Skills Required for Web Developer
The field of Information and technology is rising from the past few years. This is mainly because of the various achievements that we have gained by making use of various technologies. Our life has become easy as the majority of our work is taken over by technologies. One such field that has a lot of demand and scope in information technology is web development. In this article, we will cover the basics of web development like who are web developers, types of web developers, web developer skills and responsibilities. All the aspiring web developers or people who are keen to learn about this field can refer to the information further below.
Who is a Web Developer?
A Web developer is a programmer who is responsible for coding and creating web applications and websites. They code using various programming languages and are mainly responsible for the development of World Wide Web applications or the applications that run on HTTP. A person who is well aware of programming can become a web developer. These developers typically work for small or large organizations.
Types of Web Developer
There are mainly three types of web developers i.e. Front-end developers, back-end developers and full-stack developers.
Front-end developers - These types of web developer responsibilities include developing appealing visuals for a website/web application. Whatever a user sees on a website like the colors, fonts, menus, etc are build by these developers using various programming languages (we will discuss the detailed skills further below)
Back-end developers - These types of developers are responsible for maintaining all the data on the back-end side. The website contains servers, applications and databases which is all handled by these developers that help support the user side of the website.
Full-stack developer - These types of developers are the ones who work both on the client and server-side. They possess all the skills of both front-end and back-end developers.
Skills Required for a Web developer
There are many skills that a web developer should possess to create user-oriented web applications. Web developer job description includes working on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, graphic designing, Debugging, website hosting, libraries, frameworks, maintaining databases and other back-end activities. Let’s discuss each of these skills one by one.
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
HTML is a programming language that is used to define the structure and entire look and feel of your website. By using HTML, web developers can apply various colors, fonts, different heading styles, menus, navigation bars, etc to a website or application. This language simply gives information to your browser about each part of the website and by this, the browser can structure your web pages well in front of the users.
Cascading sheet styles (CSS)
While HTML can make your website look better, CSS is a language that is considered to be more advanced to change the appearance of your website. CSS will allow you to upgrade to more fancy and rich colors & fonts. It even allows you to use animations and 3D effects to make your website look more appealing.
JavaScript
Did you know that 94.5% of websites make use of javascript? This is because it is an effective client-side scripting language that helps to create interactive and dynamic web pages, reduce server load, enriched user-interface, etc. The scripts can also be easily integrated into HTML. This is one of the important web developer skills that should be possessed by developers.
Debugging
Debugging is a skill that is required to remove errors from your programs. Web developers are supposed to know how to debug code to make it work. There are also many debugging tools available but rather than that many platforms itself have in-built tools that allow you to debug your program.
Graphic Designing
Web developers should know graphic design to improve text styles, make high-quality images, etc. They should be aware of various graphic designing tools for example adobe photoshop.
Databases and Backend
Web developers should know about the various database programming languages like MySQL, MongoDB, Oracle, Firebase, etc. The backend of the website/application is the one where all the data is stored. Activities such as data retrieval, manipulation, deletion, etc are carried out here which users cannot see. These languages help developers manage backend activities. Additionally, web developers should also know languages like JSON, Node.JS and various cloud systems like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services to know the inner working of how data is stored/manipulated/retrieved in a database.
Web hosting
Web developer job description also includes the knowledge of web hosting. It is where all your valuable information like files, folders, servers, images, etc are stored on a particular server. A web developer should know this skill to maintain the website.
Libraries and frameworks
Libraries are a collection of various parts of programs that save a programmer’s task by letting them use the same code again. The same applies to frameworks where programmers don’t have to re-write the code every time they shift to a new platform.
Web developer responsibilities don’t just end by having knowledge of technical skills. They should even acquire soft skills like communication, time management, adaptability and a learning attitude. Web developers should communicate with their team, senior developers and clients to understand the requirement and work accordingly. They should have a learning attitude i.e. they should constantly learn and adapt themselves as per the current technology trends. Lastly, they should possess time management skills and should learn to prioritize tasks.
The demand for web developers is high and they get decent salaries as well. To become one you should work on the above-mentioned skills to improve yourself. Learn all the programming languages and work on your soft skills required for the role and make a great career for yourself.