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Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with spiders! Simply put, web scraping is a technique used to extract data from the world wide web automatically. It is an easy concept to learn and start working with, but still one of the best. There are tons of benefits for mastering this skill. When I first started learning it my eyes were endlessly opened to all the possibilities that are out there for mastering this type of craft. Let’s get into it…
Firstly, WHAT Exactly is WEB SCRAPING?
It involves using software or scripts to access and collect information from web pages, typically by parsing the HTML structure of those pages. This process allows you to gather large amounts of data quickly and efficiently, which can then be analyzed, stored, or used for various purposes.
And now, you may be asking, well, how is this useful? Why would I want to learn that? Good questions, and also some interesting answers…
You will see web scrapers everywhere, people use them in stocks for getting current and future share prices. You will also see them in real estate getting property information and potential leads. Truthfully, any place or industry where data is useful, you will surely find web scrapers, especially now a days — as you all know by now; Data is king. And with web scraping, the options are limitless. I once seen a student scrape cybersecurity+ practice quiz sites and use that data to make flash cards so they didn’t have to pay for it.
Do you see just how POWERFUL and FLEXIBLE learning how to SCRAPE the WEB can be??
If not, here are even more benefits of learning how to web scrape. It’s generally just a worthwhile skill to pick up because you learn how to do so many other things while web scraping, for example, like capturing data and extracting data, understanding elemental web structures, and interacting with requests. If you have an interest, there is absolutely no harm in learning it, contrarily, quite the opposite! As you learn this new and valuable skill you will bring with you these techniques that allow you to be as creative as you want to be. Think about it, the world wide web is literally you’re playground.
But is it EASY to LEARN??
Well, in my opinion, web scraping is one of the easier concepts to learn in software engineering, especially for new or beginning level techies. It’s a pretty straightforward process of working with the skeleton of a website (known as the HTML) to get data you want. Of course, like all things, there will be more complex and dynamic activity involved in more desirable data, but just getting started is pretty simple. Also, like with all types of development, you can always continue to use/reuse your own code and build on it as you learn more complex features.
On a basic level, web scraping works by sending a request to a website to retrieve its HTML code, then using programming tools to identify and extract specific data points from that code, essentially “copying” the desired information from the webpage and saving it in a structured format like a CSV file or a database, all done automatically through a script or software application.
HOW is it VALUABLE??
Web scraping is valuable because it allows businesses to efficiently collect large amounts of data from various websites, enabling them to perform critical analysis like competitor price monitoring, market trend identification, and pricing optimization, ultimately giving them a competitive edge by providing real-time insights and facilitating data-driven decision making. Some of the most essential and lucrative professions can stem from the skills learned by web scraping. Things like Market researchers ($90,000 average salary), Financial Analyst (~$112,000 average salary), Data Scientist (~$108,000 average salary) are all professional web scraping specialties. And as you can see they pay pretty well too.
So HOW do you LEARN Web Scraping??
Well, its pretty simple, firstly I recommend getting started with Python and HTML. If you aren’t familiar with these yet, I have a some recommended courses here: (Python & HTML). If you are already familiar with these or would just prefer to learn them on the fly, the first step is to simply find some websites and start coding and getting data. If you don’t have any in mind, I recommend utilizing some of these courses/resources from DataCamp: there are over 190+ resources with perfect examples you can play with and use as an example. Also, you can use my YouTube video as an example. By the way, this was a project I built for a client on Fiverr. It was a $300 web scraper project they were willing to pay me for, showing you how this skill can be very lucrative and beneficial especially early in your tech career.
In addition, you can check out sites like Apify, which have web scraper templates already built out. You can go on there, see what different types of web scrapers are built and from where, and even check out the code of some of these templates on places like Github, to use as inspiration for your own. They also have API’s available for integrating and testing some of the web scrapers for free (up to $5/month) so you can go and play and experiment to see how a web scraper performs and is utilized.
Conclusion
All in all, web scraping is a very useful skill to learn, especially for those still early in their tech careers and even those just looking to make some extra cash while working from home. As I said, I utilized this skill early to build projects for clients on freelancing sites like Fiverr and made some much needed side cash, which helped a lot in my premature Software Engineer career. It also guided me to learn new and more complex things like working with APIs, managing databases, and building integrations so I can take on more complex freelance projects. The glow up is real. And like always, happy learning and happy coding!
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