Is Web Development the best career choice for 2019?

In this post, I would like to dedicate my words to a job most people overlook when jumping from website to website on the internet: web development.

Being a web developer is not easy; but it also depends on what type of web developer we're talking about: there are front-end, back-end, and full-stack web developers. The front-end web developers devote all their energy towards the visual aspect, the final version that users see on a website—i.e., the structure, although they are not web designers—. The back-end web developers are those in charge of what the user cannot see: the servers and how a website processes data. Finally, the full-stack web developers, as its name indicates it, these guys are the full package. They have the complete skill set to provide a full website all by themselves.

In general, front-end web developers work with different programming languages; some of them are: HTML, CSS, Javascript, among others (because those 3 are the most popular ones), and their current versions are 5, 3 and ES6 respectively. Back-end developers have more paths to take, whether it be Python, PHP, etc.

According to subreddits such as /r/freelance and /r/webdev, being a web developer in 2018 (and 2019 because we're closer than we think!), is one of the most secure options to earn a constant income, because there are so many jobs out there without anyone working on them. In fact, according to some sources, approximately 1 million software engineering jobs (and anything relating to Computer Science and Web Development) were offered this year 2018 without anyone actually responding. They were empty and unoccupied jobs.

So, if you want to work from the comfort of your house, and you're sure you can endure the hardships of networking and finding clients associated with the freelance web development path, as well as working hard to constantly learn the new things these technologies bring every day, maybe this is the right choice for you.

After researching in different forums and websites, especially on Reddit, one can find a lot of good tutorials out there. For example, The Odin Project and FreeCodeCamp seem to be the most solid choices for beginners who want to learn fast, in an effective manner, and with the objective of landing their first job as soon as possible. Other good choices include Colt Steele's The Web Developer Bootcamp on Udemy; now, because it is on Udemy it has a price, but according to a lot of people, it is one, or just the best course on Web Development (also, be alert with discounts on Udemy, if you have the chance to purchase this course at a lower price, don't doubt about it and dive in!)
Of course, you can take the courses that websites like Codecamy have to offer. But the thing is that, nowadays, employers and clients care more about your projects and your ability to actually output something, instead of your education, your degree or the number of courses you've taken. The reason why I'm saying this is because websites like TheOdinProject and FreeCodeCamp seem to be more project- and result-oriented in comparison with Codecamy for example (and that also require a monthly subscription to keep learning).

Being a web developer, again, is not easy: one has to learn every day and stay on the disciplined path to not give up and also be focused on learning one thing at a time, because the speed of the early learning curve can be overwhelming in a positive sense, and when the days pass and you notice that you're not learning as much as you used to do at the beginning of your journey, you may feel disappointed or unmotivated. But I say to you, hold the line, and keep learning, do not quit.