Jobs in web development area
Last week I received an email from a student asking about jobs in web development area. Following is my answer:
There are several web-related jobs depending on your roles, each with a particular skills requirements.
1) Web Editor: This is the entry-level position that requires basic web development skills such as HTML, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) some knowledge about graphic and some web content editing with knowledge of how to set up blogs, Wiki etc. This position does not require university degree, most people can obtain jobs with certificates from vocation schools or demonstrate skills with hiring employers.
2) Web Designer: This general-purpose position requires more advanced knowledge on the design aspect rather than the basic skills, it also involves working as part of a design team with web developers. Designer should have some knowledge of development languages, skills in HTML, Graphic design, Photoshop, Dreamweaver. This position does not require university degree, most people can obtain jobs with certificates from vocation schools or demonstrate skills with hiring employers. For this job, Some companies may ask for knowledge and skill in Web scripting languages (PHP) since it is becoming more popular with larger companies. PHP is typically taught in universities but it is easy to learn it yourself.
3) Web Developer: This is the position level that distinguish between a vocational training and people with four year degree. Even some companies do hire people without a degree but most job listings that I found do require bachelor degree. Required skills include expertise in HTML, PHP, CSS skills with moderate graphics experience, knowledge of server administration, moderate Database experience with the ability to manage a database and web server for the company. Most people graduated from university in addition, do have skills in Dot.Net and Java programming as these languages have a number of benefits over PHP as they are better in larger production environments and have better vendor support. From the salary point of view, this is really a full time position as it pay much more than others. Both Java and DOT.NET have significant advantages over other development languages because of the environment they are used in, and the applications they tend to be used for. Many Web developers could work as Software developers and participate in company’s application development team.
From a software development view, it is the knowledge of the languages and understand development frameworks that matters. There is no distinction between a software developer and a Web developer but web developer with subsidiary skills such as HTML, PHP, CSS etc could help employability because it tends to focus on the development aspect of the web. Of course, beyond development roles there are many other opportunities. Software developers with experiences could assume technical lead roles, software architect, or even advance into project manager. Software architect does require knowledge of database and hardware architecture and software modeling skills which are taught mostly in university.
Software developer, Web developer, Technical Lead, and software architect vary greatly in terms of salary depend on experiences. But beside the basic skills listed above, the increase in the breadth of the skills required and the responsibilities correlates with an increase in salary. Today knowledge and skills determine the salary of workers and the more you know, the more you will make.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
