I've searched for a recent question about web development, specifically front-end web development and could not find one that answered my questions, but hope someone here can offer some advice.
I've been in the civilian job market for four years and have found success in digital marketing, but I believe that I would be much more fulfilled if I were working as a web developer. I love conversion rate optimization and believe that my time as a marketer will give me an advantage when creating sites and site structures.
Has anyone here made a career change into web development or has always worked as a full stack or front-end engineer? I would love to be able to pick your brain and get your advice on either changing careers or just to get a feel for what it would take to become an entry level developer.
Answers
Most businesses have terrible websites. The Amazon.com experience is very different from the Amazon iPhone app, and Walmart has one of the worst sites for searching for products when compared to Amazon. Why? Because they are using completely different development tools and process flows for their web applications used on different devices. And because almost all have failed to do a very good job of mapping their workflow between the prospect or customer and their internal operations.
The automated tools to build a front end are all very limited in their ability to deliver exactly what the business needs to track how a prospect is interacting with the website. This takes a much more sophisticated approach and in the long run is significantly beneficial to the business from an ROI perspective. For example, our company has a very sophisticated system that tracks prospects from their first interaction to conversion. Many manual steps have been automated, saving us hundreds of manhours. It is written in .NET MVC and runs on any device. It does everything from geocoding, to launching emails to our team when follow-up is needed and updates a sophisticated database that we use to track conversions using our internal CRM. It is written in C# and is very secure due to the MVC and routing architecture - as well as our proprietary security monitoring systems. You can learn MVC for free https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/mvc/overview/getting-started/introduction/getting-started.
The advantage of using .NET and C# is that you can now deploy apps to the iPhone, Android or Windows 10 using the same code via Xamarin (which is integrated with .NET). Write once - use anywhere.
But knowing how to be a good programmer is only part of battle. The other part is learning how to design systems that meet user expectations - which is actually harder than learning how to program. For that, I encourage you to learn the story mapping technique. A good book is https://www.amazon.com/User-Story-Mapping-Discover-Product/dp/1491904909/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499617021&sr=8-1&keywords=story+mapping.
I hope this helps.
Jesse: you might consider working as the IT lead for a small B2C business (< $200M annual revenue). You would do some development yourself, but they would benefit too from your experience in marketing as you helped them to understand the solutions required for their total business. Maybe reach out to some people in those roles at local companies and see what they can share with you about their job? Maybe it would be interesting to you.
Best of luck.
Front-end development is largely a commodity now. What I mean by this is, you have these automated tools that will build a web site, including checkout shopping cart, for little or no effort by a novice user. You also have larger corporations that outsource their front-end development to places like Singapore, India, or Indonesia in which labor costs about US$8 per hour for this skillset.
What you need is a specialization in a highly demanded skill , and front-end development is not one of those.
Try Cyber-security.
http://www.umuc.edu/academic-programs/cyber-security/index.cfm
If you looking to do more on the marketing visual website development for businesses, coding using Wordpress and build a website from "A-Z"? If so it is a very competitive market based on Sales. My business partner owns a website marketing developing company that 15 years old
If you are interested more of an "engineering" backend and software developing than it is more in high demands especially with your military background and it's less competitive. Learning how to code is key in both cases.
Hi Jesse,
There are a lot of web development and front end development options available and although there's people overseas who will work for less money creating front end design, that doesn't mean there aren't people or companies in the U.S. that won't pay a legitimate price for good web design.
Since you have experience in marketing and analytics, I'd recommend starting your own web design business. There's many small businesses that need web design and marketing and many more willing to pay a fair price for it. Getting started you're not going to need to worry about the Amazons and Walmarts or fortune 500 websites. Start with the small businesses in your community.
Web design is just one facet that businesses have a need for, and it's constant. - Updates, changes, facelifts, etc. etc. etc... Other facets include the domain name, SEO, Hosting, Marketing, Analytics, Conversion Rates, Email List Management, etc. etc.
You don't need to know programming to build great websites. Plus there are many others that are programmers that you can contract out to do what you cannot or don't want to spend the time learning. Today, most websites on the Internet are powered by WordPress and I highly recommend it. Most used servers are also open source based which run on PHP and MySql. Learning a bunch of stuff you don't need to learn would be a waste of time.
To get started, if you're serious about front end development and marketing, I'd suggest starting with the right tools.
1. A web hosting and domain management software - This is where you'd automate the process for customers to purchase your services and manage them - think GoDaddy (dislike). One place rather than having everything spread over multiple websites and logins.
2. The above system would also include a Support Ticket functionality and a trail of every communication with your clients.
3. A hosting solution - Resell a solid hosting solutions without having to learn system administration.
4. Domain Solution - Resell domain names so your clients can purchase new domains or manage current domains on your system.
5. A value added offer such as web design - Most small businesses don't want to learn to build their own website, although they could. Most small businesses aren't going to look to have it done overseas either. They want to talk to a real human being and have a relationship that's going to be profitable for all.
There's a lot to think about Jesse. If you're serious I can help. If you want the tools to do it right and build a web business then PM me and I can at least get you information on the systems and even set them up in place where they work flawlessly. I'd also be happy to offer some coaching in this area as your business grows.
There's a large number of businesses around you that will pay $5000+ a year for good web design and marketing. They're all over the darn place.
Mike, your insights it's profoundly helpful to talk to people who are doing this type of work on a daily basis. I'm learning that writing and pushing code is only part of the battle as you mentioned, and feel that becoming a full stack developer is only the first waypoint on a much longer journey. Thank you for helping me to map out a plan of action because I know it will not be easy, but I continue to want this badly and feel like I'm on the right track finally.
John and Drew, thank you for the advice I will start to expand my pool of opportunities as I make preparations for a career change.
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