Working as a web designer or developer can be a great career choice. Not only does it offer excellent income potential and high demand, but many Web development agency and developers are able to land jobs (or build their own freelance business) without a college degree.
It’s possible to learn how to design and/or code relatively quickly, in comparison to other career paths that require 4+ years of college and a huge financial investment.
On this page, you’ll find details of few resources that can help you to learn the skills that you need to land a job as a web designer or developer.
Flatiron School
Flatiron School is unlike any of the other websites/companies covered in this article, and it’s a very intriguing option. Flatiron School offers online courses in coding, data science, and UX/UI design, as well as classes at 10 different campuses in the U.S. and London. Most of the other resources in this article are for online learning only, which makes Flatiron School unique.
The goal of Flatiron School is to help students launch a career, and they have some impressive results. On-campus graduates have a 97% employment
Because Flatiron School offers an education that is more like a traditional college or university as opposed to simply online videos, the cost is higher. Tuition for on-campus classes is $17,000 and tuition for online classes is $15,000 (loans are available).
If you’re focused on building a career in design or development, Flatiron School is an excellent choice.
Treehouse
Treehouse is easily one of the best resources for learning skills related to web development and user experience design. Their goal is to provide students with the skills and experience needed to land a quality job.
• Self-Guided – Pricing is just $25 per month for access to incredible training resources.
• Techdegree – Access to training plus create a portfolio to help you land a job, get in-depth code reviews, weekly office hours, and real-time support for $199 per month.
While the self-guided plan is a great option, Techdegree is a project-based online program that is designed to get you ready for a career in the field.
Treehouse has had more than 180,000 students take its courses, and they have plenty of success stories from past students who completed the courses and went on to land the job that they were after.
Both the basic self-guided plan and Techdegree offer a 7-day free trial, so you can get started with no risk.
Techdegree offers 3 paths:
1. Front end web development
2. User experience design
3. Full stack JavaScript
With the help of the training videos, courses, and projects available through Treehouse, you’ll be able to learn valuable skills in a matter of months instead of years.
Tuts+
Tuts+,. Most of the courses at Tuts+ are one hour or less and teach some specific skill, although some courses are longer and more general.
Pricing for a Tuts+ membership is $16.50 per month, which also includes membership to Envato Elements (an app which gives aces to download all the require content about study/project). The Envato Elements membership will allow you unlimited downloads of templates, PSD files, and many other design resources.
Coursera
Coursera partners with leading universities to provide access to online courses on a wide variety of topics. There are several courses related to web design, marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO) that allow free enrollment through Coursera. You can also find colleges and universities that offer online education and degrees.
Udemy
Udemy is a marketplace of courses. Anyone can create a course and offer it through Udemy, which means there is a huge selection of courses on all kinds of different topics.
You can find courses on Udemy that will teach you just about any aspect of web design or development, as well as other related topics like WordPress, SEO, blogging, social media marketing, etc.
The pricing will vary depending on the course, but in general, prices at Udemy are on the lower side. They also run sales and promotions frequently and you can offer purchase access to high-quality courses for $10-$20.
All of the courses at Udemy are for learning at your own pace through online videos. Once you purchase a course, you’ll have lifetime access to it.
CodePen
CodePen is different than any other resource listed on this page, but I wanted to include it because it can be an excellent resource. CodePen is an online community for front-end developers. You can browse projects (and their code) and demos created by other developers, which can be a great way to learn. You can also share your own work and participate in challenges.
While CodePen doesn’t offer courses like most of the other resources listed in this article, it’s a great interactive playground that can help you to learn on your own and connect with others while doing it. CodePen is free to use or you can sign up for a pro account to get many additional features.
How to Get Started
While there are a lot of different ways to learn web design, determining which one is right for you will require you to see which option is the best fit for your own personal situation, including your goals, budget, and schedule.
If your goal is to start a fulfilling career, my top recommendations would be Flatiron School and Treehouse. Both offer quality training and both are focused on helping students learn skills that will enable them to launch a career in the field.
In case you’re just looking to learn for fun, or if you’re not sure yet how far you want to take it, other options like courses at Udemy, a Tuts+ membership, or getting involved in the community at CodePen can be great choices