How to Become a Web Developer or Digital Designer in 2024

Educational requirements for web developers and digital designers vary by the work environment and other factors.

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Educate

Education requirements for web developers and digital designers range from a high school diploma to a bachelor’s degree.

Some employers prefer to hire web developer candidates with a bachelor’s degree in a specific field, such as computer science or programming.

Web developers need a solid understanding of HTML programming. Many employers also expect developers to know other programming languages, such as JavaScript or SQL, and to understand multimedia publishing tools, such as Flash. Throughout their careers, web developers must keep up with new tools and computer languages.

Employers of digital designers may prefer to hire candidates with bachelor’s degrees in fields such as web design, digital design, or graphic arts.

Web developers and digital designers may not need specific educational credentials if they can demonstrate their abilities through previous work experience or projects.

Progress

Web developers and digital designers with bachelor’s degrees may advance to project managers. For more information, see Profiles for Computer and Information Systems Administrators.

Important qualities

Communication skills. Web developers and digital designers must communicate with colleagues to coordinate project work.

Creativity. Web developers and digital designers are often involved in creating the look and feel of a website and must ensure that it is attractive and functional.

Customer service skills. Webmasters must respond politely to user questions and requests.

Attention to detail. Web developers and digital designers must focus and write code precisely for extended periods because a small mistake can cause an entire web page to stop working.

Ability to solve problems. Web developers and digital designers must check for coding errors and fix any they find.

Job prospect

Employment of web developers and digital designers is projected to grow 13% from 2020 to 2030, faster than the average for all occupations.

Over the past decade, around 17,900 job openings have been available annually for web developers and digital designers.

Many of these vacancies are expected to be due to the need to replace workers who move to a different occupation or exit the workforce (e.g., retire).

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Employment

The employment of web developers and digital designers is expected to grow as e-commerce expands. Online purchasing is expected to grow faster than the entire retail industry.

Demand for these workers will grow as retail companies expand their online offerings. Furthermore, using mobile devices to search the web will increase the demand for web developers and digital designers.

Rather than designing websites for desktop computers, these workers must create websites and interfaces that run on mobile devices with many different screen sizes, resulting in more work.

Because websites can be built anywhere, some developer and designer jobs may move to lower-wage countries. However, this practice is likely to be reduced as the cost of managing workers in multiple countries can offset business savings.

Additionally, web developers and digital designers must understand the cultural nuances that allow web pages to communicate effectively with users. U.S. developers and designers are better suited for the task, reducing jobs that could be moved to other countries.

Pay

In May 2020, the median annual salary for web developers and digital designers was $77,200. The median wage is when half of the workers in an occupation are paid more than that amount, and the other half are paid less. The bottom 10% earned less than $40,750, while the top 10% earned more than $146,430.

The median annual salaries for web developers and digital designers in the top industries where they worked in May 2020 are as follows:

  • Publishing (except Internet) $123,870
  • Computer system design and related services 75,450
  • Advertising, public relations, and related services 71,930
  • Management, scientific, and technical consulting services 70,790

Most web developers and digital designers work full-time.

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How to Become a Web Developer or Digital Designer in 2024
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How to Become a Web Developer or Digital Designer in 2024
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