Best Resources For Learning Web Development in 2021

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My Self-taught Developer Journey

Since I started my journey into learning web development around 2014, I have progressed through many different levels. As a self-taught web developer, you are left to choose from a wide variety of web development resources on the web. There are many free resources as well as paid.

In my experience, I have gained the most knowledge through paid, but inexpensive Udemy courses combined with various free resources such as YouTube and Stack Overflow. As a beginner just starting to get your feet wet, I recommend utilizing the free resources temporarily just to learn the basics. Especially if you don’t have the financial resources to buy courses.

I will cover all of my favorite and most useful resources below, both paid and free. These are the platforms that allowed me to progress quickly and excel at a pretty fast rate. Of course it goes without saying that any resource is only as good as the work that you put into it. Dedicate a specific range of time everyday to learn, even if its only 30 minutes. Consistency is key!

Without further ado, I hope this list helps you decide which resources you feel would be best for your situation.

1. Udemy

First on the list is Udemy.com, which is a platform that I attribute to about 90% of the skills I have learned over the years pertaining to web development. Udemy has a huge platform and provides courses for almost any industry or skill that you could imagine.

As far as web development courses, in my opinion, they have the highest quality courses for the lowest prices. They also use a great rating system and you can easily differentiate the quality courses from the ones that are less useful. Always read the reviews for any course that you are considering purchasing.

There are plenty of low quality courses on this platform as well, but if you read the reviews and do your research you cant go wrong. Below are my top 5 Udemy courses for web development. I have personally taken all of these courses and I can vouch for them. From beginner level to intermediate, these courses can substantially increase your skills and knowledge. You can also check out my review of these courses, where I break down each course and explain the curriculum and pros and cons.

Top 5 Udemy Courses To Become A Web Developer

2. Team Treehouse

When I first started learning web development, I used Team Treehouse for about 6-8 months. They have high quality video tutorials and a code-along style that makes learning those complicated concepts easier to understand. I highly recommend Team Treehouse for beginners through advanced students.

Team Treehouse uses a subscription based platform where you pay a set price, depending on what path you take. I personally think it is a good deal if you commit to it and use the platform everyday to increase your skills.

They also usually offer a free trial so you can test out the courses before you commit. They have a very user friendly interface and is very straight forward. Try treehouse today using the following link: Team Treehouse.

3. Coursera

Coursera is one of the few popular online learning platforms that I have yet to try. Although I do not have personal experience with their courses, I know many people that have shared their experiences with Coursera over the years, and it has always been good things said.

They have over 70 million users and offer many courses from almost any industry you can think of. Some of these courses are also offered by top universities including Yale, Duke, and Stanford. Coursera students have gone on to work for IBM, Google and even Facebook.

One of the best things that I see as a big advantage in using a platform such as Coursera, is that they offer accredited courses and you usually receive completion certificates that will look great on your resume. The connections that they have with big companies could also be a big help in finding employment after completing their programs.

Coursera envisions a world where anyone, anywhere can transform their life by accessing the world’s best learning experience. More than 70 million learners use Coursera to take courses offered by top universities like Yale, Stanford, and Duke and top companies like Google, IBM, and Facebook.

4. Pluralsight

Pluralsight is another platform that in my opinion is similar to Coursera in some ways. While they have skill assessments and a unique learning system, there is a wide variety of courses. It would seem like they are more geared toward tech skills. They have specific paths such as JavaScript, IT Certs, Cybersecurity and more.

For a student wanting to learn web development, I don’t think you could go wrong with choosing the Pluralsight platform. Like I say all of the time, it is less about which platform and more about how persistent you are in your self education. I would say to definitely check out this platform.

Try Pluralsight today by clicking this link: Pluralsight

5. Free Learning Platforms and More

When it comes to web development in particular, there are two top platforms that are free of charge. Codecadamy.com and Freecodecamp.org. When I began learning web dev, I bought a used laptop off of craigslist and begin using both of these platforms to learn all of the fundamentals.

For no cost, these two platforms are the way to go. Codecadamy also has a paid version as well, though I have never used it personally. Be sure to check these out if you are unsure if you want to go into web development, and want to learn enough to know if it is something that you would be interested in. The great thing is that is doesn’t take long to find out if it is for you or not. I was hooked within the first week and never turned back since. I hope you utilize some of these resources to level up and learn the skills to create a career in web development.

Below are other great educational resources.

Level Up Dev Youtube Channel

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