A web developer is responsible for building and maintaining websites and web applications. They ensure that digital platforms function smoothly, look professional, and provide a positive user experience. In an organization, web developers support efficiency by creating tools and interfaces that streamline operations, enable collaboration through online systems, and drive strategy execution by aligning web solutions with business goals.
Typical responsibilities of a web developer include:
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for web developers in the U.S. was $90,930 in May 2024. The lowest 10% earned less than $48,560, while the highest 10% made more than $162,870.
To succeed as a web developer, you’ll need a blend of technical knowledge, problem-solving ability, and creativity. While formal education helps, many professionals also build their careers through bootcamps, certifications, and self-learning.
Education
Key Skills
Experience
Optional Certifications
Web developers play a vital role in ensuring websites and applications are functional, secure, and user-friendly. Their work supports business operations by enabling efficient online systems, improving customer engagement, and helping organizations execute digital strategies.
Core responsibilities of a web developer include:
Web developers are in demand across many industries, as organizations rely on websites and digital platforms to reach customers, streamline operations, and support growth. Their versatility allows them to work in nearly any sector that depends on strong online presence and technology.
Common industries that hire web developers include:
Here’s a typical advancement route from entry-level up to senior or leadership roles, including salary ranges where available, plus tips to accelerate your growth.
Career Progression:
Director of Web / Director of Engineering / CTO (Chief Technology Officer)
Responsible for strategy, technology roadmaps, overseeing multiple teams or departments, budgeting, and leadership at executive level.
Estimated salary: This can vary widely depending on company size—$180,000 to $250,000+ is common in tech hubs.
Aspiring web developers have many options to gain the knowledge and skills needed for the role. From online learning platforms to traditional universities, you can choose the path that fits your goals, budget, and schedule.
Online Learning Platforms
Coding Bootcamps
Intensive bootcamps like General Assembly or Flatiron School are designed for those who want to transition into web development quickly, offering project-based learning and job placement support.
Universities and Colleges
For those pursuing a more traditional route, degrees in Computer Science, Information Technology, or Software Engineering provide strong foundations for web development careers.
Tip for Learners:
Online platforms like Skill Success are best for affordability and flexibility, while bootcamps and universities provide more structured and immersive experiences. Choosing a mix of these resources ensures both breadth and depth in your training.
Computer Support Specialists
Computer Programmers
Computer and Information Systems Managers
Graphic Designers
Multimedia Artists and Animators
Web Designer
Web developers create, design, and implement Internet websites according to the client’s specifications. They are responsible for the overall appearance and aspect of the website—its technical aspects, features, performance, capacity, speed, and traffic.
To have a deeper understanding of what a web developer do, we must first learn the 3 types of specialized web developers.
There are 3 different types of web developers. Each job types focuses on a different aspect of website creation.
Front-End Developers are responsible for the client-side programming. They use codes to create the visual front-end components of a website or web application. These developers use programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create the layout of the website. They also ensure that the use of the right colors, text, headers, and background. That the components are in the right places and the buttons are working properly, as well as the outbound links. Most importantly, they are responsible to make the website attractive and responsive to users.
Back-End Developers are responsible for the server-side programming. They work behind the scenes as they deal with the functionality of the website or web application. The user does not see or interact with the back end of the website, but what most of them don’t know is that the back end is responsible for running and adds functionality to a website for user interaction. Some popular programming languages they use are PHP, Ruby, Python, Java, and .Net.
Full-Stack Developers understand both the processes of the front-end developer and back-end developer. They can work on both the client-side and server-side programming. Thus, they are more employable and paid more because of their understanding between the connections of the two processes.
Some people are still confused between web developers and web designers. These two job roles can work together to develop a website, but they’re responsibilities involved in different areas.
Web development is not a career for everyone. There are certain qualities a web developer possesses. Listed below are some signs that you should consider becoming a web developer.
You like to figure out how you can solve problems even if it will involve multiple steps. You are the type of person who will find a way to make a thing right or work if it is broken or wrong.
A web developer enjoys solving complicated problems. They spend much of their time figuring out how they can develop a website that performs well and has the capacity to handle much traffic, and this is by writing detailed codes and testing those codes several times because one minor error could stop a page from working.
Part of a web developer’s job is to ensure that the website being created is appealing to the user’s eyes and ensuring that the website’s functionality if friendly to its user. They are also creative by working resourcefully. Since a web developer works with codes that take a long period of time to write, they can identify the right tools and techniques that will save them time.
It is not new for web developers to sit at their computer for long hours writing codes and developing a website. You don’t mind solving complex problems and taking many steps to actually execute a solution. Web developers not only deal with coding issues, but they also need to deal with people such as their co-workers and users of the website or application.
You are willing to constantly learn and gladly accept new projects. There will always be a new programming language that web developers could and should use in their job. Thus, you should have the genuine interest, the ability to learn and adapt to new programming languages quickly. A web developer gets satisfaction from assembling codes that people can use to make their lives much better.
Web development is a perfect career choice for people who are tech savvy. However, it will take some time and a lot of work to learn the set of skills needed to be successful in this field. Below are some steps you can take if you want to be a web developer.
A web developer’s educational requirements vary with the type of work they do. There are people who learned programming languages independently and became a web developer without a formal education. However, having a formal education can help you gain the fundamental knowledge of web development, principles, and practices.
Aspiring web developers can choose to any of the four (4) paths below if they are planning to acquire a formal education:
The web development certifications and courses are for those who are interested in learning the essentials relating to web development. Most of these certifications or courses include the basic practices of web design, debugging, and development.
It is important to have a clear vision of you career goals to help you choose the right course or certificate in web development program. Most of the courses and certification programs that you will find focus more on the front-end development and front end services, so you should perform thorough research of the certification programs or courses you will enroll to if you want to pursue your web development career as a back-end developer.
Most of the certificate programs which involve several courses take 60 to 12 months to complete. Some students take months or even years to complete a program, depending on their course load and curriculum obligation. While the total duration of most of the online programs and courses are usually 2 to 12 hours (and even more). Classes may include:
This consists of the essential education and skills to help students pursue their career in web development. The associate degree typically takes two (2) years to complete, but once a student completed the associate degree in web development, they can pursue junior developer job roles as this is the minimum requirement for employment. Some students also use this degree as a stepping stone or opportunity to pursue further education in bachelor’s degree. The associate degree coursework may include:
A lot of companies prefer students who have a bachelor’s degree in web development, computer science or a related field. This degree typically takes four (4) years to complete and offers students a broad-gauge of education for web development. Students may choose a bachelor’s degree (BS) in computer science, information science, web programming, or a related field. The courses include:
This is ideal for web developer students or professionals who are looking for advancement and specialized knowledge, or for those who want to change their career goal to web development. The master’s degree is the highest degree a student will obtain in web development and typically takes one and a half year to two years. Classes also vary depending on the program a student chooses.
Web developers should have the skills and knowledge in designing a basic website and some ideas in graphic designing because most part of their job is to create an attractive and user-friendly website or application. An aspiring web developer must learn the commonly used programming languages for them to function properly. Each programming language instructs the computer to perform specific tasks by using unique set of keywords and special syntax.
Even though most web developers don’t do their own graphic design, they should still know how to the different graphic and photo editing apps and programs. As well as the basic practices such as changing color scheme, adding text, cropping images and resizing images. The images they have edited or designed can be used in the website that they are developing. Knowledge of graphic design is especially important if you plan to work with a graphical user interface (GUI) in some low-code/no-code tool like Bubble, Webflow, or WeWeb. Bubble developers should combine the qualities of skillful graphic designers and web engineers.
Now that you have the knowledge and skills of the programming languages you want to specialize—it is time to use those skills and knowledge into practice. There are a lot of web development projects that you can do as long as it fulfills your own desires and it solves a problem.
If you don’t know where to start, try to focus on building one feature at a time instead of focusing on building an entire application or web page. For example, once you already have web domain, start focusing on building a login page. It is important that you have your own step-by-step guide to help you plan on you next action and stay on track of your project.
An online portfolio can help you land a job, especially if you are a newbie. Employers want to see examples of the projects of their applicants. Building an online portfolio, even if you don’t have a firsthand experience working as a web developer, can help you stand out from the other candidates because you are demonstrating that you got the coding skills and technical capabilities that they are looking for a candidate.
As mentioned earlier, web developers use different kinds of programming languages to help them develop a website or application. Here are the top programming languages for web development.
Python is an all-purpose programming language, easy to learn, and even touted as the number one beginner language to learn. You can do almost anything you want with this programming language. The syntax used in python is simple, readable, and straightforward. In fact, python plays an important role in the success of several organizations such as Google, YouTube, and NASA as these are just some of the companies who apply python in their daily operations.
Java is the gold standard in web development and also the most in demand programming language. This is because the Java code can run on all platforms as long as it is supported by Java making it extremely versatile. It is commonly used for developing and delivering content in the World Wide Web.
C is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. It is the basic programming language to write anything from the operating system; at the same time, it is simple and flexible, making it popular to web developers. It is commonly used for developing desktop applications, browsers and their extensions.
C++ helps programmers to write fast. It is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language and probably one of the most important programming languages. This is because C++ is almost used in almost all of the application we use as most programs or systems have parts in their codebase that are written in C++.
Ruby is high-level, object-oriented, general purpose programming language and is commonly used in web applications.
JavaScript runs on all browsers including Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari and is used for developing and creating websites, desktop applications, and games. It is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web along with CSS and HTML. It enables the interface of the user to the website, application, and games, making a web page alive by enhancing the user-friendly experience of web pages.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and HyperText MarkUp Language (HTML) are the two other core technologies for building web pages aside from JavaScript.
HTML provides the structure of a website. It is the language used by all browsers—it allows the website creation.
On the other hand, CSS provides the layout of the website. It is the stylesheet language of a website. It instructs how the HTML should be displayed and controls the layout of the web pages.
Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is an HTML-embedded scripting language widely used as a general-purpose programming language and is originally designed for web development. It is usually used as a server-side language—it involves activities such as web browser sending a request to a web server or database to make content visible to the user.
Structured Query Language (SQL) is a programming language used for relational database management. It lets you access large and complex database easily and you can search, update, delete, and insert database records.
Having a formal education can help you gain skills in web development that you would need to make an attractive portfolio. You will also learn the essential technical skills to become successful in this field such as developing security strategies and enhancing user navigation and usability.
There are entry-level positions that are available self-taught candidates with a high school diploma, but most employers still prefer candidates with formal education—having an associate degree or bachelor’s degree.
If you are hoping to study web development, we listed down below some of the popular schools in the US for aspiring web developers.
A strong resume helps you stand out in a competitive job market. As a web developer, your resume should clearly showcase your technical skills, project experience, and ability to deliver results. Here’s a step-by-step guide to crafting a standout resume in 2025.
Write a concise summary (2–3 sentences) that highlights your coding expertise, problem-solving skills, and career goals. Tailor it to the specific role you’re applying for.
Example: “Front-end developer skilled in JavaScript, React, and responsive design, with a strong portfolio of e-commerce projects. Seeking to contribute to scalable and user-focused digital solutions.”
Showcase technical and soft skills, backed by results.
List degrees, diplomas, or relevant training. Include coding bootcamps or online learning platforms if they demonstrate current and practical skills.
Example:
Highlight industry-recognized certifications to build credibility.
Include 2–3 professional references who can vouch for your technical skills and work ethic. For freelancers, satisfied client testimonials can also strengthen your resume.
If you’re transitioning into web development from another career, use a hybrid or skills-based resume format. This allows you to emphasize transferable skills such as project management, design thinking, or teamwork. Pair this with online certifications and an updated digital presence. Learning how to use LinkedIn effectively can also help recruiters discover you.
Preparing for a web developer interview requires more than technical know-how. Employers want to see your coding skills, teamwork ability, and how you solve real-world problems. Here are common questions, why they’re asked, and examples of strong responses.
Sharpen your skills in web development by taking these top online courses
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