Route to take for Web Development Knowledge

classes or self-study

[truezeta]

Hi everyone. I am just wondering what avenues you would suggest a newbie to web development to take to learn basic programming languages. I was going to take some local classes at a community college, but my brother who is a computer wiz (Masters student at George Mason in Security Information Technology) advises against it. He states I can get better knowledge from a good reference guide and practice. So do you think I should skip the community college classes and tough it out on my own? What would you suggest. I have below basic computer knowledge, I am an MSW, not a computer wiz :-) Thanks in advance for the help!

[ken_b]

You know yourself better than anyone else, so you are the best person to answer your question. What matters here is what style of learning you are most comfortable and productive with.

There are great resources online, good print books, and no doubt good classroom based options.

If you learn most easily in an independent study situation, online resources and books might be the way to go.

But if you learn best with the interaction and more structured environment of a classroom setting that would seem to be the better choice.

[emodo]

If I did it all again, I'd take basic classes to get the introduction. (PHP 101, MySQL 101, Photoshop 101, etc...) But, after that I'd go the rest of the way on my own.

Personally, classes are great for introductions, guiding you from no knowledge to basic knowledge. However, after that the best way for me is just to do it.

[txbakers]

Take a clue from Nike - Just Do It.

[truezeta]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I will take a couple of basic classes and do independent study from there.

[httpwebwitch]

I never took an academic course in any of this web stuff. I really wouldn't have the patience for doing useless projects to please a teacher and get a meaningless grade.

Put aside the time you would have spent going to classes and working on assignments... and spend that time making websites.

You should grab a few O'Reilly manuals that cover the areas you want to study. They're expensive, but not nearly as costly as a college course.

Also less costly than a college course: buy a domain and a hosting pkg and use it for all your experiments on a live server accessible from the www.

It takes discipline.
Some people need the structured learning environment of a school and a curriculum; if you are one of those people, you may learn the basics at school, but you won't excel in the real world. This industry changes so fast, if you can't learn independently, you will fall behind.

Mentors are more important than teachers. Make sure you get to know some people who have been doing this for a long time, they will save you from making a thousand mistakes the hard way. A lot of those people hang out here :)

[truezeta]

Thank you! Everyone is teaching me a lot. Glad I found this site.

Nice handle BTW, httpwebwitch! :-)

[johnnie]

When taking classes, be very wary of the teacher's level of expertise. I've seen webdesign classes where people are being taught to 'program' their websites in bloody word.

[vidasandi]

hi! if you think you are persevering enough and can stick with the online materials without getting distracted with the million other links in-between,while doing the studing then go ahead. otherwise go and do it in a college, coze that is much faster , since you have to follow a routin and be really disciplined . otherwise you are in for a real lot of confusing stuff which might infact make you think that you wont be able to do it in a college either. So i think go the short cut way and get i t done in a proper college with proper teachers, and limited time period... All the best in whatever you decide to do

[john_k]

As long as you have a supply of beer and a good lava lamp, the rest is just details.

Speaking of details though: What will you do with the development skills? If you will code your own site, and maybe help some friends, then the formal education isn't that important as others have said.

However, if you would like to make a career as a programmer, then some formal education will take you a long way. This is also true if you see yourself working on your own site, but with a team of other developers.

Individual programming languages come and go. But the ability to break down problems, the discipline to comment code, and the appreciation for consistancy transcend the languages.

Most introductory college programming courses are not really about the language. A first class in C++ for instance is as much about learning to program as it is about C++.

Those 1 week crash courses, however, I would avoid. They really are a crap-shoot when it comes to instructors. And even when you get a good one, you can probably learn as much on your own over the internet in almost the same amount of time.