
Ask HN: Is it worth learning web development now? - jamilv
I was researching and planning on jumping into a dev bootcamp in the coming months. Actually its a back to back bootcamp, one for rails and one that teaches  Node and mobile.<p>I am wondering if it&#x27;s worth it to invest the time and money to become a good developer at this stage in the game?<p>My main concerns are A) if there really is a shortage that could use filling and B) when I have honed my skills a solid base (around 1 year in), would there really be a job for me?<p>I would love to hear your opinion!<p>For reference I am 25, my background is in IT and I am currently at a senior management level in a marketing function.
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webmaven
Yes, it is. The market is going to continue to grow (although it is possible
that the field will continue to split into more specialized subfields than
'front-end' and 'back-end'), some of which may eventually have little
connection to the 'web' as we still know it (possible example: 'devops').

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ISeemToBeAVerb
Why wouldn't there be a place for you? Web technologies are only going to
increase in importance. If you're worried about competition, you'll need to
get over that. Fear of competition comes from a scarcity mindset. Instead of
focusing on what other people are doing (the competition), choose to focus on
increasing your own skills and value. If you do that, you'll naturally surpass
those people who choose to become complacent and put in the bare minimum. You
have a marketing background, so that helps a great deal. There's no shortage
of talented developers, but there are a shortage of talented developers who
know how to market themselves and present their ideas and value to clients. If
you're skilled at what you do AND you know how to market and sell that value
to clients, the sky's the limit for you.

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jamilv
It's not so much competition, but I have heard a lot recently about there
being a web dev bubble of sorts. Especially with me being 1 year out from
being a solid junior dev I just wanted to get the take of those in the field
already.

I REALLY appreciate the input!

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cjbprime
My sense is that there's a salary bubble, but not a job bubble. I think it
would make sense to expect average webdev salaries in a few years to be lower
than today's. Still seems to me like it's a good time to start learning,
though!

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poseid
Programming is becoming a key skill almost like writing and math for any
interesting job. First, there is the web platform (see why JavaScript is
important there here: [http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/07/next-generation-web-
apps-wi...](http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/07/next-generation-web-apps-with-
full-stack-javascript.html) ), then there is the maker movement, according to
Neil Gershenfield, the 3rd digital revolution
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0RDrSKenGo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0RDrSKenGo)

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rchenmit
there might be an abundance of CS majors these days, but its been argued that
there still is a lack of _quality_ CS majors
([http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2014/01/08/are-there-
too-m...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2014/01/08/are-there-too-many-
students-going-into-computer-science/)). so if you can do the dev bootcamp and
become a super hacker, then its worth it.

on another note, McKinsey predicts there will be a shortage of data scientists
in the upcoming years, of 140-190K.
([http://www.mckinsey.com/features/big_data](http://www.mckinsey.com/features/big_data)).
If you are good at math/statistics and are willing to learn how to code, data
science boot camps may be something to consider (see below). Right now a lot
of data scientists are people with PhD's but this likely won't be the case in
a few years. My guess is data science bootcamps will start sprouting all over
the place very soon (perhaps its lagging the dev bootcamp wave by 2-3 years..)

[http://www.thisismetis.com/data-science](http://www.thisismetis.com/data-
science) [http://www.thedataincubator.com](http://www.thedataincubator.com)

~~~
joeclark77
This is a good point, and I would add, _marketing_ is one area where there's a
huge need for data science, business intelligence, analytics, data
visualization, etc. You might specialize in using web technologies like d3.js
in building analytic dashboards for marketers, or focus on A/B testing, SEO,
and other areas that require an overlap of marketing knowledge and web
techniques.

~~~
jamilv
Funny enough my idea is to spend my web project time building a marketing
focused application. Any type of marketing analytics or marketing automation
tools are quite expensive so I thought it would be cool to be able to make
some simple automations myself later on.

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S4M
I think it can always be useful to make a basic website. You can use it to
prototype any idea you have, at work or during your free time, and see if you
like doing that and want to keep improving your web dev skills.

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CyberFonic
So you want to take a pay cut ???? Why ? Senior Marketing Management is a
pretty good gig!

~~~
jamilv
I find it's not very flexible. The only jobs I seem to be able to get are in
corporates and they pay alright (always below market though), but they grind
the crap out of you and usually treat you like crap until your CMO level. Even
then its probably not majorly different. I kind of feel 90 hour work weeks are
better dedicated to development.

Also not too many openings at the moment to move into. I think of the bootcamp
at least as a good opportunity to learn a new skill since I made a major move
and quit my job anyways. So worst comes to worst I can go back to the
marketing jobs but this time with a new skill.

