The basics of being a web developer who builds websites that wow
Gone are the days of bland business cards lost in the bottom drawer. It’s the digital age, so getting your brand out there is all about websites. Images, video, words…it’s an interactive experience. A website is an investment, an asset, and a serious showcase for your business. It displays a company’s product, skills, personality and knowledge. It should be seamless, slick and exciting. But also easy, quick and simple to navigate. Oh yeah, and it should also quickly build trust and familiarity with the brand. Phew!
So who’s responsible for all this? Usually, it’s a team effort. As a web developer, you will likely work in tandem with designers, content creators, writers and quality assurance.
The role of the web developer to a website is like the role of the builder to a house. You take the concept from the designer (architect) and build the website by writing code (the bricks and mortar). Whether you are a front end developer (the part you see) or a back end developer (the servers, databases and applications you don’t see), you still need to have a holistic skill-set to bring the entire build together. Let’s start from the top…
1. Qualifications
Becoming a website builder launches you into a whole other universe of acronyms, tools, systems, codes and concepts. To appreciate the technical aspects of becoming a website developer in 2020, you need knowledge. How you gain the knowledge is up to you. Some choose, though it’s not essential, to go the formal education route and chalk up a degree. Others take the self-taught train and hit YouTube and online courses. Either way, an intrinsic knack for maths, and science is a must.
2. Design concept
While you’re not the website designer, you need to have a basic understanding of the ‘workshop’ stage of the process. Here’s where you’ll understand the objectives for the user experience (UX)–This includes how the website looks, feels and sounds for the user. And the user interface (U–I) which includes how the user interacts with the site and what software to use.
3. Coding
A foreign dialect to some, to web developers coding is simply instructions written to tell the website how to behave. Coding can be complex or depending on the requirements. It’s great to see kids now learning coding as early as their primary school years as this will pave the way to them becoming top coders of the future.
4. Language and Tools
Web Development has its very own dictionary of language and encyclopedia of associated tools. The most common you’ll likely hear is HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) which is basically how a page gets structured and where all the ‘stuff’ goes. CSS is another front-end developer term, and works with HTML to tell a page what to display, eg colours, fonts, text. These are the basics, but as you delve, you’ll hear JavaScript, PHP... - and down the rabbit hole you go.
5. Personality
As a key role in a fast-growing, well-paying, not-going-anywhere industry, website development is in high demand. While there are a lot of skills and knowledge you will learn, personality is crucial. Patience with problem solving. Attention to details. Creative solutions. Technically savvy. Project Management. Savvy business sense. Client relationship. Trouble shooting. Genuine interest in the user’s experience. A champion for the company you are building for. Tick these boxes and you’ll guarantee career fulfilment.
But wait there’s more
Going live with a site doesn’t mean the end of web development. For your website builder to ‘sign off’ there needs to be rigorous quality assurance testing. After this there’s ongoing support for any troubleshooting a client may experience. Some companies will trust their greatest business asset, to an agency like PixelForce. As a premium service provider, PixelForce can handle it all. The team have proven experience in developing dynamic web services and quality mobile apps. If you’re keen to find out more, book a free 30 minute consult.
Over to you. If you enjoyed this read, book a free 30minute consult.