How to become a JavaScript Developer

Why should you become a
JavaScript Developer?

Demand for experts in JavaScript is growing rapidly. Companies are looking for people with deep expertise in the field of JavaScript to help them build their products and services.

As a result, JavaScript Developers are in high demand and command high salaries. According to leading sources, the median salary for a JavaScript Developer is $110,000 and a senior JavaScript Developer can earn up to $150,000. Even entry-level positions can command great salaries.

No wonder that interest in a career in JavaScript is growing rapidly. Explore the resources below to learn more about how to become a JavaScript Developer.

Table of Contents

Best Javascript Books
Great Javascript Courses
Javascript Mentors
Must-Read Javascript Articles
Javascript Projects
How to learn Javascript

Best books to build JavaScript understanding.

A well-written and thorough book can be an amazing path to build deeper understanding and also act as a handbook as you discover the internet's vast resources.

These are our and our experts top picks to get started building career-relevant skills.

JavaScript: The Good Parts

Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript an outstanding object-oriented programming language-ideas such as functions, loose typing, dynamic objects, and an expressive object literal notation. Unfortunately, these good ideas are mixed in with bad and downright awful ideas, like a programming model based on global variables.

View

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

For nearly 25 years this best seller has been the go-to guide for JavaScript programmers. The seventh edition is fully updated to cover the 2020 version of JavaScript, and new chapters cover classes, modules, iterators, generators, Promises, async/await, and metaprogramming. You’ll find illuminating and engaging example code throughout.

View

A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript

The author wrote the book and exercises especially for people who are new to programming. Making no assumptions about what you already know, the author walks you through JavaScript slowly, patiently. They explain every little thing in sixth-grade English and avoid unnecessary technical jargon like the plague.

View

Maintainable JavaScript: Writing Readable Code

You may have definite ideas about writing code when working alone, but team development requires that everyone use the same approach. With the JavaScript practices in this book—including code style, programming tips, and automation—you will learn how to write maintainable code that other team members can easily understand, adapt, and extend.

View

Eloquent JavaScript, 3rd Edition

This much anticipated and thoroughly revised third edition of Eloquent JavaScript dives deep into the JavaScript language to show you how to write beautiful, effective code. It has been updated to reflect the current state of JavaScript and web browsers and includes brand-new material on features like class notation, arrow functions, iterators, async functions, template strings, and block scope.

View

Effective JavaScript

In order to truly master JavaScript, you need to learn how to work effectively with the language’s flexible, expressive features and how to avoid its pitfalls. No matter how long you’ve been writing JavaScript code, Effective JavaScript will help deepen your understanding of this powerful language, so you can build more predictable, reliable, and maintainable programs.

View

Courses to deepen your JavaScript skills.

These days, courses are no longer a sequence of videos. They are usually accompanied by projects and a learning community, keeping you accountable and on the path.

Our experts recommend these courses, from free selections to paid programs.

The Complete JavaScript Course 2020

Become an advanced, confident, and modern JavaScript developer from scratch. Build 6 beautiful real-world projects for your portfolio (not boring toy apps). Complex concepts like the 'this' keyword, higher-order functions, closures, etc. This best-selling course can truly take you from zero to one at a reasonable rate!

View

JavaScript 30

Beginner to Intermediate developers and designers who want to become comfortable with both JavaScript fundamentals and working in the DOM without a library. You should already know some JavaScript to start - This isn't a JavaScript 101 course. We learn by application - encountering many new situations while talking about the hows, the whys and the whats that we use to solve them.

View

JavaScript: Getting Started

JavaScript is the popular programming language which powers web pages and web applications. If you are new to programming or just new to the language, this course will get you started coding in JavaScript.

View

JavaScript: The Advanced Concepts

Learn modern advanced JavaScript practices and be amongst the top of JavaScript developers. Functional Programming, Inheritance + Prototype Chain, Asynchronous JavaScript + Event Loop and much more is included in this advanced best-selling JS course on Udemy by instructor Andrei Neagoie, who himself used to be a senior software developer

View

UI: Advanced JavaScript

We're obsessed with making the most effective developer education content on the planet. On average, it takes us around 1,900 hours to create a new course. While others prioritize quantity, we optimize for quality. After learning about the topic you'll receive a quiz to make sure you have a solid conceptual understanding before moving on to the hands-on practice.

View

The JavaScript must-reads you shouldn't miss.

Key articles and posts of industry experts can help you get a better picture of what you are getting into.

In our opinion, these are some must-reads you really shouldn't miss.

Full Stack Developer's Roadmap

It's easy to focus on the front end of web development, but what about the back end? Learning about the back end improves your front end skills. Here are some resources for full stack development that you can save for later.

JavaScript Visualized: the JavaScript Engine

JavaScript is cool, but how can a machine actually understand the code you've written? As JavaScript devs, we usually don't have to deal with compilers ourselves. However, it's definitely good to know the basics of the JavaScript engine and see how it handles our human-friendly JS code, and turns it into something machines understand!

70 JavaScript Interview Questions

A collection of 70 real-world JS interview questions, as collected by a full-stack developer in the space. Crucial to go through these as a job hunter and make sure you pass the next interview with flying colors!

Opportunities and projects in the JavaScript space.

In the end, advancing your career is all about getting the right opportunities at the right time and a good portion of luck.

These are some interesting things going on in the JavaScript space and you probably don't want to miss them.

Write a NPM package

JavaScript and NPM relies on open-source. As a developer, you are in the best position to share your knowledge and share your work. Being a NPM package author also puts you on the radar of companies, so get on this!

How to become a JavaScript Developer

Why should you become a
JavaScript Developer?