ST: Computer Industry Careers
Web Development
A Web Developer is a person who:
- Creates and manages the information content (words and pictures) and organization of a Web site
- Manages the computer server and technical programming aspects of a Web site
Companies advertising for a Web Developer vary in their use of the term. In a smaller company, a Web Developer typically "does it all." In a larger company, a Web Developer tends to be someone with either a writing and/or graphics design background who has acquired Web site creation skills (mainly knowledge and experience with HTML) or a more technical person with some programming skills. The "technical" Web Developer runs the server (for example, by managing the creation and authorization associated with file systems) and writes programs or practical extraction and reporting language scripts required by the Web site.
In a very large corporation, there may be a Web Development team of people at the top of the corporation who establish the overall corporate Web design and policies, arrange the necessary technical resources (working with the people who provide the corporation its network infrastructure), and supervise the design of the corporation's Web site (which is often done by an outside firm). At division and product levels, there may be additional Web Developers who organize and develop the web content and programming for their division or product. In addition, there is likely to be an interrelated effort to create a Web design, organization, and content for the corporation's intranet.
At a small corporation, the Web Developer may be in charge of creating the site and putting it on a separate company's server or setting up one within the company. The Web design and creation may be done initially by an outside Web design firm that turns the finished site over to the company's in-house Web Developer to maintain and perhaps add content within the established design. And if you are a firm that specializes in creating Web sites, you may refer to the overall producer or art director as the Web Developer for a site. Obviously, this term (and job) is still defining itself. A Web Developer is what a company says one is. In general, almost any Web Developer would be expected to know the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and have a good understanding of why a company should want a Web site. Education varies with web developers, some have a B. A. in Computer Information, but having a 2-year degree works too. In this field having a great portfolio and experience go along way. Salaries range from 3,000 to 85,000 per year.
Some useful links for more programming information include: