First and foremost, web development is about creating an online presence for a business or individual. This means developing the website, including all the coding, design, and hosting needed to make it a reality. However, web development also includes a range of computer science concepts, such as website programming, data storage, and search engine optimization. In short, web development is a mix of many different disciplines, but it is still considered computer science.
Well, then what is computer science?
Is web development computer science? Well, not exactly. Computer science is the study of computers and their applications. There is a large range of subfields within computer science, and the field itself is constantly changing and improving.
Computer science is a highly diverse field with many different types of jobs. It encompasses website development, software development, network administration, graphics design and programming, information science, database management, and many more. Jobs in these fields are always in high demand and almost never require a bachelor’s degree.
Computer science is also a great field to get into if you want to work in tech but don’t want to become a programmer. There are many types of jobs within computer science that don’t require you to write code. For example, computer science majors can get jobs as graphic designers, database managers, and programmers. However, even if you do want to become a programmer, it helps if you have a strong background in computer science.
Key differences between Web Development and Computer Science?
If you are an undergraduate student you are probably wondering if there is a difference between computer science and what a web developer does. Both jobs can get mixed in people’s minds, especially in people who are not familiar with computing problems or computer programming. But nothing is that far from reality, each field has its own reason to exist.
People are often not informed properly and will confuse what a web developer and someone dedicated to computer programming does.
Someone has to speak up and really show what is the difference between these two professions. What does back-end development do, for example, that is so different from software development? No one talks about this. Here we will clear that for you once and for all.
Computer scientist vs Web developer
At a practical level and career paths, software engineers have the responsibility of programming the code and offering computing solutions. This is called software development. So this will put an end to question “Is web development computer science?”
On the other hand, a web developer is responsible for creating and using software meant to be used in a digital project, for example a website.
Both of these industry professionals have very diverse tasks and can be used in a lot of phases in a project. Their skill set and industry experience allow them to take on tech jobs, doesn’t matter if it is about the project definition or the maintenance and launch of a website.
They also can take the same responsibilities based on their very core skills, but only web developers can do digital design and, on the other hand, only computer scientists have a computer science curriculum and are able to develop software programs. But both tech jobs are amazing to gain industry experience and even work at a government agency.
Parallel routines
Web developers and software engineers have a lot of differences, this becomes especially clear if we look at their day to day schedule. The software engineer has a limited function inside a web development project, and needs to think twice before mixing with web programmers and web developers, both use programming languages to work but they are not the same.
The software engineers can code using programming languages but at some point they have to delegate work to the web programmers because they would feel like an alien dealing with cloud services and artificial intelligence.
That would happen in every aspect of web development, but both have to know at least the basics of building websites as well as the basics of software engineering and artificial intelligence.
Difference in money
Software engineering and web development have their differences, as we already established. But the responsibilities are key to tell one apart from the other.
The coder is the one responsible for programming a web page on a digital project, but his responsibility ends there.
There is no doubt a software programmer can take part in building websites and make sure everything works correctly and has search engine optimization, but still its main job is to make sure the code is working as intended. It’s part is using a programming language to build websites, the most popular one for this is Python.
A web developer’s responsibility is to make sure that everything else about the project is working as intended and looks good.
The web developer carries the most responsibility in this scenario, even if he just supervises or is involved in the artificial intelligence front. A web developer still has to deal with the beta testing and maintenance of the site, that’s a more crucial job. Also, web devs have to deal with bosses and take all the blame if the project goes wrong.
That’s why salary is tied to responsibility. A web developer will earn way more than a software engineer only because the job is more important and more relevant. Also, it will be seen by potentially millions of people. A web developer will achieve more in his life than a software engineer, and by this we mean in all aspects of a human life, money, success, women, social recognition, happiness and a wholesome life.
What would a client choose?
A client will, at some point, find himself in a position where he needs to choose between a web developer and a software engineer. That can be hard for the client because normal people often can’t tell apart a coder from a web developer. But if the client does his homework he would do for the web developer, no doubt.
A client may have a preference, or worse, a judgment. If he is a smart client he will choose web development no doubt. It’s just common sense, no blame on the client.
Both software engineer and web developer have a lot of knowledge that the common folks would never dream of, both need to do daily work and compete to reach the very top of their field, but something has to be taken in mind: software engineers work in the shadows while web developers thirst for recognition.
If what the client really wants is a site that becomes viral, he will choose a web developer, they are just cool like that. A web developer, unlike a software engineer, knows what would attract people because web developers are often social human beings while programmers are shut-ins that have never touched a woman in their lives, let alone being recognized for anything.
If you consider yourself an antisocial person, maybe even an otaku, you may consider being a coder, but you will need to fully learn a programming language, or more than one, because if you know a lot of programming languages it is more viable that you find a job.
A web developer maybe didn’t go to college like a software engineer did, but he will still have a higher salary because his work is creative, that means web developers only need to do their job right, Of course there are a lot of wannabe web developers, but most of the time they will out themselves as hacks and will never get any kind of recognition. True web developers will show their abilities no matter what.
That’s why if a project is complex, there is a high possibility that a web developer will end up being the boss of a software engineer. A web developer has a lot more responsibility, is it just makes sense. Still, some software engineers do not agree with this. Well, they are only fooling themselves.
What is best for a business website?
If you are a software engineer or a web developer, odds are you will need to take courses in order to stay up to date. Real professionals take care of their learning process and don’t allow themselves to fall behind. Most coders will probably lose their job because there are way too many of them going around looking for work, but web developers are kind of like artists, they throw tempers where something doesn’t go their way. But most bosses allow this behavior as long as they present spectacular work at the end of the day.
One desired attitude from a web developer is taking the lead on whatever project he is working on. Most programmers are passive and won’t do anything unless they are told to.
So it is essential for both programmers and web developers that they are able to apply all the skills they know in personal projects so that they can translate into better working projects. Practice makes perfection, and this is especially true in tech jobs like programming and web development.
But one thing is knowing the skills and having studied them, and the other is then into practice. If you are able to put all your skill into practice while working on a programming agency you will also gain knowledge about how the business works, of course you if you are just a programmer, for you, the business can only offer you so much, while as a web developer you will be at the top of the industry, with much more responsibilities a higher paying job where stakes are really high and your decisions can influence if a company lives or dies.
