things

Things I wish I was told when I first started Web Development

In this post I want to share some of the things I wish someone told me when I first started Web Development.
Things that could have made me a better developer. 
Things that could have gotten me into the right path when I first started.


###The learning doesn't stop

There's always a new technology, tools, and methodology
that you will need to learn in order to become a better developer.
This is a truth in the web development industry.


###There are many ways to accomplish one thing

There are many ways to accomplish one thing but there are only
a few best practices that you need to follow.
Best practices are industry standard way of doing things.
Always Google the best practices for every programming language, technology, tool or methodology that you're trying to learn.
So that you will be doing things the right way right from the very start. 
For PHP there's [PHP the right way](http://www.phptherightway.com/), [PHP Best Practices](http://phpbestpractices.org/) and the [official PHP site](http://php.net/). And for JavaScript there's [JS the right way](http://jstherightway.com/).


###Not everything in the web is right

When I was in College we started learning HTML and CSS using [W3Schools](http://www.w3schools.com/) and [HTMLGoodies](http://www.htmlgoodies.com/). And we used the following to build an HTML page:

- TD colspan and TD rowspan
- Frames
- <blink> tags

Yuck right? But now there's [MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/) and [Web Platform](http://www.webplatform.org/) that teaches us the right way of doing things. 

Going back to the main topic. Not everything in the web is right so don't believe everything people say.
Most of the tutorials in the web shows you how to do things but often times its not a best practice.
So don't just blindly copy and paste codes that you find in the web. 
Always see to it that you perform a Google search on the specific method that the author have used in the blog
post and check what other people are saying and decide for yourself which method you would follow.


###There are lots of learning resources that you could use 

There are lots of learning resources that you could use. 
But always Here are some of those:

- [Code Academy](http://www.codecademy.com)
- [Udacity](https://www.udacity.com/)
- [Code School](http://www.codeschool.com/)
- [Khan Academy](https://www.khanacademy.org/)


###There's always something to improve

The code that you write today won't be perfect. 3 or 4 days later you will see something that
needs improvement. Sometimes you will even ask yourself: why did I even write this crappy code?
Or maybe: Who wrote this? It sucks!


###There are lots of tools that you could use

And by tools I mean the tools that you use for developing applications. 
Sublime Text is really hot these days but it doesn't mean that you should use it.
The tools that you will use always depends on which feels right for you. 
If dreamweaver feels right for you and you think you're productive when using it then don't give it up.
Although its always recommended that you try out different tools so that you'll have
an idea of how it can help you achieve your daily development tasks.
 

###There will never be enough time learn everything you want to learn

No matter how much time you have there will never be enough time to learn everything 
you want to learn so take it easy. Learn one technology at a time. 
Everything that is rushed ends up like crap. You just have to enjoy while learning.
Make sure you understand everything that you're learning and don't take shortcuts.


###Create a blog, portfolio, LinkedIn, Github, and a Stackoverflow account. 

If you plan on Freelancing then this is the way to go. 
Share your thoughts in the technologies, tools, coding practices, and methodologies that you're using.
Answer some questions on [Stackoverflow](http://stackoverflow.com/) and join discussions at [Hacker News](http://news.ycombinator.com/).
Create side projects and upload your code to [Github](https://github.com/).
Create a portfolio and LinkedIn account to show your skills to the world.
I won't be able to assure you that this will get you a job but its a good start to give you the exposure that you need.


###Salary doesn't really matter when first starting out

The salary that you make doesn't really matter when first starting out.
There are even people who do a project for free just to have something to put
on their portfolio. What is important is that you're given the time to learn the technologies
required to do the job.