There’s no doubt that web development has come a long way in recent years. With the advent of new technologies and frameworks, it’s easier than ever to create beautiful, functional websites. However, is web development really here to stay?
I’ve been a web developer for over 10 years now, and I’ve seen the industry change dramatically. In the early days, it was all about creating websites that looked good. Design was king. Then came the rise of the internet giants, and we all had to learn how to create websites that were fast and functional.
As time went on, we started to see the emergence of mobile devices. Suddenly, our websites needed to be responsive and work well on smartphones and tablets. We also had to learn how to create apps for these devices.
Today, we’re seeing the rise of chatbots and virtual assistants. Soon, we’ll be able to talk to our computers and have them do our bidding. The future’s looking bright for developers who know how to code in JavaScript, Python, and other languages.
But what about web development? Will it still be around in 10 years?
I think so. The web is here to stay. It’s the most popular platform for sharing information and connecting with other people. It’s also the most accessible platform, which means that anyone can create a website and share their ideas with the world. As long as there are people who want to share their ideas with the world, there will be a need for web developers.
Without a doubt we are experiencing an oversaturation of web developers in the job market with the skill but little to no web design experience. Even in related fields like cyber security, digital marketing and data science
What is the future of web development?
There is no secret that technology advances quickly, that’s why it is important to keep up with the latest web development trends in the world, maybe go as far as asking yourself “Does web development have a future?” If you stop learning, soon you will be left behind by other web developers who take an actual interest in giving their best at keeping up with the web development trends. That’s why so many web developers ask themselves “does web development have a future?” Lets sink into the latest trends and practices that experts consider to be the future of web development.
Cloud web development
This trend is indicating that all future web development is going to happen directly on the cloud. This way, any web app or web design will be always available and ready to run on any device, eliminating the need of having to install any software. This will truly boost the development experience.
In the Job market, more services and companies are requesting web developers who can work on the cloud as a way to boost their websites’ user experience. This is a clear indicator that technology that facilitates developing websites on the cloud is going to keep popping up and being perfected. Cloud web development will be the norm in the near future.
Web development frameworks
A lot of experts consider that framework web development is going to completely take over classic web development, this will totally change the development experience. During this year we have observed an exponential growth in web design developed in JavaScript, also in development frameworks for PHP, like Symfony and Laravel. These frameworks are related to the user experience of the good use of a web app, the number of companies that work with them is rising.
Responsive web design
Even though responsive web design is already a norm in the skills training of any web developer, being front-end or back-end, there are still a lot of websites and web apps that don’t follow it. No web page can be part of the future code of web development languages if it is not responsive. When a web page or web app is responsive, that means that a user should be able to open it in any device and it should work correctly. This will make the user experience the best it can be. Web developers that include responsive web design as part of their skills training are more likely to experience career success.
Front-end and Back-end
One of the strongest web development trends is the separation between front-end and back-end. In the past, one web developer was in charge of both fronts, but as web development grows as an industry, specialization is needed. Web developers need to focus on one thing while learning their skills training. This way, web apps can get better results disregarding in which part of the process they are coded or even in what web development languages they are created.
If you are planning a job search, you should know that the future code is going to be specialization, programming languages are leaning towards either front-end or back-end development but not for both like years ago.
Blockchain will change web development forever
If you’ve heard of the word Blockchain you are probably thinking about cryptocurrency, that is because the term recently became popular thanks to Bitcoin. However, Blockchain systems are a technological revolution that can be used successfully in a lot of industries and applications like in digital marketing. Web development experts are already working on the future code that Blockchain systems are going to mean to the web development field. Developers who jump into Blockchain will have career success and will catch up to trendy programming languages. Blockchain is truly the future of web development and programming languages, Years ago, the possibility of having a massive database was unthinkable. Now, the future web development is distributed in solid blocks of information that nobody can modify no matter how hard they try. This is a high demand skill that will open a whole lot of possibilities for web developers in fields like digital marketing. If you can do Blockchain, your job search will be light as a breeze.
JavaScript, Java and Python
Years ago, in the web development industry, you wouldn’t even need to be an expert in development technologies to know the name of these web development programming languages. They are really popular from a long time ago, mostly because of social media and websites that use them, and knowing how to code in all of them is an indication of a good career.
The Python community is part of the web development industry and it’s thanks to programming languages that web developers can make use of Machine Learning. Also, a lot of libraries used in data science and progressive web apps are based on Python. This reinforces the strength that this programming language has in social media and the current job market. It is a good career choice to learn to code in it. It’s certainly one of the new development technologies that are going trendy and gaining popularity nowadays. Even Google has invested in TensorFlow a long time ago and now that decision is paying off: TensorFlow is a framework that’s gaining popularity because it can be used to work remotely. TensorFlow has an API based on Python interfaces.
Java, on its own, keeps being one of the hey programming languages when it comes to developing web apps on a massive scale. Most Big Data technologies still operate thanks to Java, frameworks like Kafka or Spark work remotely thanks to Java. The years pass and Java keeps being a programming language in high demand.
On the other hand, JavaScript is and has been for a long time one of the development technologies more used around the world and it keeps gaining popularity. It uses frameworks like Vue, React and Angular. It is also ideal to work remotely. Truly a staple of the web development industry.
Virtual Reality
Truly one of the latest web development technologies. Taking into account that since a long time ago Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are used in websites and social media in order to visualize the sitemap properly, or, in other words, to capture the most real image possible of a website. Virtual reality offers a lot of possibilities.
- Museums, hotels, restaurants, resorts can offer a tour using virtual reality.
- Advertisement tools can be used to make the user experience better.
- It can be used in learning medicine or how to operate heavy machinery, the practical appliances of Virtual Reality via exercises or practices are endless.
- E-commerce and online stores can show off their products in a more engaging way that will convert into more sales and a better customer satisfaction metric.
No-code platforms
The no-code movement is a digital philosophy that looks to allow any person to access web app creation even if they don’t know how to code in any programming language.
This is known as no-code development or visual programming. No-code platforms don’t use any programming language looking to make the web development process a more visual and simple experience. There are multiple no-code tools around the web.
This is why it’s hard not to think about the no-code movement as one of the best and latest web development technologies.
In order to create an application without coding, you can use multiple development tools that offer a visual environment.
Users only have to use simple methods to create an app or a website, like adding parts and other stuff with just drag and drop. No-code platforms use graphic interfaces that allow users to look at what they are creating without the need to drop a single line of code. The most amazing thing about this is that the results are the same, no one could tell apart a website created with code or without.
Progressive Web Apps
Progressive web apps are one of the latest web development technologies that take advantage of the most popular web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) used to create apps for any internet service. As opposed to mobile apps and desktop apps, progressive web apps can be executed in any browser compatible with any standard. Progressive web apps also allow web developers to create push notifications, optimize performances, increase functionality according to device capabilities, etc. That’s why these apps are called progressive.
In conclusion, the no-code movement, virtual reality, and progressive web apps are some of the latest and best web development technologies. If you want to have a good career, you need to keep up with the web development trends. Most employers are always looking for people that can keep up with an ever changing industry like web development.
