What Is a Web Programmer and How to Become One

By ZipRecruiter Marketplace Research Team

A web programmer is responsible for the development and planning of a website’s execution. Your job duties include focusing on the actual code of the website to meet design specifications. You take a design sheet and write up a software algorithm to determine how best to translate it into code, and can work independently or as part of a team. If you work as part of a team, you have one of the most important jobs in the creation of the site. A web programmer needs to develop multiple proficiencies and gain experience with various websites.

Most organizations expect you to have a bachelor’s degree in web development or a similar tech qualification, but it isn’t always necessary. If you can point potential employers to your own work, it’s possible to get the job even without a degree. To acquire skills, you need to learn a variety of web programming languages like Javascript, HTML5, Ruby, Python, and Perl. Once you learn these languages, you can start building web pages and add them to your design portfolio.

To be successful in your career as a web programmer, you need to plan your code before you start creating it. It’s important to learn the intricacies of the language in which you are coding and plan to make mistakes. When creating your work timetable, you should always build debugging time into it, because having code run perfectly the first time is unlikely. The more complex the website, the more bugs are likely to exist in the code.