Choosing a career path is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. You have to evaluate your options carefully to find a job you’ll enjoy that matches your skills and will keep you employed for the duration of your career. To help you make a well-informed decision, here’s a guide to the job outlook for Web Developers, including expected job growth, average salaries, plus frequently asked questions about working in web development.
What is a Web Developer?
A Web Developer is a person who’s responsible for designing, creating, and maintaining websites according to their clients’ specifications. Web Developers are typically capable of building sites that can serve various purposes in a wide range of sizes. For example, they may work on a simple single-page site for a small business one month and a complex social media site the following month. Web Developers are also responsible for debugging the website and updating it whenever necessary so it continues to function correctly.
What is the Current Job Outlook for Web Developers?
The job outlook for Web Developers is outstanding. In fact, many companies are struggling to find enough Web Developers to keep up with client demands—and this trend isn’t expected to change any time soon. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job growth rate is expected to be 13% between now and 2030. That’s considerably faster than the average growth rate for all occupations, which sits at 8%.
That 13% growth rate also indicates that there will be many open positions that need to be filled. There are currently almost 200,000 Web Developer jobs in the United States. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2030, up to 25,500 more web development positions will be created. That means there’s never been a better time to start a career as a Web Developer!
What Is the Average Pay for Web Developers?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for Web Developers across the country in 2020 was $77,200. To give you a bit of perspective, the average salary in the United States is $56,000 per year—that’s more than $20,000 less than what the average Web Developer earns!
Of course, this is the average pay for all Web Developers in the United States; how much you’ll actually earn will vary depending on several factors, including location, experience, and specialty. For example, programmers with less than a year of experience earn closer to $60,000 per year; those who’ve been in the industry for ten years make around $87,000 annually.
Specializing in a particular area will also influence your pay. Back End Web Developers make $97,500 per year, which is $20,000 more per year than the average Web Developer. Other highly-paid specialties are Java development and Python development, where you can earn just over $115,000 annually.
Where you live also affects how much you earn; your salary will be determined in part by whether you live in an area with a high or low cost of living. For example, the average salary for Front End Web Developers in the United States is $96,000, but those in California (where the cost of living is high) typically earn $104,500 per year. On the opposite end of the scale, Front End Web Developers in Mississippi only make about $86,000 per year, but that money goes further because it costs less to live there.
Web Developer Job FAQs
Here are answers to a few of the most frequently asked questions about Web Developer jobs.
What Education Do I Need to Become a Web Developer?
The educational requirements to become a Web Developer aren’t very stringent; you can easily get a job in web development without a university degree as long as you have the skills necessary to do the job. You can acquire these skills either by completing a bootcamp or certificate program, taking individual web development classes, or learning through self-study.
What Would My Job Duties Be as a Web Developer?
Your specific job duties would depend on your role and employer, but here are some of the most common responsibilities for Web Developers:
- Working with stakeholders to determine the purpose of the website and how it should look
- Creating and maintaining servers, databases, APIs (application programming interfaces), and overall website architecture
- Developing website design on the front end
- Coding the front and back ends of the website and debugging any errors that may arise
- Utilizing user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) principles
- Creating and maintaining user interfaces and navigation menus plus modifying them when necessary
- Incorporating multimedia content such as graphics, audio, video, etc. onto websites
- Ensuring that websites can be accessed on a variety of platforms and devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones
- Implementing protocols to secure data
- Testing websites for speed, performance, usability, etc. and making changes to optimize performance
- Writing technical documentation for the site
- Providing website maintenance and making enhancements when required
Do Web Developers Get Paid Less if They Work from Home?
There’s a chance you may be paid less money if you work from home as a Web Developer—it all depends on where you’re located and your employer’s policies regarding working from home. How much you earn is largely based on where you and your company are located; you’ll make more in areas with a high cost of living (HCOL) and less in areas with a low cost of living (LCOL). If your employer is based in a HCOL area while you live in a place with a LCOL, your salary may be cut back a bit.
Is the Market for Web Developers Saturated?
Though it might seem like there are already many people working in web development, the truth is that there are still far more openings than there are potential employees. And with the staggering growth of the field, the market for Web Developers is wide open.
What Career Options are Available to Web Developers?
There are many career options available to Web Developers. Typically, people who are starting a new career in web development choose between three different tracks: front end web development, back end web development, and full stack web development.
Front End Web Developers deal with all the elements on a website that users interact with. Back End Web Developers are responsible for creating servers, databases, and applications that users never see. As a combination of both the client and server sides, Full Stack Web Developers take care of the entire website.
After choosing one of these specialties and gaining some experience, you can then specialize even further by focusing on one particular programming language, tool, or industry. For example, you could become a JavaScript Developer or only create websites for healthcare companies.
What Are the Required Skills for Web Developers?
For a Full Stack Web Developer, the required skills are:
- Proficiency in HTML and JavaScript plus at least two or three back end languages such as Python, PHP, Ruby, or Java
- Familiarity with a variety of web development tools such as libraries, frameworks, version control systems, and content management systems (CMS)
- A talent for writing high-quality code plus the ability to detect errors, eliminate bugs, and track changes to the code
- The ability to build and manage web applications
- The capability to create a website that’s aesthetically pleasing, responsive, functional, and user-friendly
- A general understanding of user experience (UX) principles and SEO (search engine optimization) best practices
- Soft skills like flexibility, organization, problem-solving, teamwork, communication, and time management
- Insight into how databases, hosting environments, APIs (application programming interfaces), operating systems, and servers function
- Knowledge of web accessibility and cybersecurity best practices
How to Become a Web Developer
The best way to become a Web Developer is to complete a comprehensive bootcamp or certificate program. Often viewed as a viable alternative to a traditional degree, these skills-focused programs offer an intensive schedule to get you career-ready in less than a year. That’s excellent news when you think about how many open positions there are in web development; you can begin earning back your financial investment shortly after completion.
Depending upon where you’re located, you might be able to find a web development bootcamp in your area. If none are available or you enjoy the convenience of learning from home, there are many high-quality web development bootcamps available live online. These offer the same live instruction and hands-on learning as in-person bootcamps but without the inconvenience of commuting to class.
If you want to explore web development but a bootcamp is too big of a commitment right now, you might consider taking web development classes. That way, you can start learning the basics of web development while gauging your interest in pursuing a career in the field.