How To Write A Web Developer Job Description

You don’t need to be a programmer yourself to understand that your website is a critical component of your business and its marketing strategies.

Learning a little about the key skills and duties involved in web development will make you better adept at identifying quality candidates, as well as at communicating your company’s needs with them.

This article will discuss the specific duties, salary expectations, and skill requirements of the web developer role. We’ve also prepared a sample web developer job description to help you draft your own.

Web Developer Duties and Responsibilities

Web developers use a mix of technical computer skills and graphic design skills to create websites and web pages.

The websites they create need to be functional and secure but pleasant to look at and intuitive to navigate.

To meet these goals, web developers must fulfill key duties and responsibilities such as:

• Understanding and using web coding languages (e.g., HTML, Javascript, CSS, PHP)

• Creating and presenting design specifications

• Diagnosing and troubleshooting website problems

• Maintaining and updating websites

• Collaborating with other team members

• Maintaining detailed documentation

• Monitoring website traffic

• Constantly staying up-to-date with related technologies

In addition to the general responsibilities, web developers may also fulfill more specialized roles.

The three main types of web development roles are:

• Front-end. Front-end web developers specialize in creating and perfecting all the components of a website that are visible to the end-user.

  Their main duties include:

  • Developing an intuitive user interface (UI).

  • Using HTML, CSS, and Javascript to structure a website’s layout, bring its design elements to life, and make it dynamic and reactive to users.

  • Making websites mobile-friendly.

  • Testing and tweaking for usability.

  • Creating or sourcing graphical designs.

  • Optimizing the end-user experience.

  • Implementing appropriate and up-to-date design principles.

• Back-end. Back-end web development generally encompasses a wider range of tasks than front-end development. These tasks can be split into three broad categories:

  • Server-side web applications. Back-end developers create the software necessary to add complex functionality to a website.

    For example, suppose you need to log users in or process their requests according to specific business logic.

    This validation cannot be done directly through the browser for security reasons, so a back-end developer will create an API that runs on a server and handles such tasks.

  • Integration with the front-end. Back-end developers need to design their APIs in a way that complies with the website’s front end.

    For example, suppose a page on your website allows users to enter two data fields and submit with a button.

    Your back-end developer would need to code the functionality to handle this specific request.

  • Database management. Back-end developers may also need to understand how to set up and manage a database and write code that allows it to communicate both ways with the website.

    If you’re hiring a web developer for these purposes, then make sure they’re proficient in SQL as well as a popular database management software such as Oracle, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB.

• Full-stack. Full-stack developers handle all the responsibilities of both front-end and back-end developers.

  • They also need to be experts at software development workflow management, efficiently designing each component of a website so that they all fit together.

Web Developer Skills and Qualifications

Here’s a more in-depth look at the skills and experience you should look for when hiring for a web development position:

• Web services. A web service is software that handles requests between a website’s users and its server.

  For example, imagine a user needs to submit a username and password to log into a website.

  A web service is responsible for receiving the user’s request, retrieving their information from the server, and validating their login.

  It does depend on the type of website you’re hiring a web developer to work on, but you’ll typically need one with web services experience if you want them to add any more complex functionality.

  Web services-related skills you should look for on a resume and ask about during an interview include:

  • Implementing SOAP or RESTful web services.

  • Creating end-user documentation on administering web pages and databases.

  • Implementing application configurations.

  • Migrating web services to WCF.

  • Creating user interfaces that comply with WCAG2-Assessed web pages.

  • Knowledge of XML.

  • Understanding the Provider, Requestor, Broker model.

• Web development programming languages. There are a variety of programming languages commonly involved in web development.

  In this section, we’ll cover the most common and important ones, so you know what proficiencies to look for in a candidate.

  Many of them serve entirely different uses, so you should keep in mind the type of website you want to create when hiring a web developer:

  • HTML. HTML is the mark-up language that dictates the layout and structure of practically any website.

    No matter what kind of web development project you’re hiring for, the candidates you choose will need to be HTML masters.

  • CSS. CSS is the most common web styling programming language. It’s equally as crucial as HTML and is used to add colors, fonts, and other visible features to a website.

  • Javascript. Javascript is a front-end programming language that runs on browsers. It’s essential if you want your website to display content dynamically.

  • Java. Java is different from the first three programming languages on this list, as it’s more for creating applications that run on your website rather than for creating the website itself.

  • SQL. SQL isn’t exactly a programming language but rather one used to query information from databases.

    Consider if your website needs to communicate with a database or obtain user information. If so, then make sure the web developer you’re hiring has a firm grasp of SQL.

  • PHP. PHP is a server-side language that’s famous for its relatively quick development times and cheap hosting.

    Popular CMS such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal run on PHP. If your website runs on top of any of these services, PHP skills will be useful for a candidate.

  • .NET. .NET is a popular computing framework used to develop web applications. Its main perk is its enormous selection of libraries that web developers can access to quickly and efficiently add features and functionalities to a website.

    .NET isn’t a language itself, but rather an environment that supports programming languages such as C++, VB.NET, and C#.

Web Developer Salary Expectations

There is constantly growing demand in the job market for web developers who can create high-quality, user-friendly websites.

Companies looking to secure these professionals will need to offer competitive salaries to match.

As of May 2021, the salary statistics for web developers in the United States are:

• Median annual salary. $72,539

• Top 10% annual salary. $94,000

• Bottom 10% annual salary. $55,000

Zippia maintains highly detailed and accurate data regarding position salaries and other job statistics.

Web Developer Training, Education, and Certification

Many web developers succeed at their positions with no more than a high school degree.

However, they typically need at least a bachelor’s or associate’s degree to advance in the industry.

Here is the basic educational background you should look for when hiring for a web development position:

• Education. Most web developers will have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in web development or a related field, such as computer science or IT.

  Post-secondary degrees become increasingly common in higher-level web development roles, such as full-stack positions or jobs dealing with a website’s backend.

  However, many extremely skilled and proficient web developers deliver quality projects with nothing more than a high school degree.

  Tech, in general, is a field filled with many talented professionals that were self-taught using online educational resources.

• Certifications. The importance of certifications depends on the specific web development position:

  • Solo/specialized. Suppose you’re hiring a single full-stack developer to create your entire website or a server expert to solve a critical issue in your website’s backend.

    For such important duties, it can be a good idea to pay attention to certifications.

    If a candidate has obtained a notoriously competitive certification from a credible organization, then that’s a sign that they’re qualified to get the job done.

  • Web development team member. Certifications aren’t as important if you’re hiring just another web developer for your team.

    There are many experienced web developers who are qualified at their jobs that you would be passing on if you made certifications a requirement for a position.

    Certifications are mainly just bonuses that you should only require for extremely important positions where you can’t afford to hire the wrong person.

Web Developer Job Description Example

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.