If you're thinking of starting a career in web development in 2025, you're in good company. You're also going to face headwinds that previous generations haven't. Let's get you sorted.

Cutting to the chase

• If you're young and have time on your side, consider a computer science degree. Yes, you'll spend a zillion dollars and learn a lot of extra theory that might seem excessive when you're struggling trying to move a <div> one pixel to the left. But you will end up with a much better understanding of how computers work. Develop a portfolio of projects to go with your degree, and your resume will be near the top of the pile for junior jobs.
• If a four year degree isn't in your future, web development boot camps are an excellent way to learn the basics very quickly in an intensive group setting. Career services from HR pros associated with the boot camps are great at linking you up with employers, though the job market is much tighter than in the past ten years. These can still be pretty expensive in terms of upfront costs, but the learning is compressed into months instead of years, and it focuses on maximizing employability instead of comp-sci theory.
• If you're looking to choose your own adventure, there are incredible self-directed resources available for free. It's hard and frustrating, but you have a better chance at succeeding than any previous generation of developers. You'll be standing on the shoulders of giants, using AI to un-block you. Old heads use to give up on their "Teach Yourself C in 21 Days" book on day one or two when their compiler wouldn't install properly. That won't be the case for you, Aquarian star-child!

Computer science degree for doing web development

If you're a teenager and time is on your side, the computer science degree rules. You will always be taken more seriously compared to your boot camp and self-taught peers, deservedly or not. Don't worry about what the job market looks like from here at the end of 2024. If the computer tickles your brain, web development is a phenomenal career. Don't let the current job market scare you. Imagine if you gave up on web development when the dot-com bubble burst? The lack of new job postings at this immediate moment is going to look hilarious in a couple of years when we have a drought of junior developers and all the graybeard uncs are retiring.

Go forward bravely!

Web development boot camp certificate

From the early 2010s until around 2022, the market for web developers fresh out of boot camp seemed unlimited. The 2020 start of the pandemic saw insane demand for web developers. Then, inflation-driven quantitative tightening meant venture capital funding stopped, and new hiring with it. Job postings cratered, and we're going through a painful reset now. Some developers are changing industries, or taking jobs that they wouldn't have glanced at during the pandemic.

If you go the web dev boot camp route right now, you're in for some pain. You're going to be signing up for a months-long job hunt. Chances are, you will have to take another IT-related job and do web dev part time or off the side of your desk for a while. Junior developer jobs aren't getting posted now, and the ones that are get literally thousands of applicants from around the world. If possible, aim for a in-person job for your first position. You're going to be a little useless to whoever is brave enough to hire you at first, so it's very important that you are a likable person and able to work and learn in person.

Most web development boot camps will have a free introductory course. Definitely do this first. Don't spend thousands of dollars until you've slammed your head against some JavaScript errors on your own time and decided you don't totally hate it.

If the web development boot camp you're considering doesn't have a "try before you buy" stream, make sure to try the learning options at the bottom of this post.

Self-directed web development learning

In terms of jobs, self-directed learners have the steepest mountain to climb when it comes to getting through the HR screening process. You will need to network, build a portfolio of applications, maintain a public GitHub portfolio, and be a very cool and likable person. Seriously, the job search will be hard mode all the way.

On the learning side, the hardest part is getting blocked and being unable to un-block yourself. Often times, the hardest thing is just getting a development environment set up on your computer. Luckily, developers in the glorious past created a site called Stack Overflow where frustrated newbies could post questions and total pricks helpful strangers could answer them. Then some slop peddlers boiled the ocean to scrape the Stack Overflow database and turn it into some chatbots, and now you can ask ChatGPT how to solve your error in plain language and it will do it while only burning down 1,000 trees per interaction!

But seriously - lean on AI. Copy and paste the errors you get stuck on, and tell it what you're trying to do. There's nothing new under the sun in most cases, and the AI is going to be very aware of how to help when you're first starting out. God bless you, Stack Overflow.

So where should I start?

In all cases, I would bookmark the Full Stack Developer Roadmap. This will be a thing you can go back to year after year to figure out what you should learn next. The learning never stops around here!

For folks thinking of going the university route, why not try that out for free? Start with Harvard's free online CS50: Introduction to Computer Science course. This is a MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) where you can get the real deal university experience for free. It would also be good to audit a university course or attend some super cheap community college stuff before you sink ten of thousands into university. Make sure you can learn in this format before you buy all the way in.

For web dev boot camp and self-directed learners, take a look at both freeCodeCamp.org and The Odin Project's Full Stack JavaScript curriculum and pick either one. Both of these are free, open source, and self-directed. Why would you pay for a boot camp if you have these free options? Paid boot camps tend to offer personal help from mentors (vital for when you get blocked), career services, and if you're lucky, a local network of other learners and teachers.

Definitely start a GitHub profile and start working on your personal website. This will feel uncomfortable. Working in the open? Failing for the whole world to see? Yes. It's vital to show that you're working, learning, and progressing over time. The most important skill you can show as a junior developer is an eagerness to learn.