Thinking About Getting into Web Development? Don’t do it.
Just kidding, that was clickbait. Learning new STEM technologies is usually a good idea to figure out what you want to do next. STEM is an acronym that stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math. It’s an acronym for roles that require technical skills. Even if you failed math in school, you might end up really liking fields that deal with less numbers like web development.
I chose the Webstack specialization at Holberton New Haven school for several reasons. I’ve had an idea for a website for a long time and I wanted to build it out. However, as a self-taught developer, I had no idea how long it would take to build so I thought that I may as well get some accreditation along the way.
Working on the web is unique because it’s one of the easiest ways to build and distribute entire applications and software products on your own. That being said, I’d like to build a business someday and become self-employed. Between thinking of and working on ideas, the web stack field is filled with high-paying jobs and great job-flexibility despite the existence of drag and drop website-builders as part of the low-code-no-code movement.
The Web developer role is increasingly becoming automated, which might seem like a negative point for developers, but due to the complexity of the job, it means the web developer role becomes easier than ever while maintaining job security.
As a web developer you might be expected to work with following languages and frameworks:
Languages
JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, Ruby, C#, HTML, CSS
Frameworks and tools
React, Angular, Svelte, Django, Flask, .NET, Vue, Ruby on Rails, Git, PostgreSQL, MySQL, database services, API services, and many more…
There are many kinds of problems that a developer might be asked to work on, from maintaining a website to building entirely new web protocols. For example, the dev team at the company I use work at was working on porting their original FAT client healthcare application to the web, which meant building out the entire application again, but specifically for the web.
Positives
Although web development has greatly matured over the last decade, there are tons of innovative technology in the works such as web assembly[1], multi-model databases[2], and composable CSS animations[3]. Working in tech usually pays well, the work environment is automation-friendly, remote work is more of a possibility, and free-lancing adds greater work flexibility to the profession.
Possible Negatives
Web development is close to mass user experience, which often means having frequent conversations with clients over what they exactly want and what is technically feasible with the given budget. Freelancers working with non-technical clients will often require the developer to translate technical jargon into something anyone can understand.
One negative point shared across programming specialties is dealing with legacy codebases. Until new technological paradigms are reached or perhaps due to financial infeasibility, it may not be worth re-writing entire codebases, which can lead to technical stagnation and thus lower possible productivity.
Conclusion
We may be entering the age of the science caste system as prophesied by Brave New World.[4] Technology is truly the force multiplier of productivity. I just hope we can enjoy the time that time-saving technology gives us. Programming has the lowest financial barrier to entry. These tools are free, but they’re “piano-free” since they require a lot of technical knowledge just use them. If there was ever a time in humanity that tested the mental fortitude of mankind as a whole, it is here and now: in the form of resistance people feel for adopting new technologies and ideas.
