What A Web Developer Is-And Isn’t
Posted on 02/25/10 | Category: blog, development | Tags: CSS, development, HTML, php, rant
There seems to be a lot of confusion in the world today about what it is that web developers are and do. Are they designers? Programmers? Marketers? Business owners? While being a little of all of these is important in the world today, that’s not what web developers really are.
I’m constantly getting requests for quotes on a daily basis for a ton of services I don’t offer. I have a list of services and talk everywhere on the site about what I do offer. Perhaps it’s not an attention-to-content problem, but maybe the general population just doesn’t know how to classify us.
Another example would be those master-of-all ads you see in an alarming amount on job boards. Most of them read something like:
Looking for a ROCKSTAR/NINJA web developer. Should be able to design and code in CSS, XHTML, PHP, ASP, JS, RoR, MySQL, C++ (and every other acronym you can think of). Should also have knowledge of Adobe Flash, Flex, marketing, social media and SEO practices.
My question is, does this person really exist? Is it possible to be extensively knowledgeable in this many areas? And if so, would this person really be called a web developer?
What a web developer is
- A master of at least 1-2 web languages. Preferably HTML, CSS to start.
- A practicer of web standards, semantics and validation. Sorry, but if you can’t take the 2 seconds to validate your HTML in one standard or another (unless there’s a good reason not to) you’re just not a real (good) developer. Same goes for browser compatibility. Unvalidated CSS is acceptable if it’s due to CSS3 techniques.
- Learner of the art of graceful degradation. Not all sites should look the same in every browser. That’s ok.
- A back-end programmer or front-end developer. Developer and programmer can be interchangeable, but I personally refer to the front-end as developing, and the back-end as programming.
- Someone who can work around all programming languages – even if they don’t know the language or have never seen it before.
- Adaptable and able to learn a framework or the basics of another similar language in just a few hours.
- An improver – every site’s code should be better and cleaner than the last.
- Able to provide in-code SEO for no extra cost.
- As important as the designer. A lot of normal clients don’t realize this and will pay big money for a designer, yet skimp on the coding.
- A business person. They are very knowledgeable about what they’re doing. They’re professional. Their business is as much of a business as yours.
- Money-making. We’re in business to make money doing something we love. There’s no shame in that, unlike what you hear these days about “greedy” business people. Without “greedy” business people, would there be jobs?
What a web developer isn’t
- A designer. That being said, the developer should know the basic principles of design, the differences between serif and sans-serif and basic color theory and typography.
- A consultant. I get lots of questions from regular clients about marketing, SEO and other web-related, but non-development related issues.
- All knowing. We can recreate your PSDs, but we can’t possibly know you want A to move, B to roll and C to disappear if you don’t inform us in some way.
- A marketer. Even though a web developer should know basic principles (and must know if they run their own business anyways), web developers probably aren’t the best to go to for marketing work.
- A male, fat, in PJ’s, a geek, a gamer, lazy, weird looking or any other of those wonderful stereotypes we come across. Of course, you could be any one of those things and still be a web developer, but the majority of us are actually good looking, clean and hard-working.
- A ninja or a rockstar…how did those descriptions become so popular??
- Infinite-lingual. There’s simply too many web languages out there for us to know every one well.
- Cheap. While there may be people in India charging $1 an hour (yes I’ve seen that more than once), you’re not going to get that cheap with a real developer (count on $50+). If you knew how many clients came to us complaining how terrible the <$30 an hour developer did or how many times we’ve had to fix that developer’s mistakes (for more than what they would’ve paid to just choose a better developer in the first place) you’d think twice about that.
- Available 24/7. Most developers keep normal business hours and aren’t available during weekends or nights.
- Scary. We know you don’t know the web like we do, and that’s ok. We won’t scare you with tech names, but instead will work hard to explain everything in normal speak.
What do you think a web developer is or isn’t?
Photo by by Thomas Hawk
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Well said! Nice read.
thanks
I was hoping it wouldn’t come out too snarky.
beautiful…well said…
I totally relate to seeing job listings like that. So many times I wonder what people are thinking when they post those descriptions. And so many times I wonder if they actually fill those positions….
Yes, very well said!! I think in some cases it is more of a problem of clients not know the different roles in web development. Back when I was doing client work a client would hire me to develop a site or something and then start calling me about how to remove the virus from their computer. I am a programer not a windows sys admin.
I think there are a fair number of clients out there that just clump “you know computers” into one category and do not realize you might only be a master of a few categories.
Great post.
I’ve heard a lot of people say this…normally I turn down normal clients and only work with agencies or other freelancers, so luckily this doesn’t happen often to me.
Great post Amber,
really too many stereotypes about what we are or what we are not. I would add: we are not copywriters (if you don’t give me your content I’m not reading in your mind and write what you’re thinking!); we are not professional hackers or similar (never been asked: “Could you please give me a copy of…”?); we have families and friends and also not web-related hobbies!
We are also not editors. Yeah a lot of us know English and proper grammar from going to school but it isn’t our job to go over every word in your content, checking spelling, grammar, punctuation etc. Yeah we can provide those services at an additional cost (often outsourcing that) but its not something we should be expected to do.
Nice ideas on this topic. Also, a web developer is not configuring server hosts. I just got an inquiry to setup a IIS server or debug some problems on Linux servers.
Ninja, rockstar, guru developer are funny names but somehow, I would say, those replace the word freelancer which would represent the regular beign, while the others have increased ranks.
Another good post! The only item I would change is “Not all sites should look the same in every browser” to “Not all sites can look the same in every browser” (more accurate).
I fall into the “ninja” category but I very much dislike the terms “ninja” and “rockstar”…they’re silly and and doesn’t contribute at all to developers being taken seriously.
I was debating on how to word that. However, I’ve found that it is possible to make some sites look exactly the same, but those are normally minimalistic or simple sites.
Most sites today are always almost impossible to make the same, unless they want to use hacks and additional stylesheets.
I’m with Amber’s “Not all sites should look the same in every browser”.
What I think – we should keep the differences in rendering small, but don’t worry about having EXACTLY the same rendering in every browser.
It’s different thing when some pieces of the page are in different places – that shouldn’t happen.
But it’s fairly acceptable in my opionion to not support IE’s lack of some CSS features.
What I do is – let IE6 users know that they are using OLD browser that doesn’t let them see pages as they SHOULD be seen and offer an option (chrome, firefox, safari). Most of the time is some alert-box at the top of the page that shows itself when the site is rendered in IE6.
@Michal Kozak – Completely agree. I love throwing in the “Your using an outdated browser” alert (http://updateyourbrowser.net – has simple, elegant code insert to get the message across). Ever since Andy Clarke’s redesign of Stuff and Nonsense where he purposely chose markup that IE6 couldn’t validate.
http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/blog/about/hello/
It can be tricky. I’ve been lucky and haven’t had to use any IE hacks for years but a couple of weeks ago it happened. It felt so wrong.
Great post. I’m just at the beginning of my web dev career, and have often been thrown off by the mulit-lingual needs in job boards. Always seemed highly unrealistic, so I’m glad that I’m not alone.
I also know so many people that have stated they design, develop, etc. I only want to develop. Finding that there are others like that, and that many designers only want to design, reassures me in my career choice.
Thanks!
Yes, don’t let that deter you! Although I’ve expanded my core list of services to include PHP and WordPress development, my main services are still HTML/CSS coding.
I went to design school, but decided that wasn’t the path I wanted to take. So don’t be afraid to niche yourself into one place, my workload increased exponentially after I did that.
So, I need to buy some P.J’s and throwing stars.
Good read Amber, thanks.
Don’t forget a guitar for the rockstar part
Lol Ryan’s already got the guitar, if you count guitar hero. Wait, that makes him a gamer too.
Great post and way to familiar. My favorite would have to be the client who hires me for a complete website redesign then expects me to be able to fix her computer so she can get the pictures for the website off it, setup a gmail account for her, teach her on how to send me her marketing materials to edit and then asks me if she is running her business in the best geographic location for her industy. Oh, and I would need to edit a mov file if that was possible. Really? I was seriously asked all of these things before any discussion about how the site was going to be developed.
LOL Yes, I’ve dealt with that as well. If i t’s just a few questions, I don’t mind answering them, but sometimes it gets out of hand.
Well written Amy! I relate with you in the fact that I get lots of requests from clients to give advice or even perform marketing related services, Service I don’t offer. The rat race for New Design grads is to think that they have to match up to every skill listed in job descriptions like you listed. It’s even been tempting for myself to try to do this, but it’s not necessary! I’m going to send this to a web developer friend of mine who will be encouraged by it.
Thanks.
Oh and sorry about calling amy. I meant Amber.
It’s ok…everyone does that
I am very glad to see that you are putting so much of effort for encouraging the readers with valueable seo posts like this, I have sent this post to my facebookaccounts.
Hey Amber.
You know, there aren’t a lot of people that fit that job offer, but that doesn’t mean those sort of people don’t exist.
I’m one of those few people that can work on different things at a very high level.
I’m a back-end programmer (websites (php), ocasionally some standalone executables), which also includes being awesome at database design. I’m a designer, logos and website designs being my strong points. I’m a consultant, I’m a business-man, and of course a front-end developer.
These things I just listed (maybe except the business-man part) are areas in which I can easily be considered an expert or as you stated … a master.
What I don’t do at a very high level would be marketing, SEO, security, printing, video production, server configuration … which I have read about and know about, just haven’t had enough experience (and probably will never have).
So yes, flexible, adaptable people exist.
So maybe there is a C++ / RoR / PHP / HTML / CSS / JS / Flash expert out there. Maybe he (or she) is also an excellent bartender.
With the above stuff mentioned, how would you classify me ?
Am I a web developer ? I can develop any website (as long as it doesn’t have flash) from scratch by myself and end up with a high quality product.
And why are you angry at people that want an all-around-good-guy as an employee ?
(PS: I’m not being arrogant, boastful or anything like that. I’ve just been around computers most of my life and I have an extreme thirst for knowledge.)
@Piry -Then I’d have to say you should take a look on craigslist. There’s a ton of people that would love to hire you for $18/hour. I believe Amber’s point was that those types of adds are just seeking to abuse what we do, and want to under-value a developer, whilst wanting them to be a one-man [or woman @amber
] web-dev team. The expectations in itself are just ridiculous. On the other hand, hat’s off to you Piry for taking the time to gather up all that knowledge.
I don’t like the hourly payment method. It’s unfair for me and the client to work with a hourly wage.
From my point of view, knowing and being able to make anything on the web is pretty useless on the long run, because “special” projects don’t come very often, and I usually end up working on blogs, social networks and article-based websites.
I had the advantage of growing up at the same time the internet was getting interesting.
Anyway, any programmer should know *some* design and any designer should know *some* programming. It helps a lot to look at things from different perspectives (from a programmers POV and from a designer’s).
Thanks for the craigslist tip but I haven’t had ANY luck getting clients by searching for them.
I think any web developer knows a little of everything – I know a medium amount of PHP, a teeny bit about ASP and some JS and jQuery as well – that being said I strongly believe NO one can be a “master” of every web language. You may be good in most or even all of them, but there’s a fine line in a language like HTML, between being Good, being OK, and truly having awesome code.
Hi Amber. Thanks for the post, I can appreciate how much time goes into writing one this thought out.
I wanted to add my opinion though on the developer vs programmer terminology. I’ve been in IT full time since 1994. Half that time was spent in Java working on the back end, the other half working on front end. My work was with Fortune 500 companies, including IBM and Intercontinental Hotels. In all cases I was classified as a developer. At no time at any of these jobs or any jobs any of my fellow developers worked at called were referred to as ‘programmers’. Programmer is really just a slang for developer. Even Sun refers to their top Java title as Sr. Java Developers. I don’t think you can make a distinction between front-end and back-end via the terms developer vs programmer.
But while classified as a developer I performed every single job one might on a web project, from writing content, to providing creative direction to designers, to UI design, to SEO, to database work, to unix administration, Java and Rails development, etc. In this industry, sometimes unfortunately, we aren’t able to wear one hat, though at least it keeps things challenging.
Also, I would add that I do not believe one can refer to HTML or CSS as code. Both are markups and don’t provide actual programming instruction to a code processor, they simply instruct the computer how to layout a page. The only “front-end” coding that exists is with Javascript. In many companies, “Front-end” actually means JSP, ASP, Ruby on Rails, PHP, etc. Whereas “back-end” is more of SQL, or SAAS code (often written in Java, Ruby, C, but can also be done with the same frameworks as front-end). Those lines become blurred in most web applications.
There is no question with HTML/CSS that roles can cross. Either front-end developers, designers, or many back-end developers can provide those services. Rather than use titles, we should probably all talk more about the skills we have and when communicating a need, again simply say we need design work, or need the design to be built out, or need database interaction, or ui design, etc.
Just my two cents. Thanks again for your post.
I disagree, HTML and CSS are “code” as far as what “code” really is (a bunch of jibberish that does something). I once had someone also tell me HTML is not a language…well err…what does the L in HTML stand for, eh?
While it doesn’t actually process information, it should still be considered code,
I’ve never heard of anyone referring to front-end development as ASP, RoR or PHP, those have always been considered back-end by every job ad and web professional I’ve ever come across.
As far as the programmer vs developer thing, both do cross lines, but normally to keep things simple around here, you’ll see that I refer to developers in the front-end sense, and programmers to the back-end.
You are right HTML is a language, but according to its spec, it is a markup language not a programming language, just like SGML or XML.
This is a good article on the topic: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/prog.html
In web design circles, your definitions might be accepted, and probably help make designers feel they do more than just design, but in the IT world, you will not be hired as a developer or a programmer because you can markup a document.
In the MVC pattern of an application, the V (view) produces the front end and the MC are referred to as the back end. In a SAAS app, the traditional view doesn’t exist. Instead there are apis to call that a front end php, rails app may call. In a non SAAS app, the MVC of an app are all one. In Rails, ERB and RJS produce the front-end. Thus at many shops, like 37 signals, the person doing the HTML and CSS, is also coding in ERB and RJS to produce that HTML and CSS. All combined they are the front-end.
Job descriptions like this one illustrate that:
http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/6320
http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/6319
…and so many more on the same job board.
Oh and I meant to add that I agree with all your other points, (except the available 24/7…most real IT developers have to be), including the cheap one. So true, most developers I know make around $100/hr, and yet clients think they can hire some cheap $30/hr person who is of the same quality.
So the only thing I’m disagreeing with you on is the split of programmer to developer, and the terms front-end to back-end.
Thanks Amber!
The split thing was something more personal
I can see IT guys having to be available though (although this post was meant for more regular developers
)
I think everyone should know PHP. How can you code in today’s environment without it? Amber, stop being so damn coy.
Totally agreed bout that Ninja / Rockstar.
hi,
a nice one confirming what most freelancers do..
regarding what it isn’t…
the consultation thing…well thats what most clients are initially want for free but later they do realize that our time is billable…i mean if we end up consulting hours on end, then theres hardly time to code…
rockstar …well that’s a word i hate becoz of its overuse these days…nobody knows the origins…may be some clients were low about satisfaction from developers and hence invented the word to mean really really skilled developers..
Cheap…well i’ve been working from India since a year now and trust me we charge upwards of $50 even if its plain html…never heard of $1 projects. Even the internet usage wont be paid with that….
regards,
bharat khiani a.k.a Brett.
India.
Wait…I’m not a rockstar??
snaps
Well said Amber.
I love this sentence: All knowing. We can recreate your PSDs, but we can’t possibly know you want A to move, B to roll and C to disappear if you don’t inform us in some way.
It’s so true, I get so many PSDs without an information how the navigation should act or other things, this is terrible.
Really nice read Amber, thanks.
Another great post from Amber…go figure! She’s a Rockstar/Ninja! ;0)
Good post! Will be tweeting this. As for those “master of all things computer” job descriptions…man oh man…they’re everywhere. I apply to them because I need an income like any other human, but who can really do ALL of that stuff under one job title? And when I get to the interviews I learn fairly quickly that they often do indeed expect you do know everything under the sun. It’s kinda discouraging.
strictly speaking.. a web developer is a programmer who develops “programs” for the web. the term you’re looking for when you misuse developer is designer. web designer.
html is not a programming language. it’s a markup language. it’s not development, it’s layout.
it seems almost stupid to quibble about these terms but as you know–and the spirit of your post suggests–education of non-technical people hiring is a huge issue for all of us trying to make a living and there’s been a lot of work done before you to help explain the difference between a ui person and a programmer and you’re undoing them every time you slap the term developer on ui work. which seems out of line with your own complaint about the obvious stupidity of the quoted job listing.
And this is where I disagree. HTML/CSS/WordPress is “development” because you have to learn a language in order to use it. Most web designers are masters of layout via Photoshop and don’t know any coding languages at all. I definitely do NOT consider myself a designer, as I don’t design anything. I take designs from others and convert those into a layout using HTML/CSS/WordPress, which also includes a good bit of PHP, however, I’m not a programmer as I don’t have an extensive knowledge of backend PHP. I’m a front-end developer, which is the #1 term used to call what I do.
well, i figured you’d disagree, but i couldn’t resist commenting. we’ll have to disagree.
however, from my view, when i hear front-end developer, i hear javascript or other ui focused “programming” language. it’s an interesting problem.
i see the argument you’re making, since you’re not conceptualizing the work you’re converting it from one format to another so you’re not actually a designer in the true sense either.
however, you’re likely to work with a fair share of developers (my definition of..) and you won’t endear yourself to them at all by describing your work as development. i’m not saying that’s right, i’m just saying how it tends to be.
i wonder if you pursue the php aspect more fully if you will come to change your mind about this at some point. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
i won’t even get started on how most experienced developers would not call working with wordpress programming at all despite it’s use of a programming language. they’d call it being a script kid, that’s a whole other argument
I think you have to think about how developers/design use WordPress in order to determine if it’s considered dev or not. I know someone tried to tell me that I couldn’t be charging the prices I’m charging for WP, because it’s as “easy” as HTML. While CSS, HTML and WordPress are essentially “easy” to get into, there are varying degrees of development in it. Yes, anyone can change a link color in CSS, but can any do advanced layouts, limit the number of classes and IDs by using alog. & advanced CSS selectors? What about semantics and validation? Cleanliness of code? Anyone can skin WordPress, but can anyone edit existing and create custom plugins? What about changing the way WordPress works functionally-wise?
I’m still amazed today when I open up other front-end dev’s code work to see the nasty nest of code there. If you look at a bunch of my files, you’d think there’s barely a site there because there’s always a tiny amount of code.
By the way, I am dabbling in advanced PHP, Cocoa and Obj-C, I just don’t plan to offer those as services to clients, they’re more for making fun apps in the future