is Web Development the best way to go if someone does not have a degree?

A

Aakash Anand

Recruit

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Was discussing with a friend of mine and he said it's better to learn web development if someone doesn't have a degree and want to start a career as a developer.
it made me think since it's all about experience after a while then maybe starting as a web dev might be the easiest and best option to learn and get a job/freelance quickly and then learn things like C# and .NET to get better opportunities. (Someone with no degree whatsoever like a high school dropout)

Thoughts on this?
 
Aakash Anand said:

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Was discussing with a friend of mine and he said it's better to learn web development if someone doesn't have a degree and want to start a career as a developer.
it made me think since it's all about experience after a while then maybe starting as a web dev might be the easiest and best option to learn and get a job/freelance quickly and then learn things like C# and .NET to get better opportunities. (Someone with no degree whatsoever like a high school dropout)

Thoughts on this?
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People suggest that because this is the field which has the highest demand, and thus, you have a greater opportunity to score a job.
And then WebDev itself is a umbrella term for frontend / backend / PWAs and what not.
Then there's the devops roles..
 
I would agree that Web Dev has one of the lowest barriers to entry, but that also comes with a high competition
I'm a full stack developer, and I see the growing requirements to get a good job. Even for beginner roles you're expected to have a decent portfolio and be up to date with atleast one major framework
 
+1. Web development has the most number of jobs right now and isn't going anywhere anytime soon. On side note if are just starting, try to learn something which is in demand right now. C# and .NET as of today is only limited to enterprise. On other hand JavaScript and related backend frameworks are hot these days. I would not get in the debate which JS framework is best but you need to pick something JS based and Free code camp is excellent completely free resource.
 
Getting a job in a reputed firm with an attractive compensation package would definitely requires a degree, but thats being said there are ample small businesses and companies that do hire without degrees. Web development is a great way of entry and is hot these days. I would suggest enrolling into a course that will give you a certificate on completion. This will help you in convincing the recruiter if you don't have a CS degree
 
Yes, you can go for web development without a degree. Don't assume that it will be easy.
There's a steep learning curve, which will make that college degree seem like a walk in the park. If you have not succeeded there, you need to rethink.
There's a reason people get a degree in IT / Computers before becoming entering this domain. Also, the courses offered by premier institutes are not cheap.

There are many more options fo those not fortunate enough to have completed their college degree:
  • Software Quality Testing: My company has a few Testers who are BCom graduates and 2-3 who aren't, but have completed a manual / automated testing course in some institute.
  • BPO (Inbound only, please avoid outbound BPOs as they will take you to the edge of existence): I worked in a BPO for about 3 yrs to fund my Master's degree. To this day, they offer good packages, compared to working in other streams, such as retail sales. Downside: shift duties aren't for everyone.
 
  • I agree with all the above. I would like to support this by saying that post-covid there has been a huge increase of people who have started their own small business or such and with that comes the demand for websites & other social roles (social media manager, content creator etc) all of which you can learn without a degree.
  • I understand that anything 'code' can be intimidating for beginners so you can look beyond web development if you wish to as well as I mentioned above.
  • As for work scope, You could potentially be a freelancer / for-hire on a work to work basis and for that a course isn't necessary but it definitely is much better route to learn & setup a strong base in the long term as opposed to YouTube Tutorials & Articles. A course would also help for getting hired as a full-time employee if you wish to. It's hard to place a package range since it depends on a-lot of factors e.g. if you are getting outsourced by a foreign business then you are likely to be paid more than local businesses.
  • Digging deeper into the freelancer or a job route. They both have pros and cons which you have to look at yourself to see which suits your lifestyle. In a nutshell, Freelance is very hard to start off but generally can be better in the long term (it comes with its risks) whereas a Job is easier to get into (imo)
 
App development also has a lot of potential. Freelancing is lucrative and you can land high paying jobs once you have the experience and CV to back it up.
 
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