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For those considering a career in web development, it’s important to figure out whether you want to work in front-end or back-end development; they’re both lucrative paths, but very different paths at that.
Front-end development focuses on what a user will see and interact with while visiting a website — the design and layout of the page and the links they can click. Conversely, back-end development deals with the metaphorical nuts and bolts of the coding operation — all of the aspects of a website that make it run, but are invisible to the user.
Understanding the distinction between the front end and back end of a website is important in deciding which programming language to learn first. While there are competing theories on what language beginners should start with, there’s no clear consensus. The best thing you can do is choose whichever one lines up closest with what your goals in development are.
If you think that you’re interests lie more with back-end development than front-end, Udemy is currently offering two classes that could start you on your way: the Complete Python Bootcamp and PHP for Beginners: Become a PHP Master and Make Money Fast. Both of these classes are aimed at brand-new coders, but each covers a different back-end language, Python and PHP respectively. Python is a popular choice for beginners because it is regularly cited as being relatively easy to pick up (“relatively” being the key word here) and has a pretty active community of developers, so if you have questions, chances are you can ask around and find your answers. PHP, while also a back-end language, is a little different in that the language is a bit less readable, and many of the most popular web frameworks, including WordPress and Drupal, are built with it.
If you’ve been waiting to learn to code and think you want to be involved in back-end development, do your due diligence and find the right language for you. If you come to the conclusion that Python or PHP is the first language you want to tackle, these Udemy classes are a good place to start. They are available for just $24 each at the moment. Both courses have over 9,000 students and an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars.
Complete Python Bootcamp, $24 (originally $199), available at Udemy. [88% off with the promo code INSIDER24]
PHP for Beginners – Become a PHP Master and Make Money Fast, $24 (originally $300), available at Udemy. [92% off with the promo code INSIDER24]