Web Development Essential Skills

As the world moves towards a more digital society, web development is becoming more important than ever. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, it's essential that you have some essential web development skills. In this article, we'll provide a starting point of the key web development essential skills that you need to know. We'll also give you tips on how to improve your web development skills. So if you're looking to learn about web development, keep reading!

What does a web developer do?

A web developer role is to design and keep websites up and active, using tools and skills to make sure they perform reliably and efficiently. There are two main kinds of web developers: back end developers and front end developers.

Back end developers design the website architecture, write the code and run tests to ensure everything is working as intended. Back end development also manages the security and access to the website so webmasters and content creators using content management tools can do their job. Their work has more to do with how the website functions and usability than how it looks.

Front end developers design how the website is going to look like. They make the user interface and try to make a website that is user friendly and easy to interact with. They need skills such as knowledge of HTML or CSS to enhance their work and create great looking pages that integrate engaging graphics.

Both of those roles are considered to be web designers.

Web Developer Skills

If you want to become a web developer, there are a few web development essential skills that you need to know. First and foremost, you'll need knowledge of code. Most developers learn one or more languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript as they work through their education. Second is the ability to set up and manage a customer's website or web project. Third is creativity. A good deal of web design falls into the category of “UX” or User Experience Design, ensuring an online experience is positive and engaging for users, regardless of whether they're visitors or members.

Now that you are familiar with what web development is about, you need to lean towards a set of skills: either front end development and back end development.

If you have these skills already but want to improve them, e Learning courses like Code Academy offer an immersive experience that will give you the tools that you need to refine your development skills even further.

There are technical web developer skills and non-technical skills. First we will cover the technical ones.

Technical skills

HTML/CSS/Javascript skills

Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML is the most popular coding language in the world. In the web development field it is used to create the structure information of a website. Web developers use HTML in every website, from social media to streaming services. HTML is one of the basic web development essential skills to master and a great starting point to back end development if you are new to the field.

CSS is the language that will provide the layout of the website. It's important to know how to code is CSS to be one of the greats web design professionals, but it is more important to be creative enough to make your work stand out from other developers. With CSS you can include colors, fonts, optimize the site to function in any device and anything else that has to do with the site's presentation. Your creativity is the limit of what you can do with CSS.

JavaScript is one of the main front end developer skills you must have if you are looking to make it in the web development field. It will help you make the website interactive and fun to visit. JavaScript allows external applications like widgets, PDF readers, etcetera. Some famous websites that use JavaScript as its core programming language are Amazon, Twitter and Facebook. Take a look around the internet, you will be amazed at what web designers can do when they are good at JavaScript.

Analytical skills

You need to be an analytical person in order to be a good web developer. Not only because coding is a logical skill, but because you need to understand your client and his visitors. You need to propose solutions to your client's problems, and also be grounded and clear about your limits and capabilities. You don't want to end with a flashy website that doesn't offer a great user experience, or an efficient website with a dull design.

Responsive design skills

Responsive web design means you should be capable of creating a website who will look good and function in any screen size, orientation and device the user accesses to it. If you don't nail this, your website will fail to have the numbers of visitors a customer expects. The use of responsive design skills is easier than making multiple websites for multiple devices, which is also good for the web developer needs. This way you will have more time - effective with your web development.

Web designers must know about this skill as it is almost mandatory in the industry as of now.

Testing and debugging skills

As a web developer, it's important to be able to make tests to your webpage for any possible errors. Testing makes sure that your coding is doing what it's supposed to and will come down to either functional testing or unit testing. Functional testing checks whether all the pages on a website work as expected, while unit testing checks the individual code units within a page. If you're not familiar with these terms, it's always a good idea to consult a guide or tutorial on how to do these tests. In addition, it's important to know how to debug your webpage when any errors do arise. Debugging involves finding and fixing the source of the error so that your webpage can function correctly.

Back end and front end basics

Disregarding your specialization, you'll need to at least be familiar with both back end and front end web development basics. Let's say you are a front end developer and take jobs as such, you will probably be asked to do things based on what a back end web developer has done, or maybe there is an error in code on the back end and you need to fix it. It will upgrade your value as a web developer and you will be capable of doing a great job.

Search engine optimization

If a website has proper SEO, it will attract a higher number of web page visitors by showing up high enough in search engine result pages. Because more and more companies are nowadays looking to have good SEO on their sites, it's an important skill to have as a web developer. In order to be successful with SEO, you need to understand how search engines work, what keywords people are searching for, and how to optimize your website for those keywords. There are many different ways to do this, but the most effective methods often involve using software programs like Google AdWords or Bing Ads.

Non-Technical skills

Enjoy learning

If you enjoy learning that will be an advantage. New technologies are emerging each day and if you fall behind it would be harder for you to find jobs. Keep up with the trends in web development and reinforce the skills you already have. Taking online courses is a great way to refresh the things you already know and discover new tools and skills for web developers. If you put trendy skills in your portfolio, clients will be more likely to hire you.

Attention to detail

This is one of the skills web designers should have. If you know how to be detail oriented, you will have less trouble with bugs and malfunctions. If you get it right the first time you won't need to go back and lose a copious amount of time trying to fix your mistakes. It's better to analyze your work before showing it to a client, it will be embarrassing if he is the one who points out your mistakes for you. If you are a natural problem-solver, web development may be for you.

Good communication

Good communication is essential for a website to be completed successfully. Web Developers must be skilled in both spoken and written communication, as they are often required to write documentation for the websites they create. They must also be able to listen to the needs of others and clearly convey complex ideas to those who may not have a technical background. In order to be a successful Web Developer, it’s important to have a good understanding of both technology and people.

How to improve web developer skills

It’s not hard to get started as a web developer. Sometimes all you need is some experience and a good online portfolio. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to getting a job as a web developer, but sometimes qualifications may be helpful. However, there are many opportunities out there for those who are willing to work hard and put in the effort. So don’t be afraid to get started—the sky’s the limit!