You will need two things to get your first job as a web developer:
- A portfolio of websites you have created
- Some type of certification
Once you are able to produce a handful of sites and earn one or two certifications, you will have a strong enough resume to go job hunting.
Most people are capable of achieving those two goals with 6 months of part-time work and learning.
Develop a Job is a great tool for guiding your journey to a new career, but it is only one guide. We want you to succeed as web developer, so please use any resources which might help you become a web developer.
The Start Here: Web Development Podcast is another great resource for learning to be a web developer.
As someone who was an in-house front & back-end developer for a high-tech company for 12 years and a freelance developer for another 15 years, I can tell you that certification helps, certainly to capture larger or more corporate clients but many smaller, local clients can be found through the use of smart marketing and a good selection of portfolio websites. That’s for freelance work though. If you’re looking for a position within a company or firm, you’ll need that certification and then some – most requiring a degree of some sort, typically in computer science, and then web development certification on top of that.