Job description

Web Developers design, create, and modify Web sites. Analyze user needs to implement Web site content, graphics, performance, and capacity. May integrate Web sites with other computer applications. May convert written, graphic, audio, and video components to compatible Web formats by using software designed to facilitate the creation of Web and multimedia content.

• Write supporting code for Web applications or Web sites.
• Design, build, or maintain Web sites, using authoring or scripting languages, content creation tools, management tools, and digital media.
• Back up files from Web sites to local directories for instant recovery in case of problems.
• Write, design, or edit Web page content, or direct others producing content.

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Salary

Web Developers with little to no experience tend to make between $37930 and $50990 while the more experienced ones can earn over $95020 per year.

One of the easiest ways to increase your salary as a Web Developer is to move to a higher paying state like WA. Right now, the highest paying states for Web Developers are WA, VA, DC, CA and NJ.

However, a higher pay at WA doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the living expenses at WA might be twice as high than where you are currently at now.

Three other factors that can increase your salary as a Web Developer is the degree you hold, the industry you work in, and lastly the company you work for.

Requirements

We asked other Web Developers what degree they had when they got the job and most of them said they had a Bachelor’s Degree followed by a Post-Secondary Certificate.

Other than that, we also asked them what did they major in and here are the most popular majors that came up.

Pros and Cons

Here are some of the pros and cons of being a Web Developer.

What is the job like

70% of Web Developers said they were satisfied with their job and 46% said they feel like their job is making other people’s lives better.

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Haris Bacic

Pricelisto.com

I am a web developer working for multiple companies and each requires a different mindset and approach to solve problems.

In my regular day-to-day activities, I am often approached by marketing or business managers if the sales are down for the day to check if everything is working properly on the technical side. In the majority of cases, the issue is usually not on the technical side of things.

Other than checking if everything is working properly, the next thing I usually deal with is planning tasks to implement new features or automation. I will usually get on a call with business or project managers to come up with the best solution for automating various tasks that our employees have to do manually right now. Things such as following up with customers, processing refunds, and so on.

I really enjoy doing these automations because you can directly calculate how much time and money you save by implementing these smart solutions.

The worst part about being a web developer is that people always expect things to be done faster and easier. Most people don’t understand that even adding a small feature could take a lot longer because we always have to test to make sure it works properly and that it doesn’t break anything else.

It’s even worse when people expect you to change something in high-risk areas such as the shopping cart page or checkout page quickly and without testing. Of course, if you did that and it broke something major, you would probably be the one to blame. That’s why it’s super important not to give in to pressure to expeditiously deploy new code without sufficient testing.

Some days it’s pretty mellow and everything is working exactly as planned, other days are hectic and everything is seemingly falling apart before your eyes. As a web developer, there are always things to do: create, fix, or diagnose. Perhaps the worst part is that you might need to work at any given hour if you’re on call and things go wrong. And let’s be honest, things always go wrong when you’re on call and everything runs perfectly all the other times.

Haris Bacic
Pricelisto.com

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Is this right for me

You can read more about these career personality types here.

People who are suitable for this job tends to like following set procedures and routines. They like working with data and details more than with ideas..

They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

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