How Long Does it Take to Learn Web Development?

Many aspiring programmers, freelancers, and small business owners want to learn web development but worry that it will take too much time. Luckily, web development has a relatively low barrier to entry. Most of the basics can be learned within three months, and dedicated individuals can master the essentials in as little as six months.

The time it will take you to learn depends on several factors. This guide will show you the most effective ways to learn web development and some resources to speed up the process.

What is Web Development?

Web development is the art of creating a website and ensuring it’s consistently usable. Web Developers use various coding languages to achieve this goal, and it’s common for coding teams to have a person—or multiple people—entirely dedicated to web development. It’s commonly broken down into three types: front end, back end, and full stack development. Each type has a unique role that contributes to the website’s operations.

Front end web development works with the website's client-side, referred to as the “front end.” This part of the website contains the sections people can see, such as sliders, banners, text, and other visual information. On the opposite side, back end web development works on the website's server-side, or “back end.” This part of web development controls the website's functionality and is where all its data resides.

Full stack web development is a fusion of the two and takes on their best qualities. A Full Stack Developer will have skills in each category and can seamlessly maneuver between the front and back end. Teams will often have at least one Front End Developer, Back End Developer, and Full Stack Developer readily working on the website regularly.

Read more about what web development is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Web Development?

Web development can bolster your career, highlight your hobby, and possibly evolve into a small business of its own. Every industry, from medicine to finance to education, has adapted to the world’s changes and is relying on the internet to complete its work. This list only scratches the surface—nearly every business has shifted online because they value the easy access the internet brings them and their clients.

You’ll increase your professional value by having web development skills and helping build your company’s website. You can also shift career tracks by using web development as a bridge. Are you in medicine but want to switch to art? First, you can start web development for hospitals and then pivot to creating websites for artists. The internet’s importance to all industries means you can easily change companies as you progress.

While you can showcase your passions on social media, having a website increases your credibility, helps you connect with others without vying for their attention, and creates a centralized location for your work. Most importantly, it allows you to operate on your own terms without worrying about sudden changes to a social media platform’s algorithms or policies. And, if you want to build a network on social media, why not have both?

Average Time it Takes to Learn Web Development

The time needed to learn web development depends on your prior experience. If you’re starting as a complete beginner, you’ll need to learn the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript first, which will take a few lessons longer than if you took a coding class.

Most beginners can learn HTML in a few hours, and you’ll have mastery of it within one or two weeks. CSS might take a little longer, but with the right instructor teaching a Front End Development Certificate program, you’ll know if you’re heading in the right direction. You can expect to gain practical web development skills within three to six months.

The good news is that you won’t be at a disadvantage when you’re ready to start applying to jobs or releasing your passion project on your website. The languages mentioned earlier can act as fuel to energize your entire web development career. Once you have those three languages down, the sky is the limit.

Other Factors

Sometimes, other aspects affect the length of your web development education. Below are a couple of factors that come up frequently. While these factors may impact how long it takes to learn web development, as long as you’re making progress, you’ll still succeed in the long run.

Work & Family Obligations

Everyone understands that you have to work to pay for the food that feeds your family. It’s perfectly okay to spread out your classes to meet their needs. The important thing is that you continue to follow your goals even as you follow these obligations.

What matters here is that you use your free time effectively. It may help to take a self-paced or live online class to reduce the time you need to travel to and from classes. If you’re starting without experience, try to pick a lower-commitment class while adjusting your schedule. Once you have your routine in place, you can look into web development bootcamps and certificate programs that will accelerate your education.

Self-Doubt & Hesitation

Sometimes self-doubt about learning a new subject can become an invisible obstacle. You may or may not have web development experience, but you likely have other experiences that can inform how quickly you learn its basics.

Have you ever been on a website before? Perfect—then you know how a website should work! Give yourself credit where it’s due. You might not have the vocabulary or in-depth knowledge to describe what’s happening on a website yet, but you know more than you think. Once you have the fundamentals under your belt, your learning speed will speed up before you know it.

Other Distractions

It might not be only your family, job, or experience that slows down your progress. Sometimes, it’s simply the little things that come up when we least expect them. You might have dozens of tiny “obligations” that come up all at once, throwing a monkey wrench into your plans, routine, and schedule.

When life happens, forgive yourself. You’re only human. Take these moments in stride and use them to help reprioritize your schedule. One mistake now may save you countless similar mistakes in the future. They won’t slow you down more than once unless you let them.

Your Reasons for Learning Web Development

Think about the reasons you want to learn web development. If you’re learning web development because it’s for your job, business, or passion project, then you’ll be more likely to complete it at a decently fast pace than someone who’s learning it simply because they can.

If you’re unsure why you’re learning web development, think about your end goal; what are you trying to accomplish once you have web development skills? Once you have a more defined reason to learn web development—or any subject—you’ll be more likely to follow through at a faster pace.

You can also try a few pre-recorded tutorials in web development and other related subjects like coding or web design. As you watch these videos, you might discover that your intentions for web development may also overlap with another area of study worth pursuing.

Level of Difficulty, Prerequisites, & Cost

Web development’s difficulty will depend on how much you try to learn at once. You might get overwhelmed by taking multiple classes to learn web development quickly. Most people have an easy time learning web development, and it’s common for new coders to try it before branching into other programming languages.

While there are no specific prerequisites to learning web development, it’s a good idea to look into learning search engine optimization (SEO), web design, user interface (UI), and user experience (UX) design as well. These topics don’t necessarily require web development knowledge; you can start learning about them before or after your web development training.

The programming languages needed for web development are open-source, meaning they’re free to use and modify as you please. The only costs associated with learning web development are the ones you’ll spend on your computer and any courses you choose to take.

If you want to prepare for a web development career in a short amount of time, an immersive bootcamp is the best path to take. For those who are only trying to learn the basics, try a shorter, low-commitment web development class first and see if it’s right for you. Once you have the fundamentals down, you’ll find that the workload of web development classes is much easier to manage.

Read about how difficult it is to learn web development.

Watch a Free Web Development Online Course

Did you know that there are free web development classes too? These courses are ideal for future developers who want to learn some basics before investing in a web development course. Look over this playlist of free web development tutorials from Noble Desktop to help you decide which classes are best for you.

Once you’ve found the topics that match your interests, you can start to find web development classes. Plenty of free courses are offered directly through Noble Desktop, General Assembly, Udemy, and Coursera to help guide your search. These training facilities have quality overviews of HTML, CSS, and other web development fundamentals.

Read about more free web development videos and online tutorials.

Learn Web Development with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers high-quality web development classes and bootcamps that are flexible to your learning needs. These courses, taught by experts in web development, are available in-person at their training center in Manhattan and live online internationally. Noble ensures that you will work in small groups with your instructors to help you receive individualized attention, support, and career mentorship. All Noble courses are also available for a free retake up to one year after completion.

Beginners might be interested in the Front End Web Development certificate program because it gives them the practical knowledge needed to become Web Developers. This program has two tracks depending on how quickly you want to learn: the full-time option takes four weeks to complete, while part-time students will complete the course in four months.

For those that are interested in learning more about web development as a whole, the Full Stack Web Development Certificate will show you all of the significant concepts associated with client-side and server-side web development. This course is another excellent option for beginners since you can take it with no prior experience. Noble’s courses come with certificates that you can proudly display on LinkedIn or send to employers alongside your resume.

Key Insights

• Most people can learn web development basics in a few weeks
• You can become proficient in web development as early as three to six months
• Life happens, and it’s okay to slow down your education’s speed when necessary
• Noble Desktop offers practical web development training that you can do at your own pace