How Can I Get Started As A Freelance Web Developer?

Is it possible to get a job as a Web developer with only a knowledge of HTML and CSS and no JavaScript?

  • The reason I'm asking  this question is that, I've seen some developer resumes online with no mention of Javascript. Many of them work for top companies. So I was wondering if its possible to get started as a web developer in some company with these skills and then gradually learn Javascript?  I must mention that many of these people had very elementary knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator, meaning that they didn't work as graphic designer but a web developer. (These tools too were not mentioned in their resumes.) PS:No sarcastic answers please. This is a genuine question by a person who's trying to get into the web development industry(from an unrelated field..........).Apologies in advance for any ignorance.

  • Answer:

    Yes, it is possible, but very difficult. I have spent the last five years as a professional web developer in a variety of roles and I know no JavaScript of any real-world use. I’ve been sure to specialise very heavily in one key area of HTML and CSS so that I am of use to larger organisations who can afford having such a tight level of expertise. I specialise in scalable CSS, front-end development process, working on big sites in big teams, CSS architecture, etc, etc. I have achieved great success in doing this; high responsibility jobs, international speaking engagements, a generous online following (site readers, Twitter followers and the like), awards and award nominations and more. This is all because of specialising heavily in one key area. You can actually be very successful by knowing a lot about one specific field, but you have to know a lot. The short answer is: yes, it is possible, but you have to make sure you’re very good at one specific thing. EDIT: I’d like to make a quick edit; reading this back makes me sound very boastful, which I really don't mean to be. The point I am making is that I have specialised so heavily that it had made me relatively well known in the field. I am that specialised that I have managed to make a name for myself in this very specific area. These are the levels of specialism we are dealing with, which I feel may not be easily replicable or even viable for others. I hope that clears things up a little.

Harry Roberts at Quora Visit the source

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Other answers

It's unlikely, but not impossible. You might get a job in junior level, but could take you months to find a job like that. My advice to you, try finding freelance UI design work of some basic level and in the meantime learn JS. It's not really difficult. In 2-3 months you can learn all the basics of JS and start developing basic interaction on websites. Use Codecademy website and Eloquent Javascript book to learn the basics.

Muhammad Azaz Qadir

yes u can surely be into web development if you know the designing of websites in psd and slicing them to make the code of website. no js will be required if u convert psd webpage into an actual webpage. :)

Priyam Srivastava

Yes, it is possible. But your pay will be very low. Your best bet would be to get employment in a marketing role where you are an assistant. Somewhere that has a active social media presence so you could manage those functions.

Juan Gallardo

Yes. Very much. There are very less people who are expertise in html and css. If you are the one who can produce excellent result. You can get a job.If you have a talent to achieve beautiful UI using only these 2 techonolgies. You are extra ordinary.

NarayaN Yaduvanshi

The honest answer is no, current scenario demands a front end developer to know not only JavaScript with HTML/CSS but also other skills like Jquery,AJAX,JSON,CMS, the list is too long and you want find anyone who is expert in all these , Check any JD for openings in front end job and you will know what I mean. I suggest have a basic knowledge of all the required skills and be an expert in HTML,CSS and JavaScript/Jquery to stay in hunt.

Alkesh Parikh

It's possible, I got in the job market with similar experience, in late 99, and I learned everything like Perl/CGI, JavaScript, ColdFusion, .Net, and  Php on the job. Its possible such opportunities might still be available. But on the flip side you might stay as a one man developer team for a while with no one but search engine as savior. You will constantly have to learn new technologies to stay ahead. or if you join a established team then you are expected to go from novice to know how the team works in few days to a week or two. Keep positive attitude, Good luck.

Wasay Syed

The below answers are great. You could also do freelance work. That could also help you gain more experience. Go look at something like http://www.Elance.com or http://www.99designs.com

Andrew Medal

Yes it is possible. A number of clients that I have worked with had designers who were incredibly talented when it came to HTML/CSS but had little more than a rudimentary knowledge of JavaScript. In some cases, they depended on me to create the view models to which the front-end code would be bound (they were using Knockout).   Now they were not completely novices. They could read JavaScript, at least a little. But balked at the idea of writing it.   That having been said, I suspect that kind of job is relatively rare. You might be able to get an entry level designer position with just HTML/CSS, but you will be a lot more valuable to any employer if you can write some basic JavaScript.

Bruce Johnson

I think it's very possible to get a job in a company where web development is happening as someone who only knows HTML and CSS, but it's going to get tougher to do so the way the industry is moving today *and* it would be tough to get a full-time or even a long-term contract position with just those two skills unless you were an HTML/CSS wizard. At my current company we had a subset of our user interface engineering team that focused entirely on markup and styling. Some of those engineers didn't know any JavaScript when they started. Some of them knew JavaScript to varying degrees. None of them ever really _needed_ to use it. The thing to note is that I'm using past tense because only one is still just focused entirely on markup and styling (and he was one who already knew JavaScript to begin with) whereas the rest moved over to writing JavaScript. If you're working at a company that delivers a particular product (or a suite of products) you're inevitably going to get to a point where you no longer need to do tons of brand new fancy styling or animation, but you're never going to get to a point where you don't need to add new functionality and features that have to be added via JavaScript code. If you deliberately avoid learning JavaScript to any degree, then all you're doing is limiting the opportunities you're going to have in the industry. Big companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. won't give you the time of day. Little companies like startups can't afford to get a markup/styling specialist and will want their developers to be able to "do it all". Medium-sized companies might be able to afford a specialist but would rather invest that money into a myriad of other things or people. And in many cases companies don't even want purely front end developers: they're looking for full stack developers who can more easily work interchangeably on any part of the project they're given.

Nathaniel Lee

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