Web development is the technical process of writing computer code, usually using programming languages like HTML and CSS and JavaScript, that tells a web browser how it should display information on webpages and how it should respond to user interaction. This makes web development training vital for anyone hoping to build evocative, memorable, and accessible webpages and mobile applications. Few professional skills are in as high demand as web development skills. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, web development job openings are expected to grow 30% year-over-year for the next decade, which is 600% higher than the national average.
Noble Desktop: Front-end Web Development Certificate
Key Information: This career-focused certificate-granting program is an ideal place for beginners to learn professional web development skills. The course is offered in-person or in live, online digital classrooms, and the course lasts four weeks for full-time students (weekdays), or four months for part-time students (evenings). Students in this course will receive professional development assistance, including one-on-one career mentoring sessions, and the course can be taken again for free within one year.
Noble Desktop offers students a comprehensive Front-end Web Development Certificate program for anyone looking to learn how to use HTML and CSS and JavaScript to design the client-facing side of web applications. Front-end web development refers to the process of designing and coding the elements of a webpage or application that an end user or client sees and interacts with when they load up the page, including all of the visual and interactive elements of the webpage. Students enrolled in this course will learn basic and advanced HTML and CSS programming skills, JavaScript programming and how to use workflow efficiency tools, including Git and Flex. This will give them the skills they need to create vibrant, memorable webpages that stand out from the crowd and bring attention to the project they are trying to amplify. In addition to this training, students will learn how to use WordPress, the world’s most popular content management service, to streamline web projects' design and development process. This program offers students a robust education in all major tools utilized in front-end development.
This career-focused training program aims to provide students with the tools they need to find work as professional Web Developers upon graduation. To this end, students will work with practical, hands-on exercises that teach them the kinds of front-end web development skills that they will use on professional design projects. They will also learn to collaborate with other developers using tools like Git to maintain code and share their work with fellow developers. This training will be vital for students hoping to find work at major design studios since complex web development projects often involve dozens or even hundreds of developers working together to complete working web applications. By the end of the course, students will have built a portfolio of working webpages that they can take on the job market.
Students enrolled in a certificate program through Noble Desktop can learn web development skills online or at Noble’s state-of-the-art training center in Manhattan. Similarly, they can enroll in a full-time or part-time program, giving them options to fit their schedules. Regardless of how they take the course, they will receive expert instructions from experts in the field of web development, and they will be able to work directly with their instructors in real-time. Students can ask questions and receive immediate feedback on their work, which can be vital for new programmers learning the basics of coding. Students will also benefit from Noble’s extensive career development support services, which include one-on-one career mentoring assistance and portfolio-building workshops aimed at helping students prepare job materials. Plus, anyone who enrolls in this course can take the class again, for free, within one year, giving them added time to practice and hone their web development skills.
Noble Desktop: Full Stack Web Development Certificate
Key Information: The comprehensive certificate program is a career-focused course available in-person or online. Students can enroll in the course full-time for 17 weeks (weekdays), or part-time for ten months (evenings). All students enrolled will receive one-on-one career development assistance, and the course can be retaken for free within one year.
Students looking to expand their skills may want to consider a course like Noble Desktop’s Full Stack Web Development Certificate program. This program teaches students full-stack web development, which includes front-end development (the visual and interactive elements of a webpage) and back-end development (the server and database infrastructure that users don’t see). This ensures that students will receive a complete web development education and be prepared to apply to various job openings upon leaving the program. Students will learn through hands-on, experiential exercises covering the practical aspects of programming web applications, including how to compile and debug code and collaborate with other developers. This is a beginner-friendly course, so even students without programming experience can enroll and prepare for a new career change.
Students enrolled in this program will start by learning how to read and write code using HTML and CSS and JavaScript, allowing them to build their webpages' visual and interactive elements. Then, they will learn how to use advanced JavaScript frameworks to build back-end infrastructure for their applications. This includes learning how to use the popular MERN stack, which consists of MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js, frameworks with applications in almost all advanced web and software development projects. Students will also receive training in major web development efficiency tools, including Git, Flex, and Bootstrap. Learning these tools will help improve your workflow and make your own development projects easier to build and run.
This is a career-focused program, and it aims to prepare students to find work as professional Web Developers once they complete their training. Students will learn web development by working on practical, real-world projects that produce working webpages that they can iterate and modify. This makes the course an ideal place to build a design portfolio, especially since Noble offers assistance in the Web Development and Industry Portfolio seminar that is part of this course. Students can enroll to take the class in-person or online, and they can study full- or part-time. Regardless of class modality, however, students will receive expert instruction from Noble’s web development experts and be able to get assistance and feedback in real time. This program also provides students with career development support, including one-on-one career mentoring sessions with experienced Web Developers who can provide students with advice on everything from interviews to cover letters. The course also has a free retake option that is good for a full year, giving students even more chances to hone their web development skills.
Ironhack: Web Development Bootcamp
Key Information: Ironhack offers web development courses in-person at their Miami campus or in live online classrooms. Completion takes nine weeks for full-time students or 24 weeks for part-time students. The course is designed to be beginner-friendly but enrollment requires fifty hours of asynchronous pre-course materials and the completion of a technical proficiency exam.
Miami-based tech education provider Ironhack offers a Web Development Bootcamp with in-person or remote training options and full- or part-time instruction. This beginner-friendly program offers students a chance to learn HTML and CSS, JavaScript, and React in a professional learning environment with the help of expert instructors. Students will learn complex front and back-end programming skills in practical, hands-on exercises that mirror the work they will be expected to do in professional settings. The course begins with fifty-hours of self-paced introductory instruction during which students can learn the basics of writing and compiling code in HTML and CSS and JavaScript. After this, students will go through guided modules covering front-end and back-end web development skills, including programming using MERN stack JavaScript libraries and Mongoose.
Class sessions are divided between live lecture seminars, during which students are introduced to complex web development processes, and dedicated project time, during which students will work hands-on with coding assignments that they can add to their professional development portfolio. Students will also be able to complete a fully operational, full-stack web application as a capstone project to the course. Once students have graduated, they will receive a certificate of completion, and they will be able to access Ironhack’s career development services, including the option to take part in their career development week of seminars. By the end of this program, students will be prepared to start searching for a new career in front-end, back-end or full-stack web development.
Devmountain: Web Development Immersive
Key Information: DevMountain offers a career-focused Web Development Immersive bootcamp that can be taken in-person or online. The course runs 16 weeks for full-time students or between 24 and 36 weeks for part-time students (depending on which session students enroll in). Students will receive career mentorship in one-on-one sessions and receive the opportunity to network with potential employers.
DevMountain is an industry-leading provider of web development training and bootcamps affiliated with Strayer University. Their Web Development Immersive program, available in-person at several different Devmountation locations or through remote learning, can be taken as a full-time or part-time course. This course covers introductory web development skills such as HTML and CSS and JavaScript, and more advanced training in JavaScript frameworks like Node.js and React. The course also aims to give students the critical thinking and analytics skills they need to approach programming problems and challenges. The course primarily focuses on front-end web development skills, but students will learn practical programming skills and transferable soft skills that can help them continue their training and learn more advanced web development languages and techniques.
Students enrolled in this course will receive practical, hands-on instruction in designing and developing HTML and CSS and JavaScript web applications. These assignments mirror the kinds of work that professional Web Developers may be tasked with programming, so students who graduate from the program will leave with a portfolio of sample designs that they can use to impress prospective employers. Students will also benefit from Devmountain’s one-on-one career development sessions, which provide career advice, interview prep and employer networking. Students who complete this course can interface directly with prospective employers through DevMountain and Strayer University’s career development events and students.
Code Immersives: Web Development Immersive Program
Key Information: Code Immersive’s Web Development Immersive program is a year-long, 900-hundred-hour web development program that combines live instruction and guided lab work. Students enrolled in this course will build a professional development portfolio and Amazon-certified AWS training.Â
Code Immersives offers a year-long professional development program in their Web Development Immersive program. In this beginner-friendly program, students will go from coding novices working with HTML and CSS to career-ready Web Developers building full-stack MERN applications. Students will divide their time between classroom instruction and lab work, in which they work on building functioning web applications and prepare portfolio materials for job applications. Students will move from basic web development lessons in HTML and CSS, JavaScript, Git and GitHub, and API programming to more advanced training in skills like MongoDB, Mongoose, React and advanced API skills. By the end of the program, students will be prepared to start searching for advanced web development and software engineering jobs.
Code Immersives is an Amazon-certified training center, so the final section of the program covers job preparation work and Amazon Web Services and Cloud Computing skills. Students who complete the program will leave the course prepared to sit for the AWS certification exam, so this program pulls a bit more weight when it comes to offering students certification. Students will also receive career-development support for students looking to enter the workforce. Students enrolled in the course will also receive tech support and a new MacBook Pro laptop to help ensure that they have the tech they need to start working on complex development projects.
Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)
Key Information: Adobe offers a collection of certification exams for students looking to demonstrate their proficiency in various web development and tech skills, including Front-end Development professional- and expert-level certifications. These exams take under two hours, and certifications last for two years. Study guides and practice exams are available.
Students looking to demonstrate their web development skills may want to consider exploring the certification exam options offered through the Adobe Certified Expert program. In this program, students can sign up for exams that test various web development skills and techniques at the professional, expert and master levels. These courses cover subjects ranging from data analytics to user experience management. For example, the Front-end Developer certification exam will test a developer’s ability to manage webpages, build layouts, utilize JavaScript programming, and administrate content management systems. An Expert level version of this certification is also available for students with more on-the-job or professional development experience.
Adobe estimates that students will need approximately one-year worth of practical experience and training to pass the professional level certification exam and one to two years' worth of experience to pass the expert level exam. Exams cost between 125 and 250 dollars to sit and take under two hours to complete. Adobe Certifications last for two years from the completion of the exam, and Adobe offers support services to help students become recertified after their certification expires. There is no formal training provided in these courses, but Adobe does offer study guides, practice exams, and detailed breakdowns of the content of the exams to students free of charge.
CareerFoundry: Full-Stack Web Development Program
Key Information: This fully asynchronous web development certificate program offers students the opportunity to learn on their own schedule. CareerFoundry estimates that students dedicating 40 hours a week to the course will complete it in about five months, while students dedicating 15-20 hours a week will take ten months. CareerFoundry offers one-on-one career coaching support and a money-back guarantee.
CareerFoundry offers students a flexible, asynchronous certificate-granting Full-Stack Web Development Program for students looking to learn professional front-end and back-end web development skills. In this program, students can learn web development skills at their own pace, starting with basic HTML and CSS programming skills and moving through lessons in programming with JavaScript, MongoDB, Node.js, React, and more. Once students have completed this section of the program and are ready to start building their own full-stack web applications, they can choose a capstone course in which they will learn Python programming or Cloud Computing, each with an emphasis on their roles in web development projects. By the end of the course, students will be prepared to enter the workforce as professional Web Developers.
While this is a fully asynchronous course, students who are enrolled in the program can work one-on-one with counselors and mentors who can monitor their progress, provide assistance and offer career advice. The flexibility of the course offers students the chance to build in-demand job skills at their own pace. Students who complete the program will have built an extensive portfolio of sample designs that they can take with them onto the job market, and CareerFoundry offers a 180-day money-back job guarantee. Students who meet certain requirements and don’t find a new job in the web development industry in six months will receive their tuition back in full.Â
ECornell: Web Design and Development Certificate Program
Key Information: Offered through Cornell University, this live online, part-time certificate program runs for approximately three months and requires 7-10 hours per week of student engagement. The class covers 60 hours of instructor-led professional development time, and students who complete the program will receive a certificate of completion from Cornell University.
Cornell University offers an online Web Design and Development Certificate Program for students seeking a part-time, online web development course. This live instructor-led program teaches students how to build and design web applications using HTML and CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery. Students will learn how to program the visual aspects of a webpage, add functionality to that page with JavaScript, and collect data on users in order better to understand the target audience of your web presence. This training is designed with beginners in mind, and as a practical programming education, it is useful for aspiring professional Web Developers and entrepreneurs and creatives looking to design their own web presence.Â
This is a part-time, live online program taught by Cornell University Computer Science and Information Technology faculty members. This course aims to give students who might otherwise lack the time or means to develop new career skills the chance to receive expert instruction in web development training. The course covers everything from basic computer programming skills to advanced data collection and analytics programming, which makes this an ideal course for students looking for a robust web development education. Students who complete the course will receive a certificate of completion from Cornell University, which can go a long way to helping aspiring Web Developers stand out from the competition, and since the course aims for hands-on instruction, students will have built a collection of sample designs to add to their portfolios.
Google: Android Developer Certification Exam
Key Information: Google offers specialized developer certification exams, including a first-party Android Developer certification. This exam tests students' understanding of application programming and the techniques involved in UX design and user data management. Students have eight hours to complete the exam, and their certification is good for three years.
Students looking for specialized web development certification may want to consider exploring their options through providers like Google. Google’s Android Developer Certification tests users' ability to design, maintain, and develop the essential aspects of publicly available Android applications. The exam will test students’ knowledge of the programming languages commonly used on Android applications and their knowledge of issues such as user interface design, data management, debugging, and testing. As more and more webpages are being developed alongside complementary mobile applications, demonstrating your ability to develop these applications can be a significant boon to professional Web Developers. Students who sign-up to take the exam can choose whether they are tested in Java or Kotlin.
The exam costs 149 dollars for a single attempt, and students will have eight hours to complete the exam (though this is significant buffer time, students are not expected to use the full-time period). The exam is available online, and students can enroll to take it from anywhere, though they will need a stable internet connection and a device with Android Studio installed. The exam does not come with supplemental training. However, Google does provide a study guide to help students prepare, and they offer their own collection of paid training programs. Students who pass the certification exam will receive official Android Developer certification that lasts for 36 months, at which point students will need to recertify themselves by passing the latest version of the exam.
Columbia Engineering: Coding Bootcamp
Key Information: Columbia Engineering’s Coding Bootcamp is a live online web development certificate program that is offered as a 12-week full-time program or a 24-week part-time program. Students enrolled in the course will receive career-focused training and access job support services such as career fairs, networking events and one-on-one career mentorship sessions.
Columbia Engineering offers an online Coding Bootcamp for students looking to learn in-demand full-stack web development skills, and students can learn these skills on a full or part-time schedule. The program covers front-end and back-end programming skills, so students will learn everything from HTML and CSS and JavaScript for front-end development to server-side development and database management using MERN stack libraries. This course also covers technical skills like quality assurance testing and API development. Finally, students can learn supplemental skills through guided self-study, including Python, C+, Java and the Amazon Web Services platform.
This course aims to provide students with what they refer to as structured flexibility, giving students a chance to learn detailed and immersive web development skills without needing to enroll in a full-time program. All of the programs are taught by live, online instructors who can provide students with feedback and assistance, but courses are scheduled to offer students additional flexibility in their training. Since this is a career-focused program, all of the lessons that students learn will aim to provide them with practical, real-world skills that they can take with them onto the job market, and students will spend time building working web development projects that they can add to their design portfolios. Students can work with experts and professionals in one-on-one career mentoring sessions to help prepare them for their future job hunt. Columbia Engineering regularly holds career events and job fairs that give students valuable networking opportunities and the chance to meet with employers directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Difference Between a Certificate and a Certification?
Students interested in learning web development may be interested to learn that while they are both means of becoming certified, certificates and certifications are fairly different from one another. While they are both means of demonstrating a student’s proficiency in some element of web development, they use different means. Certifications are awarded to students who pass an exam offered by an industry-recognized provider, usually a first-party application developer like Adobe or an industry titan like Google. These exams are built to test students’ practical and theoretical knowledge of web development concepts and techniques. These exams will demonstrate to employers that a developer has the necessary skills and training to complete a professional accreditation exam and are ready to start working on important projects. Certifications tend to expire after a fixed period of time, requiring students to regularly recertify by passing updated exams.
Certificates are more like diplomas, since they are awarded to students who complete industry-recognized skills training programs. These courses aim to teach students the kinds of skills that a certification exam tests them on, and most emphasize providing students with practical experience that they can parlay into success on the job market. Students who complete these classes will receive a certificate of completion that demonstrates to prospective employers that they have received the training they need to start working on web development projects and that they are proficient in all of the foundations of programming. These certificates do not tend to expire so that students can keep them for the rest of their careers. Certificates tend to be more expensive and time-consuming than certification exams, but this is because these courses provide students with specialized training and career development skills absent from a certification exam.
Should I Sit for a Certification Exam or Enroll in a Certificate Course?
The answer to this question will largely depend on how much prior training and experience you have in web development. Students who have significant on-the-job training or who have taken specialized training courses in other contexts are likely to want to save the time and expense of a training program to instead take a certification exam. Students who don’t have a significant amount of web development experience or are looking to change careers entirely will want to instead enroll in a certificate-granting program to learn the skills that certification exams test. These programs are also ideal places for students who want to brush up on their skills to prepare for a certification exam.
Do I Need to Be Certified to Find a Job in Web Development?
While the answer to this question will vary depending on the job opening in question, most Web Developer jobs will not require students to become certified unless they are specifically looking for developers who work with things like private data. However, becoming certified is a great way for prospective Web Developers to strengthen their resumes and set themselves apart from other applicants. In addition, most certificate-granting programs aim to help students find jobs and prepare materials for when they enter the job market.
Which Certificate Program is Right for Me?
Once students decide to enroll in a certificate-granting program, they will need to decide what kind of program they want to take. There are a few common training modalities that providers offer, including in-person and online courses and live instruction, asynchronous lessons or hybrid learning models. Each of these modalities comes with its own affordances and disadvantages, so students will need to consider their own needs, desires and learning preferences when considering what course to enroll in.
In-person or Online Instruction
The first question students should ask themselves is whether they prefer to learn in-person or a digital remote classroom. Over the last few years, online learning has grown in leaps and bounds, and students shouldn’t immediately write online courses off as inherently lesser. However, there still are significant enough differences between traditional and remote learning models that students should consider what aspects of their lessons are most important to them.
Many students still prefer in-person learning since the classroom space helps facilitate their learning and keeps them focused on their instructor and the material. Students in in-person courses can work directly with their instructors, and have the opportunity to collaborate and network directly with the students in their class. The drawback to these classes is that students can only enroll in courses they can physically attend, limiting students' options, particularly if they aren’t located near a major metropolitan area. In addition, students enrolled in a live course must factor in additional costs and time commitments for things like commutes or travel to mentoring sessions.
Online courses let students learn web development from anywhere that they have access to the internet, which can greatly increase the number of different options they have for certificate training. Students will also be able to learn how to develop web applications on their personal devices, which can be a boon for students hoping to do freelance work, work from home, or simply work on personal projects. The drawback to these courses is that students will need to spend more time ensuring that they aren’t distracted from their work, and these classes can be slightly lonelier since collaboration on projects is slightly more cumbersome.
Live Online, On-Demand, Hybrid Courses
Students who opt to learn online must choose a course based on their delivery method. Students can enroll in live courses that meet at fixed intervals (many of which offer full-time or part-time options), asynchronous courses consisting of prerecorded video lectures and modules, or hybrid courses that consist of some combination of both other modes. Students must consider their schedules, ability to handle independent study, and long-term goals when choosing modalities.
On-demand courses tend to be suited for students who have significant scheduling concerns that prevent them from attending regular courses and can put in the extra effort to troubleshoot for themselves. On-demand classes let students learn at their own pace and let them alter that pace on a week-by-week or even day to day basis as their schedule permits. This can be invaluable for students who have outside commitments that prevent them from attending class simultaneously every day. However, students won’t have direct guidance, meaning that they will need to troubleshoot their own issues, search for answers to problems, and find alternative sources of guidance when they are stuck, which can make the process take even longer. In addition, even reputable on-demand courses can fall behind in current trends and releases of languages and software, so it is possible for students to be working with outdated information, which can only further delay completion.
Live instruction has all the benefits of working with an expert instructor in a classroom space. Students can ask questions in real-time, receive personalized feedback on their work and be assured that the information they receive is up-to-date and accurate. These lessons help guide students through the process and are designed to ensure that they succeed in their training. Live instruction also makes it much easier for students to receive contextually relevant advice on their future career goals. These classes are more expensive and will require students to build their schedule around their lessons, but the long-term benefit of these courses can easily outweigh the short-term costs. Unless you only enroll in a brief preparatory course to complete a certification exam or simply cannot fit a live training program into your schedule, live training will likely be the best fit for your needs.