{"id":6355,"date":"2020-05-25T05:40:04","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T05:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardorsys.com\/?p=6355"},"modified":"2020-05-25T05:40:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T05:40:04","slug":"5-key-skills-for-web-app-developers-to-learn-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardorsys.com\/blog\/5-key-skills-for-web-app-developers-to-learn-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Key skills for web and app developers to learn in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Web and application development<\/a> can change quickly. Much of this is driven by user behavior and user needs \u2013 and if you can\u2019t keep up with it, it\u2019s going to be impossible to keep your products and projects relevant.<\/p>\n

The only way to do that, of course, is to ensure your skills are up to date and constantly looking forward to what might be coming. You can\u2019t predict the future, but you can prepare yourself.<\/p>\n

Here are 5 key skill areas that we think web and app developers should focus on in 2020.<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s impossible to overstate the importance of AI<\/a> in application development at the moment. Yes, it\u2019s massively hyped, but that\u2019s largely because its so ubiquitous. Indeed, to a certain extent many users won\u2019t even realise their interacting with AI or machine learning systems. You might even say that that\u2019s when its used best.<\/p>\n

The ways in which AI can be used by web and app developers is extensive and constantly growing. Perhaps the most obvious is personal recommendations, but it\u2019s chatbots and augmented reality<\/a> that are really pushing the boundaries of what\u2019s possible with AI in the development field.<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence might sound daunting if you\u2019re primarily a web developer<\/a>. But it shouldn\u2019t \u2013 you don\u2019t need a computer science or math degree to use it effectively. There are now many platforms and tools available to use machine learning technology out of the box, from Azure\u2019s Cognitive Services, Amazon\u2019s Rekognition, and ML Kit, built by Google for mobile developers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New programming languages<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Earlier this year I wrote about how polyglot programming (being able to use more than one language) \u201callows developers to choose the right language to solve tough engineering problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

For web and app developers, who are responsible for building increasingly complex applications and websites, in as elegant and as clean a manner as possible, this is particularly true. The emergence of languages like TypeScript and Kotlin attest to the importance of keeping your programming proficiency up to date. Moreover, you could even say that they highlight that, however popular core languages like JavaScript and Java are, there are now some tasks that they\u2019re just not capable of dealing with.<\/p>\n

So, this doesn\u2019t mean you should just ditch your favored programming languages in 2020. But it does mean that learning a new language is a great way to build your skill set.<\/p>\n

Accessibility<\/h5>\n

Web accessibility is a topic that has been overlooked for too long. That needs to change in 2020.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hard to see how it gets ignored. When the pressure to deliver software<\/a> is high, thinking about the consequences of specific design decisions on different types of users, is almost certainly going to be pushed to the bottom of developer\u2019s priorities. But if anything this means we need a two-pronged approach \u2013 on the one hand developers need to commit to learning web accessibility themselves, but they also need to be evangelists in communicating its importance to non-technical team members.<\/p>\n

The benefits of this will be significant: it could be a big step towards a more inclusive digital world, but from a personal perspective, it will also help software developers<\/a> to become more aware and well-rounded in their design decisions. And insofar as no one\u2019s taking real leadership for this at the moment, it\u2019s the perfect opportunity for developers to prove their leadership chops.<\/p>\n

JAMStack and (sort of) static websites<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Traditional CMSes like WordPress<\/a> can be a pain for developers if you want to build something that is more customized than what you get out of the box. This is one of the reasons why JAMStack (a term coined by Netlify) is so popular \u2013 combining JavaScript, APIs, and markup, it offers web developers a way to build secure, performant websites very quickly.<\/p>\n

To a certain extent, JAMstack is the next generation of static websites; but JAMStack sites aren\u2019t exactly static, as they call data from the server-side through APIs. Developers then call on the help of templated markup \u2013 usually in the form of static site generators (like Gatsby.js) or build tools \u2013 to act as a pre-built front end.<\/p>\n

The benefits of JAMstack as an approach are well-documented. Perhaps the most important, though, is that it offers a really great developer experience. It allows you to build with the tools that you want to use, and integrate with services you might already be using, and minimizes the level of complexity that can come with some development approaches.<\/p>\n

State management<\/strong><\/h5>\n

We\u2019ve talked about state management recently \u2013 in fact, lots of people have been talking about it. We won\u2019t go into detail about what it involves, but the issue has grown as increasing app complexity has made it harder to gain a single source of truth on what\u2019s actually happening inside our applications.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t already, it\u2019s essential to learn some of the design patterns and approaches for managing application state that have emerged over the last couple of years. The two most popular \u2013 Flux and Redux \u2013 are very closely associated with React<\/a>, but for Vue developers Vuex is well worth learning.<\/p>\n

Thinking about state management can feel brain-wrenching at times. However, getting to grips with it can really help you to feel more in control of your projects.<\/p>\n

Source: Packethub<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Web and application development can change quickly. Much of this is driven by user behavior and user needs \u2013 and if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[137,83,65,25,127],"class_list":["post-6355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-general","tag-web-application-development","tag-web-designer","tag-web-developer","tag-web-development-company","tag-website-development"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t