin Project (Free)
The Odin Project is a great place to jumpstart your career in web development with a full stack curriculum approach that is backed by an open source community. The curriculum is made up of a collection of online tutorials, blogs, and courses. For example, there is a web development 101 course made up of lessons that start and the basics and end with you building a practical web application. So you will have opportunities to build portfolio-worthy projects alongside a community of developers.
7. Coursera
Coursera is the biggest provider of MOOCs (massive open online courses). Coursera actually partners with top universities (like Stanford, Princeton and Yale) to give you access to a high level of online courses. You can earn degrees in a wide variety of fields including Computer Science. There model is more focused on system of fixed course sessions that require enrollment. You can usually start a course with a 7-day free trial but will need to pay a monthly fee to continue.
8. Codewars
Codewars is one of the more popular coding challenge websites that allow you to master your web developer skills by solving challenges in the programming language of your choice. You can even compare your solution with other for great understanding.
9. WPsessions
WPsessions is an online web developer training ground with a focus on WordPress. There method is to teach you all the skills needed to build professional WordPress websites through individual sessions and complete courses.
10. Codeschool (now Pluralsight)
Pluralsight offers a unique online platform for sharpening your coding skills for web development. What’s unique about Pluralsight is that it allows you to take a Pluralsight IQ assessment to identify gaps in your knowledge so that you can concentrate on learning only those skills you need. You can even choose learning paths to help guide your learning experience, but they also have stand-alone courses as well.
More Places to Learn Web Development
It is extremely difficult to narrow this list to only 10, so here are a some more resources for you to check out.
Khan Academy (Free)
Codrops (Free)
Final Thoughts
When it comes to starting a career in web development, getting started can be the hardest part. But once you do, you might be surprised at just how much you can learn in just a single day with the online resources available. Then it is just a matter of mastering your skills toward your new career. Hopefully, these web developer resources can help you along the way.