Web development is the building and maintenance of websites; it’s the work that happens behind the scenes to make a website look great, work fast and perform well with a seamless user experience. Web developers do this by using a variety of coding languages. The languages they use depends on the types of tasks they are performing and the platforms on which they are working.
Web development includes many types of web content creation. Some examples include hand coding web pages in a text editor, building a website in a program like Dreamweaver, and updating a blog via a blogging website.
Before we move on, you should first ask yourself: do you need a web developer for your business or company?
If you want to start a new website, there are always two main paths that you can take:
- Hire a web developer and have them handle the task for you.
- Or create a website yourself.
When you hire a web developer, you can give all your ideas and plans to the expert, pay them for their job, and wait for the result. It’s very intimidating to create your website, but with just a few tutorials on Youtube and Google, you can also do it in your own free time.
There are a few instances when you should always seek the help of a web developer, so if you’re starting a new project, it’s beneficial to at least consult with an expert. While basic websites can be generated on your own, more custom projects will rely on the skill of a web developer.
If the website involves complex features like e-commerce tools or content management systems, you will need a back-end developer. When managing a large system, you often require customizations that are difficult to learn on your own. If you need to change something deeper than visual looks in the website, you’re going to need a front-end developer for the job.
While looking for the right people for the right job, you might come across the question: what’s the difference between a web developer and a web designer? Are they the same?
A web designer’s job is to make your website look good. They focus more on the style and overall feel of the page, using graphic software to customize the website’s visual elements. A web developer’s role is to build the web designer’s concept and to craft a smooth-running website for their clients and users.
Hiring the proper team of professionals to work on your website can be stressful, but if you know the signs that you’re working with a great web developer – you can easily throw all your worries away and focus more on other jobs that are worth more of your time.
Here are some telltale signs that you’re working with a great web developer:
1. Reasonable rate you can rely on
A great website designer isn’t the one offering the cheapest price for their services. They offer a fair price and you’re sure to get what you pay for. They’re confident with their jobs and they’ll assure you that there won’t be any unnecessary fees or hidden charges in the final bill that can cause any delays in your project.
At the end of the day, a great website developer will quote the price that they need for the job and will deliver to you your site as you were promised. They have the time, talent, resources, and skills to complete the project on the schedule that you need.
2. Enough resources and connections for the job
A great web designer has enough resources to complete the project on the schedule you’ve set. They’ll coordinate with you on how long the site will be done and if they ever need an extra hand for the job, they’ll immediately recommend the perfect person for the job and how to utilize this helping hand to achieve the goal that you’ve set for your website.
3. Clear and quality communication
You know that you’re working with a great web designer when you’re always updated with the construction of your website. Since they take time to understand what you want, you know that they spend time to listen and communicate properly on the needs and wants of your company and have it reflect on the final output of your website. A great web developer will also make sure to contact you if they run into problems and will never surprise you with surprise changes or delays along the way.
4. Real Website Portfolios
You just know that you’re working with a great web designer if the sample projects that they presented during their application are working websites for other clients that are accessible by the public. The difference between a portfolio with a list of working websites is that you can point out the things you also want for your website. Instead of simply explaining in words and photos, you can just let your developer know that you wanted the same functionality as the website he previously showed to you.
5. Immediately offers multiple solutions to one problem
If something is wrong, your web developer always finds a way to make it right. If something is broken, they figure out how to fix it. They love solving problems and see it as a challenge instead. Since web developers will be tasked with assessing an existing program to identify areas of improvement, it’s important for them to immediately find the root of the problem and offer a variety of solutions to fix it.
If you think that you’re current web developer is not the right match for you, then you don’t have to worry. These are some of the qualities you’ll have to remember when hiring an awesome web developer for your team.
6. Constantly learning and improving
Someone who has a deep passion for their work is often happy to learn and improve their skills in the industry. You could immediately feel it in their words that they love what they do and they are excited about the idea of creating a new project that lets them use their skill set to help a client and further increase their portfolio and expertise on the job.
If you don’t feel the excitement of a web developer that wants to join your team, keep looking!
7. Keeping up to date with the industry
The power of the web has no limits. Every day, a new concept, technique, or skill will pop up and your web developer shouldn’t be too lazy or shy to grab the opportunity to learn those new things. Keeping up to date with the industry requires them to be responsible for making sure that your website is running at the same speed as other websites.
If your web developer can’t keep up with the sudden changes in web development then you need to find a NEW web developer for your business immediately.
8. Being able to manage time and prioritize
A web developer should work smarter, not harder. Instead of just dumping time and energy into a task, he should be able to manage his time and prioritize the list of things that should be done to keep the website moving without doing any unnecessary stuff that’ll just hinder or delay the project because of all the backlogs that will potentially happen in the future.
They should be able to see if a project may need more steps or research than they originally expected and they should be able to easily come up with a way to lessen the delay to meet the expected deadline for the website.
9. A problem solver
The ability to solve problems that will be present at work should come naturally to your web developer. In the tech space, skills become obsolete at least every two years. So it’s better to hire a person that can adapt and learn new technologies that’ll help them with their job in the long run. Ask them technical questions during the interview and check how they answer to some problems that cannot be solved simply by knowing the topic but more on the application of what they’ve learned over the past few years in the industry.
10. Communicates well with others
Finally, you’re going to want to hire a web developer that not only listens properly to your requests but also communicates and gives feedback on some of the changes or things that you want for your website. They won’t simply answer with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, but they’ll rather explain the technical issue behind the problem and have you understand why it’s impossible to have some of the things you want for your website. In their way, they’re not only learning by doing work, but they’re also learning by teaching the people around them a thing or two on web development simply by communicating properly about their job.
Web development may sound technical to a lot of people, but there are a group of experts that are more than willing to help you with the things that you want for your website. Having an excellent web developer will not only ease your worries away, but it’ll also help with the overall look and feel of your business to other people.