In 3 Simple Steps, Decide Whether to Be a Web Developer or a Web Designer

swati.ptatel91 February 28, 2022

0 538 6 minutes read

It’s natural to be confused about which career path is best for you. If you’re just starting out learning to code. When new students join our Break Into Tech program, one of the first things we help them with is deciding whether they want to be a web designer or a web developer.

There are numerous ways to specialize and gain specialized expertise. It’s a lot to think about if you’re just starting out in the tech world. So, how do you choose between web design and web development, and which is better for you?

This post will assist you in understanding the key distinctions so that you can make an informed decision.

TABLE OF MATERIALS
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WEB DESIGN VS. WEB DEVELOPMENT
STEP 1: DISCOVERING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING A WEB DESIGNER AND A WEB DEVELOPER
STEP 2: COMPREHENDING WHAT WEB DEVELOPERS AND WEB DESIGNERS DO
STEP 3: A GUIDELINE FOR DETERMINING WHICH IS BETTER: FOR YOUR CAREER, BE A WEB DESIGNER OR A WEB DEVELOPER

Is it better to be a web designer or a web developer? A Brief Overview

You might think that being a web designer would be ideal: you’d get to create beautiful things for the Internet. And use all of your creative juices on typography pairings. Using your mad Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator skills, you can create color schemes, wireframes. Give website designs that certain something.

However, web development may be an appealing career option as well, and we frequently hear from students that it appears to be the “smarter” choice in tech due to the high salaries that web developers can expect. Learning to code allows you to create amazing websites and web apps using a variety of programming languages, and there are numerous job opportunities for developers.

Our career paths include a course in HTML and CSS, regardless of whether you ultimately choose design or development. Once you’ve gotten your feet wet, deciding which path to take — web design vs. web development — can be a lot easier.

Step 1: Dispel web design vs. web development myths.

Before you can make any decisions about what type of tech career you want, you must first understand what web designers and developers do.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been socialized to define “web designer” and “web developer” in ways that don’t accurately represent what it’s like to be one, and you’ve probably never even spoken to a real-life web designer or developer.

My biggest misconceptions about designers and developers revolved around how much money they make, how difficult the learning curve is, and what kind of work they actually do. I was duped into believing the myths that:

MYTH: LEARNING TO BE A FRONT OR BACK END WEB DEVELOPER IS MORE DIFFICULT THAN LEARNING TO BE A DESIGNER (OR THE OTHER WAY AROUND).

Some people believe that because front end and/or back end development involve higher-level programming, they will be more difficult to learn than design. Others consider design to be more difficult because they believe it requires more innate (rather than learned) creativity and knowledge of design software.

In fact, learning any new skill set is difficult when you’re starting from scratch. Web development and web design aren’t inherently more or less difficult. Your strengths and weaknesses will determine which path is the least difficult for you.

MYTH: WEB DEVELOPERS MAKE MUCH MORE MONEY.

What is the wage disparity between a web designer and a web developer?

When looking at an average web developer salary, it appears at first glance that a web developer salary is significantly higher than a web designer salary:

$47,590 for a web designer
$71,497 for a web developer

*Indeed

Look for work in the United States.

However, if you look into more specific areas of a web designer salary, you’ll notice that the two are competitive:

$80,445 for an interactive designer
$94,454 for a user experience designer

*Indeed

Look for work in the United States.

It’s true that a web developer’s salary is higher on average than a web designer’s. But as a beginner, you won’t have to worry about that. Whether you start learning how to be a web developer or a web designer. You won’t be a senior full-stack developer (and earning the top salary) in a matter of months, as that usually takes years of experience.

Web designers earn a lot of money. Given that both are lucrative options, it’s better to go with what makes you happy rather than what you believe will pay you more.

MYTH: WEB DESIGNERS DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ANY CODE.

While web designers aren’t required to be coding experts, Cristy Koebler, Associate Director of Class Operations at Skillcrush, says, “It’s helpful for designers to understand how to code, but I don’t have to if they understand basic HTML and CSS.” They can deliver a design that a developer can code up if they understand basic HTML and CSS.So they know what works and what doesn’t, they organize design files so developers can easily find the information they need, and they’re aware of best practices.”

Cristy also mentions that “these days, some designers may do both design and coding, and many freelancers do both.” Having coding skills is definitely advantageous.” If you want to be a web designer who can also code, learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as a CSS preprocessor like Sass or LESS and how to use jQuery, a JavaScript library.

While web design is a subset of visual design, which also includes UX design, UI design, graphic design, digital design, and product design, web designers who can code. Particularly those with advanced skills such as Sass, Bootstrap, and JavaScript, are in high demand.

If you’re transitioning or breaking into tech, knowing how to code and being able to turn your designs into working prototypes. And user interfaces will increase your chances of being hired as a web designer or web design freelancer. The best way to make a lot of money. While also being able to deliver on what clients and employers want is to be a complete package of designer and programmer wizardry.

Step 2: Determine what web designers and web developers do.

Now that you’ve debunked some of the myths, you should know how web designers and developers spend their time.

Web design is a subset of the larger field of design, which also includes graphic designers, UI designers, visual designers, UX designers, and others. Web designers work specifically on design elements and components that are used on the web. They may design websites from the ground up, or they may work for a brand and contribute assets and graphics. That appear across a site or app, such as graphics, icons, images, logos, and more.

Developers (especially front-end web developers) put those designs into the products they create.

Designers and developers collaborate on a team, with designers focusing on user experience design and planning and developers on code.

A website’s overall vision and plan are created by web designers. A web designer’s job is less about writing code and more about deciding on a site’s layout, color palette, font set, and visual themes.

When designing a website, a web designer would use color theory knowledge and tools like InVision to create mockups, prototyping, and templates. Web designers consider how their UX designs. Visual elements affect users as well as the overall look. Feel of the website before handing off their plans and layouts to a web developer to code.

A web developer uses coding languages to transform the plans and layouts provided by web designers into live, functioning websites. A web developer’s job may require them to work with programming languages such as PHP, Java, Python, and Ruby to create databases. That allow for dynamic content updates and user submissions.

A web developer’s job may also include coding server-side interactions, such as calling APIs or querying a database with SQL. So that users can access videos/images from servers on their screens and share content across platforms. Web developers also use Git and GitHub to save and publish code to a website or web app.

Step 3: Assess yourself: how to determine whether you should be a Web Designer or a Web Developer.

Once you understand the true differences between web design and web development. You must determine which one is best for YOU. It’s fine if you read those descriptions and think, “I could do any of these!” These simplified descriptions of web designers’ and developers’ general characteristics should be useful:

WEB DEVELOPERS

Web designers have a visual way of experiencing the world. For example, they may tell you to turn right when you see the big tree when giving you directions.

Web designers, who spend a lot of time developing the look and feel of websites and user interfaces. If you asked them to write a word in the center of a page, they would most likely eyeball it.