Junior Web Developer Jobs: What Do I Need to Compete?

When you first begin your research in web development, you might think that you can walk into any firm right after college and apply to be a web developer. While education is the foundation of your career, experience counts, too. You should be start looking for junior web developer positions if you don't have any experience beyond what you learned at your university.

Who is a Junior Web Developer?

This is the term allocated to newbies in the web development sector. However, do not let the ‘junior’ reference fool you. An entry-level job in web development still usually requires a degree, and if not a degree, then years of experience.

What do They Do?

Apart from building websites, as a junior web developer, you will also have to analyze a client’s needs to ensure that the underlying structure, graphics, and content are capable of meeting the client’s and their users’ objectives.

Your daily responsibilities may include:

• Building websites using scripting or authoring languages
• Designing, writing, and editing web page content
• Using user feedback or testing to identify and correct problems
• Converting video, audio, written, and graphic components into compatible formats for the web

So Which Skills Will you Need?

Having the natural characteristics of a web developer – a love for using computers to solve problems by designing solutions – is good but you need hard technical skills to find any success in the industry. As such, you need proper training from an accredited school.

Nevertheless, the most demanded skills include:

• JavaScript
• HTML5
• jQuery
• PHP
• JAVA

These are among the coding languages you will learn when pursuing a degree in web programming and are what are commonly applied in your day-to-day tasks in web development.

What Education do You Need?

Apart from the skills you need to kick-start your career as a junior web developer, you need the education to help you land the job. Educational requirements will vary according to the work setting; however, the most typical requirement is a bachelor's degree in web development.

Teaching yourself how to code is certainly feasible but web development covers such a vast scope that coding is merely an element in it. Obtaining a formal education in web development will grow your programming skills as well as preparing you to work with clients effectively to realize creative solutions to their business challenges.

Misconceptions about Web Development

Web development and Web design are not synonymous

Many people unknowingly incorrectly refer to either as the other. However, web design is not web development. A web developer takes a web designer’s work and turns it into a functional website. Designers are focused on the overall feel and look of the site while developers are more concerned about the site’s performance.

A website is never complete

With websites, there’s always a bug, glitch, or update that you need to fix. Since technology is always evolving, you will always have improvements to make. For instance, if you created the complete website in 2010, the same site will look outdated today in addition to having structural inadequacies.

Web developing is a lot more than just writing code

Web development does not involve typing away at your computer all day. Even though creating code is a major part of the job, working with illustrators, designers, and copywriters are the other piece of the puzzle.

As a developer, you will also analyze the site’s performance and work with its other stakeholders to prioritize the improvements and updates.

What Soft Skills do Junior Web Developers Need?

Communication Skills

As a developer, you are required to work with multiple members to realize the website’s purpose. Excellent communication is required to achieve this.

Love of learning

You need a certain amount of curiosity to make it as a web developer. If you like checking web developer blogs for tutorials or inspiration to learn new skills, you’re on the right track. Web developing involves constantly learning about what is new or relevant in the industry.

Patience

As a website never gets complete, you will need patience to deal with the constant adjustments you will have to do.

Are you interested in the world of web design? If you want to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer and Information Science with a Major in Software Development - Web Design and Development Track, consider ECPI University for the education you'll need. For more information on our accelerated programs, connect with a helpful university admissions counselor today.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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Gainful Employment Information – Web Development & Design Track - Bachelor’s

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