Author: Rebecca Vogels

Teams have become the fundamental unit of an organization. That’s the reason why there has been a lot of research on how to improve team culture, collaboration, and communication. The question is no longer around what individuals can do, but how they can work together. Especially when it comes to web development projects, teamwork is key. In this article, we want to spotlight a few things that the best teams get right.

We take a look at three critical things: 1) communication, 2) culture of learning, and 3) psychological safety. Our goal is to provide a few tips of actionable advice so you can work better after reading this. Better as a team, of course.

Continue Reading “What the best dev teams do differently” →

“Which programming languages should I learn this year?” is one of the most common questions I get asked.

It’s a valid question, but it’s difficult to answer without knowing more about you and what you want to achieve.

It depends on…

• What is your current web development knowledge?
• What is the purpose of you studying programming?
• How much time do you have available?
• Do you want to work for yourself or for a company?
• Do you prefer frontend or backend?
• How much are you willing to invest in learning?

In our post about the “Best Programming languages for 2017” over 10,000 readers voted for their favorite language. Here are the results. (Don’t worry: You get to vote this year, too. Just scroll to the end of the post) Continue Reading “Which Programming Languages Should You Learn?” →

In the last hundred years, dozens of legislative acts have been passed to make our environment more accessible for people with disabilities. These include laws such as making public transportation wheelchair accessible (Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1970) or protecting disabled people from housing, education or job discrimination. Accessibility also applies to websites and creating accessible web experiences.

Accessible online experiences are no longer a nice-to-have, but are legally binding for governmental institutions (and their suppliers) as well as for big corporations such as airlines.

If you are thinking about making your website accessible or are in charge of a WCAG 2.0 implementation, this article will illustrate a process on how to get started. It will show you what accessibility for a website means and how you can make your website inclusive for people with a disability.

Continue Reading “How to make your website accessible” →

In web development, the saying “The only constant is change” seems to be industry-defining. Web development is changing every second and 2018 will be no different.

User expectations are growing and it is more important than ever to build digital experiences  that are engaging, fun, and intuitive. Content needs to be accessible everywhere, in real-time, and, of course, on mobile devices.

In order to make that happen, new programming languages and frameworks are on the rise (Hello Vue JS!), extensions are becoming more compatible, and real time web apps are becoming more popular.

In order to keep up with what is happening, we want to show you the top 7 web development trends that are happening right now!

Happy reading!

Continue Reading “7 Web Development Trends You Can Expect in 2018” →

Web design has changed so much in the last months and we can’t wait to see what 2018 will bring. While 2017 was all about minimalism, 2018 brings back bold typefaces, vibrant colors, and new possibilities for users to interact with design. More than ever design tries to catch our attention and keep us focused and engaged while browsing on a website.

But see for yourself what is changing!

Continue Reading “Web Design Trends To Watch Out For In 2018” →

Web design has been changing rapidly in the last years. Minimalist design, clear structures, and stunning visuals have become the norm, while text is kept to a minimum and illustrates the visuals on a given site.

The background of a website has gained new importance and often times becomes the main point of the user’s focus.

Continue Reading “Web Design: When the Background Becomes the Main Stage” →

These days, many people are thinking about getting into web development. The job prospect for web developers is better than that of almost any other profession, with expected growth rates of over 20% over the next 5 years.

Salaries are equally attractive: the median hourly wages for web developers in the US is almost $35/hr, which equals to over $72,000 a year. And many developers exceed this salary by far. With those numbers in mind, most experts agree that a good web developer will have no problem finding well-paid work in the near future. What’s more, web development offers great opportunities of working from home (or a local café) by becoming a freelancer. A recent survey revealed that over 7% of developers are freelancing, and this number is likely to go up.

So with all of the benefits, becoming a web developer is clearly a very attractive prospect. But the $72,000 question is, what are the requirements to becoming a developer? Do you need a bachelor’s degree, or a Ph.D. even? Or can you teach yourself, learning everything you need online? We took a look at the state of the industry and asked CTOs of different companies about how they wound up in their positions.

Let’s go!

Continue Reading “Is a college education necessary to become a great web developer?” →

Web development continues to be one of the hottest industries around, and it’s not about to change anytime soon. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of web developers is projected to grow 27 percent from 2014 to 2024, which is much faster than the average for all occupations.

With that in mind, we thought we’d put together a list of essential skills that every web developer should have. Knowing what to improve is the starting point to achieving greatness, so we hope you find some useful information on web developer skills in this post.

Let’s go!

Continue Reading “5 essential skills every web developer should have” →