Whether you’re thinking about pursuing a career in full-stack web development or you’re simply trying to improve upon your current knowledge and skill set, you’re in the right place.
To become an adept full-stack web developer and learn full-stack web development, you need to be equipped with knowledge in three different fields: front-end development, back-end development, and database.
Front-end development online courses cover everything from HTML and CSS to JavaScript and JQuery, whereas back-end development covers PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python, NodeJS, and others. You may as well get VBA certified, too, or do a course in Business Intelligence.
3 Top Full Stack Developer Courses
[Best Full Stack Developer Course Overall]
Created by Colt Steele, one of Udemy’s most prominent web developers and boot camp instructors, The Web Developer Bootcamp is viewed by many as the be-all and end-all of web development courses.
4.9/5
[Best for the Money]
2. Full-Stack Web Development with React Specialization
Full-Stack Web Development with React Specialization is a course certified by Hongkong University of Science and Technology, which happens to be Asia’s number-one university.
4.8/5
[Best for the Self-paced Courses]
Offered by the University of Michigan, Web Design for Everybody is a beginner-level web development and coding specialization course. It’s designed for those who are looking to learn the basics of web design and front-end web development.
4.7/5
The field of databases is all about MySQL, CouchDB, Hadoop, and MongoDB, just to name a few. Simply put, full-stack web dev covers the whole nine yards as far as creating web and mobile-based applications.
Luckily, you don’t need to be within college grounds to learn how to be a full-stack developer, as there are numerous high-quality online courses provided by renowned online learning platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udemy, and others.
That said, this article attempts to shed light on some of the best full-stack developer courses available today, so stick around.
Best Full Stack Developer Course Reviews
4.9/5
Created by Colt Steele, one of Udemy’s most prominent web developers and boot camp instructors, The Web Developer Bootcamp is viewed by many as the be-all and end-all of web development courses, with over 480,000 students worldwide and a ton of positive reviews.
The Web Developer Bootcamp is a beginner-friendly course that grabs you by the hand and walks you step by step through the foundation of modern web development.
It covers tools and technologies like HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3, SemanticUI, JQuery, Bootstrap 4, Unix, DOM Manipulation, Express JS, MongoDB, REST, Passport JS, and many others.
Instructor Colter Steele is one of the few web development instructors that actually have a flair for teaching. Just because you’re adept at something doesn’t mean you’re fit to teach it.
Colter Steele has a few years of experience designing and teaching in-depth boot camp web development programs priced between $15,000 and $21,000. The same knowledge shared in these costly online courses is brought to you by Udemy for a fraction of their price.
The Web Developer Bootcamp course is centered around projects, meaning you’re not just consuming tons of theory without actual application. There are over 13 projects in this full-stack developer course. The course to become a web developer also features an effective production manager called YelpCamp.
A few things you should know about this web development course is that it’s the only beginner full-stack course that offers NodeJS knowledge. Also, it’s the only course presented by a professional boot camp instructor. Further, the course is updated with new modules and projects on a regular basis.
Lastly, The Web Developer Bootcamp course is backed by active support through a community forum and a Q&A section. There’s also a full-time TA to ensure swift responses to questions.
Pros
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4.8/5
Full-Stack Web Development with React Specialization is a course certified by Hongkong University of Science and Technology, which happens to be Asia’s number-one university.
This course stands out amongst its competitors because it teaches you how to implement multi-platform solutions. It does so by combining intermediate front-end technologies with hybrid mobile development. Server-side development is also thrown in the mix.
Please bear in mind that you need to have some basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, to dabble in this intermediate course.
By the end of this one of the best full-stack web dev courses, you’ll be well-versed with React Ecosystem. You’ll also be quite knowledgeable in React Native and NodeJS.
Furthermore, the course teaches you how to use MongoDB to implement NoSQL databases and how to communicate to the client-side with the aid of a RESTful API.
This web development specialization from the Hongkong University of Science and Technology is divided into four modules. The first module, dubbed “Front-End Web UI Frameworks and Tools,” covers all sorts of client-side web UI frameworks, primarily Bootstrap 4.
It also touches on CSS preprocessors, NPM and NodeJS task runners like Gulp and Grunt, JavaScript components, and others. Quite a packed module.
The second module is called “Front-End Web Development with React” and, as the name implies, it covers Reactstrap, React Router, REST API, and Flux architecture.
Thirdly, you have “Multiplatform Mobile App Development with React Native,” which covers cross-platform web development as well as native Android and iOS apps via React Native and Expo SDK, versions 0.55 and 27.0.0, respectively.
And lastly, you have “Server-Side Development,” which covers everything from MongoDB and Mongoose to NodeJS and its different modules.
On average, the course requires 16 weeks to complete to learn web development, punching in 8 hours per week. The course is backed by excellent community support and peer-to-peer support. You can give the course a try for free and only pay up after a week of dabbling in its material.
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4.7/5
Offered by the University of Michigan, Web Design for Everybody is a beginner-level web development and coding specialization course. It’s designed for those who are looking to learn the basics of web design and front-end web development.
The course covers preliminary principles that revolve around HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It’s presented in a five-stage format, each format having its own set of exercises, assignments, and quizzes.
Web Design for Everybody is packed with projects that students need to work on to hone their web development skills.
The final project is a capstone application that requires the student to build their own professional portfolio in the form of a responsive website that’s accessible to a broad audience. This includes people with physical, audial, cognitive, and visual impairments.
Web Design for Everybody is conducted by two instructors that have many years of teaching experience under their belts, namely Charles Russell Severance and Colleen van Lent. Both instructors have authored a number of books that have to do with technology and design.
This full-stack web development course is centered around developing highly accessible websites that work on all types of platforms, including tablets, smartphones, large-screen browsers, etc. Further, it teaches you how to implement interactivity with the aid of JavaScript.
You also learn how to use DOM (Document Object Model) to modify web pages and how to use existing frameworks like Bootstrap for more efficient web development.
The duration of the course is around 3 months, punching in 8 hours a week. You can, however, take the course at your own pace. You can even audit its content free of charge.
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4.6/5
Developed and tutored by Dr. Angela Yu, The Complete 2021 Web Development Bootcamp is one of the most prominent and comprehensive full-stack development courses today. It has over 50 hours of video content, 19 downloadable resources, and many articles to read.
Dr. Angela Yu is one of London App Brewery’s leading instructors. She’s behind hundreds of apps, websites, and games. Further, she taught over 300,000 students just on Udemy.
The Complete 2021 Web Development Bootcamp covers areas like front-end technologies, CSS3, HTML5, JavaScript ES6, Bootstrap 4, DOM Manipulation, NodeJS, NPM, EJS, REST, MongoDB, Mongoose, SQL, ReactJS, Authentication, Firebase, Deployment, Heroku, and many other vital fields of web development. It’s arguably the most comprehensive course on this list.
Furthermore, The Complete 2021 Web Development Bootcamp flaunts two modules that you’d be hard-pressed to find in other web development boot camps, namely Design School 101, and App Security. If you’re coming from a UI/UX background, these modules will be of great value to you.
Lectures and modules aside, the course aims to hone the learner’s skills by providing real-world projects, quizzes, exercises, references, cheatsheets, and many other resources that are valued at over $12,000. To add, you get to enjoy Dr. Yu’s 12 Rules to Learn to Code ebook.
The projects in this course vary in terms of difficulty, ranging from to-do lists and landing pages to full-blown blogs and websites. The course is very well-structured and provides insights from the ground up, meaning it's suitable for beginners, intermediates, and professionals.
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4.6/5
New to web development? Beginner Full Stack Web Development is arguably the best full-stack developer course for beginners, mainly because of how intuitive and enjoyable it is.
This full-stack course is developed and tutored by Mark Price; one of the most renowned mobile developers, with over 57 Android and iOS apps as well as several Unity 3D games. Price has taught over 270,000 students on Udemy alone and has 15 courses packed with plenty of value.
topics like HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap 4, JavaScript, NPM, DOM Manipulation, REST, Express, Node, ES6, MongoDB, and React.
The course is well-structured with plenty of exercises, assignments, quizzes, and downloadable articles to ensure rapid improvement.
By the end of this 30-hour course, you’ll be able to build websites via CSS and HTML, work with NoSQL databases using MongoDB, create mobile-friendly sites via Bootstrap 4, build APIs and back-end servers via Express and Node, and build full-stack apps via React, to name a few.
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4.5/5
Featured on LinkedIn Learning, Become a Full-Stack Web Developer is by far one of the best full-stack developer courses today. It’s also one of the most concise without compromising on knowledge, requiring only 35 hours to be completed.
This full-stack web development course is centered mainly around back-end and front-end frameworks. It also teaches you how to work with servers and how to carry out database integrations and host configurations. Further, you'll learn how to build dynamic data-driven sites.
The second course is called “PHP Essential Training,” which, as the name implies, covers the basics of PHP with an aim to help the learner create dynamic web pages.
Next, you have “PHP with MySQL Essential Training 1 and 2.” These two courses will help you hone your PHP and MySQL skills. Thereafter, you have the “Programming Foundations: Web Security” course, which teaches you the most vital security concerns when building a website.
There’s also the “Ruby on Rails 5” course, covering how to create data-driven web apps with the aid of Ruby on Rails 5. Courses 2 to 6 are all instructed by Kevin Skoglund, founder of Nova Fabrica: a prominent web development agency that specializes in custom web solutions.
Course number 7 is called “NodeJS Essential Training” and is instructed by Alex Banks. It goes over everything you need to know about JavaScript applications via NodeJS. Next, you have the “Building a Website with NoseJS and ExpressJS” course; pretty self-explanatory.
The last course is “ReactJS Essential Training,” enabling you to create browser-based sites and apps using the ReactJS library. As you can probably tell, this entire curriculum is quite advanced, so it’s recommended to have basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript before enrolling in it.
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4.5/5
Full Stack Web Developer is a “nanodegree” course from Udacity. The course is developed with the help of industry leaders. In other words, it focuses mainly on what companies are looking for in new candidates.
This full-stack developer course is perfect for intermediates and professionals preparing for a new position as a full-stack web developer. It covers all sorts of job-relevant skills and information. Beginner developers can dabble in this course, but it’s not the most beginner-friendly option.
As you can tell, the course is quite particular in what it chooses to cover. It also requires prior experience with object-oriented programming languages such as Python as well as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, GIT, and Data Structure knowledge.
The great thing about this course/certification is that it’s entirely project-based, so you don’t have to worry about consuming a ton of theory without practical application.
By the end of each module, you’ll find a project that sums up the entire module. And by the end of the course itself, there’s a capstone project that covers every aspect of this course. It involves creating a full-fledged database-backed API with user access control.
Some of the module-based projects included in the course involve designing booking databases for artists, venues, and so forth, building Trivia APIs, deploying a Flask App with EKS, creating a coffee shop application, and many others.
What you’ll love the most about this nanodegree course is the spiteful community. It won’t feel as if you’re all alone in taking this course.
On average, this course should take you around 4 months to complete. You only need to give it 5-10 hours per week.
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4.4/5
Offered by the prestigious University of London, this specialization revolves around responsive website design and development. It consists of 6 comprehensive courses that cover everything from UX design and front-end coding to creating custom databases for different software.
The first course covers the three basic aspects of web development, namely HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, whereas the second course sheds light on prominent web design concepts.
The third course teaches you how to incorporate multi-user web apps with the aid of MeteorJS and MongoDB. In the fourth course, you work on honing your web programming skills with the aid of Meteor packages, MongoDB filters, and various data validation schemas.
The fifth course takes you on a journey through the ins and outs of various
collaborative, interactive web apps that are based on different types of media, including images, sounds, and big data. You'll also learn how to build similar apps with the aid of Meteor.
The sixth and final course has a capstone project that involves building a responsive, multi-user, data-driven site that addresses a certain problem.
Courses aside, Responsive Website Development and Design Specialization features an impressive number of assignments, exercises, and quizzes. By the end of your learning path, you’ll be able to build and deploy mobile-friendly web apps with industry-standard technology.
This specialization is geared primarily towards beginner web developers with no previous experience in design or programming. It’s also great for intermediates and advanced web developers who are looking to update their knowledge.
Completing this specialization will take you around 6 months, punching in only 5 hours per week, which is about 40 minutes a day.
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4.4/5
Simplilearn might not be as prominent of a learning platform as Udacity, Coursera, or LinkedIn Learning, but their Full Stack Web Developer course is vastly superior to most courses available today.
This is actually a Master’s program more than it is a course. It covers everything that has to do with front and back-end JS technologies. The “MEAN” stands for MongoDB, Express, Angular, and NodeJS. With this stack at your disposal, you’ll be able to build effective web apps from the ground up with absolute grace.
The program includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ReactJS, and Docker Compose as an elective curriculum. You can skip these topics if you already have a solid background.
The web development program consists of 5 primary courses: JavaScript training, HTML and CSS training, NodeJS training, Angular training, and MongoDB developer and administrator.
By the end of this program, you’ll be aware of the fundamentals of JavaScript and Ajax Development. You’ll also know how to insert and format graphics as well as handle forms in Angular apps. Further, you’ll know about buffers, events, streams, and CRUS operations.
This full-stack web development program flaunts over 90 hours of video content, 10 simulation exams, 7 industry-focused projects, and 100 online classrooms.
For each completed course, you get an individual certificate, and upon completing the entire program, you’ll receive a Master’s certificate. A very well-rounded learning path, overall.
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4.3/5
This is yet another excellent full-stack development certification program that covers the ins and outs of front-end and back-end web development. The certification is offered by Edureka, and the curriculum is developed based on extensive research of thousands of job descriptions.
The awesome thing about this program is that it requires no prerequisites whatsoever. So, if you’re a complete beginner, this is a great program to enroll in. Further, it doesn’t take much time to be complete. Following the suggested pace, you should be able to finish it in 21 weeks.
It’s also worth noting that this is a Master’s program, so you’ll be receiving an authoritative certificate upon completing the program.
This Master’s program consists of 9 courses, including jQuery UI Development, NodeJS Certification training, Angular Certification Training, and MongoDB Certification training.
The program covers an impressive range of topics and concepts, including CSS3 animations and effects,
jQuery Ajax and utilities, DOM interactions and manipulations, Bootstrap ScrollSpy, Jade and Handlebar templates, dependency injections, Schema design and data modeling, real-time chat application via Socket.to, MongoDB on the cloud, and many others.
In its entirety, this program is worth around 200 hours of interactive content. There’s also a capstone project that will enable you to apply all that you’ve learned throughout the course. Completing the capstone project is essential to earning your certificate.
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4.2/5
The final full-stack developer course on our list is offered by PluralSight. It’s one of the shortest courses on the list, spanning a little over 5 hours. As you may have guessed, such a short course is geared towards those with previous web development knowledge. The primary aim of this course is to help the learner develop a systematic approach to web development.
Become a Full-Stack .NET Developer does an excellent job of enriching the learner’s knowledge and skills in the field of front-end and back-end web development. It also manages to cover concepts like Web API, ASP.NET MVC, Bootstrap 3, HTML5, CSS3, and Entity Framework Code First.
The course will teach you how to extract core use cases from a project’s requirements, build prototypes via the Code-First workflow, build forms with the aid of Bootstrap, create appealing designs with CSS, prevent web vulnerabilities, and build entire web applications from scratch.
One of the things we like the most about this course is that it comes with a 10-day free trial period, meaning you get to test the program before making a financial commitment.
Please keep in mind that this course isn’t for beginners. Further, it requires extensive knowledge of ASP.NET MVC 5 and Entity Framework 6
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Final Thoughts
There you have it; the best full-stack web development courses to date. We highly recommend reading each review thoroughly, as there are discrepancies between all of the above-listed courses that set them apart in terms of difficulty and prerequisites.
Fortunately, most of the courses reviewed in this article are quite comprehensive, meaning that they’re perfect for beginners, intermediates, and advanced developers. An excellent example of that would be Colter Steele’s The Web Developer Bootcamp.