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The internet has made it easier for people to share information and knowledge. The online space is awash with thousands of articles, videos, and podcasts on different subjects. Among these subjects are online web development courses that teach you how to build interactive websites and web apps.
To become a successful freelance web developer in Dubai, you need to access the best training and resources available. Many of the available online courses claim to be the best. How do you find best? How do you find the most valuable courses online?
It is possible to find reputable online courses. Just keep on reading.
In this post, you will discover nine useful online web development courses that will still be popular in the year 2020. You will find the best-paid courses as well as the free ones.
Different people pursue online web development courses for various reasons which include:
- Peer influence
- Sheer love for coding
- Curiosity to know
- Need to build personal projects
- Need to switch career paths for higher salaries
- Freedom from full-time jobs
What makes many people reluctant to take web development courses is the fear of the unknown. They wonder whether web development has a future or whether it is right for them.
Well, nothing can be far from the truth; the demand for web developers is increasing year by year, according to the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics.
The above statistics are good news for the developer community for those wondering whether there is a future for web developers. The statistics can only mean that for the next ten years, there will be a great demand for full-time and freelance web developers. You stand a chance to reap big from this expected growth if you dive into learning web development today.
The major barrier to pursuing a career in website development and design is the cost that comes with the training. Most of the institutions offering training are expensive and require specific qualifications before admission. The other alternative – the coding boot camps are equally costly, and their location and distance make them inaccessible for most people. These challenges have made online self-education popular. Self-guided learning is flexible; it allows you to follow your schedule.
The companies have taken note of these new developments. The recruiting agencies in most tech companies are changing the way they hire developers. The companies want to see your skill sets and hands-on experience – they want to see the projects you have built in your portfolio before hiring you. They care less, whether you are institution-trained or self-trained. All they want are results.
If you want to get hired, earn better packages, and enjoy the freedom that comes with it, you must take advantage of the online web development courses. Focus on building projects and skillsets. Join one or two open-source volunteer projects and build your reputation and portfolio.
But then you ask, “What should I learn?” “And where do I begin?”
The market demand should dictate the kind of courses you take. The skill sets that the companies are looking for should be your guide. When you look around, there is a high demand for full-stack developers. Full-stack developers have a thorough knowledge of the front-end and back-end technologies.
The following is a list of some of the best online web development courses that can teach you web design skills. The list is in no way exhaustive but it is carefully picked to give you the best.
1. FreeCodeCamp
The FreeCodeCamp is one of the biggest free online coding boot camps. By the year 2018, users had spent more than a billion minutes on the site. FreeCodeCamp is free and wholly depends on goodwill donations from its users. There are lessons for beginners and advanced learners. The lessons are in the form of videos, podcasts, and text. The curriculum is hands-on with exercises for building real-world projects.
The strength of the FreeCodeCamp is its vast user support community of active online learners who volunteer to answer questions and mentor each other. The community keeps everyone informed about emerging technology and trends on Twitter, Facebook, and Gitter chats. FreeCodeCamp has a YouTube channel where volunteers post helpful tutorials on tools and tricks of web development.
The courses on the platform are ever up-to-date and flexible. There are incentives to cheer you up on your coding journey. These include achievement badges and certificates (valuable as souvenirs but not as valid academic certificates). Freecodecamp allows you to volunteer in open source projects, which later act as your reference points for your portfolio. The site does not offer a job guarantee, but tech companies have hired many of its graduates. There are testimonials of people who got job offerings halfway through the course. This course is a fit for self-driven individuals.
Our Tips:
- There are 22 freelance jobs you can start today in the UAE, among them being web development. You need to acquire the best skills and training available. Join the FreeCodeCamp online learning program today and start building your projects for your portfolio.
- Interact and network with the rest of the community who knows what opportunities are waiting for you.
- Volunteer to open-source projects and non-profit startups to gain real-world experience and prepare for opportunities that will come your way.
2. Codecademy
Codecademy is one of the most extensive online web development tutorials. Codecademy is for both beginners and established coding gurus. It offers some partnership courses with industry leaders like Amazon Alexa, which explains it’s credibility. The sessions are flexible and let you grow at your own pace. It is suitable for those who are starting. The site’s courses are interactive and mostly text-based with few video lectures. Other features include podcasts and native web-based IDE editor.
Codecademy’s approach is to help you learn by building things up. It provides you with a platform to test and experiment with codes. There are exercises and assignments for each unit covered. It encourages you by awarding you badges that you can display on your LinkedIn profile. Codecademy offers no job placements but will help you build a portfolio site.
The paid plan for advanced learning is between USD 16 and USD 20 per month. The premium Pro level earns you; extra help, fast-tracked knowledge, mentorship sessions, quizzes, extra practice, and additional projects.
Our Tips:
- This course is great for freelance web developers in Dubai because it gives you the liberty to work by yourself and remotely.
- First, start with the free 7-day trial to evaluate whether you are getting value for your money before subscribing to the pro version.
- If the finances are a challenge, then FreeCodeCamp is still the best there is out there.
3. The Odin Project
Erik Trautman started The Odin Project in 2013 and currently sponsored by Thinkful. The site links you to a wealth of other helpful resources. The Odin Project is open source and free for everyone. The site has a full-stack course curriculum designed for absolute beginners, but the modules get complex with time.
The Odin project is entirely text-based but has no online console to code right on the browser. The site outlines a road map that you can follow to succeed, and you need a plan to succeed too. The user has less control over the curriculum and does not include any native Integrated Development Environment (IDE), videos, and podcasts. The platform has tests, exercises, and website building project at the end of the course. It offers achievement badges as an incentive to continue coding.
Our Tip:
- Start with The Odin Project. It is one of the best options for laying a strong foundation for aspiring freelance web designers in Dubai. You can then join the FreeCodeCamp to take advantage of the community support and build the projects.
4. Team TreeHouse
Team TreeHouse is an excellent platform for beginners and experts in online web developments. Treehouse is subscription-based, and they vet content creators to ensure high-quality productions. The platform prides itself on delivering high quality and in-depth modules in web development. Professional instructors and industry experts teach these modules.
The content on the site is continuously updated, and new content published weekly. The learning method is through screencasts, quizzes, and challenges. The level of engagement is hands-on do it yourself approach. You learn by working on challenging projects.
There are certifications for front-end and back-end tech degrees. You also earn achievement badges for tasks achieved. The course is a 12-month program. There are guide learning tracks, but you can pick more than one track if you are a premium subscriber. There are two subscription tiers; the basic at USD25 per month, and the pro at USD49 per month. These subscriptions give you access to supplementary materials.
Our Tip:
- Take advantage of the guided learning that Team TreeHouse offers in the premium.
5. Lynda/LinkedIn
Lynda.com, which is now LinkedIn, is a great resource site with professionally done videos and high-quality content. It is one of the top course platforms in the world. LinkedIn has been in operation since 1995 and over the years, has accumulated videos that make it one of the biggest tutorial libraries online – though not all course material on the platform is high-quality.
LinkedIn vets instructors and only hire people with credentials – people who are masters in their fields – to teach their courses. LinkedIn engages very few influencers and industry leaders to lecture on their online platform. The tutorial videos on the site are geared for all level learners, whether beginner or advanced.
On LinkedIn, you learn at your own pace and on personal terms. Each video tutorial feels like a lecture with easy to follow instructions. You can view the videos on multiple devices like phones, tablets, and computers. You can also download the videos to view offline. Each course has some practice files and quizzes. LinkedIn keeps the old lessons and never updates them but develops and introduces new ones.
There are less student-instructor interaction and no community support. LinkedIn offers a badge for your LinkedIn profile and a certificate of completion once you complete the course. There are no provisions to build portfolio projects within the sessions. The assumption is that once you acquire the skill, you will create a portfolio on your own. It is subscription-based and has standard and premium tiers. One of the best web development path you can take is how to become a full-stack developer.
Our Tip:
- Start with the one-month free trial to evaluate whether LinkedIn is right for you.
6. Udemy
Udemy is broad and significant. It is an open marketplace for learners and instructors with tutorial videos for almost any topic under the sun. The content on the site is tutor-produced and varies in quality. The creators regularly release new content each day. You can interact with some tutors in the comment sections and some chat apps like Gitter. There is no vetting done on creators; anyone can create and post content.
Udemy uses a one-off payment model as opposed to subscription services out there. The course pricing is the most affordable. There are high discounts with coupons that Udemy gives for most courses. When you purchase a course, you own it for as long as it is on their platform, and you are entitled to free updates. High-quality content will get the most students and the most rating. The target audience for their content is both beginners and professionals.
The most popular online web development courses on the site are:
- Rob Percival’s The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0.
- Colt Steele’s The Web Developer Bootcamp
Our Tips:
- Udemy is a great place to start learning web development. Pick one affordable course or use the coupons readily available online to get your first USD10 course and start coding immediately.
- Combine the Udemy with the FreeCodeCamp curriculum, and you are good to go!
7. LearnCode.academy
LearnCode.academy YouTube channel was started by Will Stern – an experienced web developer – as a place where you can learn web development. By the time of writing these lines, his YouTube channel has reached a subscription of 632,000. LearnCode.academy is content-rich with in-depth tutorials for the front-end developer as well as the back-end developer. Will Stern’s blog is no longer active because of the demands of his YouTube channel, but his GitHub account is still functional.
Our Tip:
- Start with the available playlist, which is available on the channel. A playlist introduces learning material sequentially from basic to advanced. Here is one such playlist.
8. Traversy Media
Traversy Media is a YouTube channel started by Brad Traversy, a full stack web developer. His relentless passion for web development technology led him to start a channel dedicated to teaching explicitly. The subscription numbers to the Traversy Media YouTube channel are currently at around 896,000, with a total of 75,478,410 views. You will find an array of positive feedback on the comment sections of each video posted on YouTube.
Traversy Media content delivery method is thorough and structured. Besides the great courses on his channel, Brad has some highly rated tutorials on Udemy, which you can check out. You can visit his website here.
Our Tips:
- This is a great place to start learning – the number of subscribers on the channel speaks volumes. Here is a playlist to get you started on your journey.
- Buy any one of Brad Traversy’s courses on Udemy and start coding today.
9. The Net Ninja
The Net Ninja is the next YouTube channel in our series that offers great content for free. Shaun Pelling, a front-end developer from the UK, is the one who started this channel. Shaun Pelling’s YouTube channel currently has 394,000 subscribers with 35,710,693 views by the time of writing. Pelling’s channel has courses for both the front-end and back-end developers. There are different levels of tutorials available, ranging from the beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
Pelling’s mode of delivery is in small manageable chunks of information explained in detail with real-world examples. Pelling interacts and responds to his subscribers’ queries on his YouTube Channel. The Net Ninja channel is reliable on its own, but in case you need more explicit content, you can find Pelling’s courses on Udemy. You can also follow Shaun Pelling on GitHub.
Our Tip:
- Start with the free comprehensive videos on YouTube channels like The Net Ninja then move on to the paid courses. An excellent place to start learning now is here.
A Concluding Note:
To become a reputable freelance web designer in Dubai in the year 2020 is not a walk in the park. You first need to acquire specific skill sets by taking useful online web development courses.
Companies want to hire web developers who are highly effective and can guarantee a high return on investments. Follow the market and find out what is in demand, then plunge yourself into it. Start building your web developer portfolio now step by step.
Remember, your success depends on your effort.
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The post 9 Best Online (Both Paid and Free) Web Development Courses in 2020 appeared first on Bawabba Blog.
from Bawabba Blog http://blog.bawabba.com/programming/online-web-development-courses-of-2020/
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