The world of the web developer has been one
of the fastest growing fields since the mid 1990s. This growth
makes sense considering that having a web presence is something
many companies, large and small, consider important.
In addition, well over 200 governments
around the world have web sites. Then, there is myriad of
learning institutions, all with their own web presence. We
can’t forget all the personal web pages and blogs. The latest
craze on the web is social media and these kinds of sites are
popping up all over the web.
This list still doesn’t account for all the
different sites on World Wide Web. But it helps to demonstrate
that web development is a viable profession.
The demand for web developers in the UK has
risen steadily since 2004. However, the current recession has
caused a drop in that demand. Nevertheless, experienced web
developers can still earn salaries of around £28,000 to
£32,000.
As part of the IT sector, wed design
requires that its professionals keep pace with new
technologies. In the early days of the industry, web
professionals had to know how to use HTML code manually.
Nowadays, software like Adobe Dreamweaver
and WebDev do most of the coding. Although the professional
still needs to know HTML, it’s mostly for tweaking and fine
tuning.
Today’s web developer also needs to know
about graphic design. Their vernacular now includes terms like
JavaScript; Adobe Flash; Cascading Style Sheets; XHTML/XML;
.Net to name a few.
There’s no disputing the fact the wed
developer field has been fuelled largely by businesses looking
to use the web to gain a competitive edge. But the World Wide
Web is a much more exciting place today for web developers than
it was in the early days.
The development of e-commerce has changed
the way people buy and sell by providing an alternative to the
traditional store or shop. Many people find online auction web
sites useful.
Social media sites continue to grow in
popularity as they provide a means for people to connect and
communicate. Sites that allow the streaming of video and music
have also secured a foothold on the web.
On top of that the web now offers a way for people to run
certain applications from any computer anywhere. Previously,
those same applications could only be run on a local
computer.
And as newer technologies arrive on the
market, the job of web development is bound to become more
interesting. Wikipedia says web design is similar to
traditional print publishing albeit more complex. The site
compares a web site to a book and a web page to a page in a
book. But most impressively, Wikipedia describes web design as
“undoubtedly the most sophisticated and increasingly complex
method to support communication in today’s world,” when taken
to its full potential.
It can be argued that when companies face hard times, one of
the first things they look to cut is their IT budget. This
obviously includes spending money on web development. But the
web developers have proven their worth. There’s no doubt that
when the global recession ends, the demand for web developers
will rise again.