Web Designers vs. Web Developers: Which Am I?

It takes a village to build and maintain a website, and in today’s world, there are usually two types of villagers you’ll encounter. Web developers and designers, work closely together to build websites, but are different in so many ways. While no two are the same, both groups share certain personality traits that make them uniquely fit for these positions.

If you’re hoping to break into the world of web design, you may be wondering on which end of the spectrum you’ll fall in. Some individuals may even land somewhere in the middle. The best way to determine which career path you are better suited for is to dig deep and evaluate your own personality. Determining which of your traits can be utilized for your career can lead you through an exciting path resulting in a life-long passion, as well as a means to earn good money as you move forward.

What Are Some Traits of a Web Designer?

Great web designers often share a range of qualities, such as the ability to adapt and communicate. While a web designer’s primary duties include solidifying the look and feel of a website, that’s not to say they don’t possess certain qualities that may overlap with those of a web developer. You may, however, be better suited for a career in web design if you are the following:

• • #1 A Visual Learner

In web design, part of creating a user-friendly web experience means knowing what looks good. Web designers tend to visualize a project and take the aesthetics into account. Visual people may prefer dealing with images and charts, rather than traditional text. This type of trait is important in web design, as it means visualizing the big picture, and often making decisions based on what will appeal to the masses.

• • #2 The Creative Type

While the process of building a website definitely entails a certain level of creativity, web designers are accustomed to thinking outside the box. They see design in everything; the look and feel of a website is more important to a designer than its function, which can ultimately make for some truly extraordinary work if left to his or her own devices. If you’re a person who tends to inject your unique personality into your work and often strive for innovation, you may be better suited for a career as a designer than a developer.

• • #3 Eager To Improve

All creative work is subject to feedback. One of the most satisfying aspects of web design is seeing the final product. However, once the final product is out, it then becomes subject to feedback. If you’re the type who welcomes critique as a means to enhance your skills, you may enjoy the instant feedback that comes with being a web designer of a popular website or application.

• • #4 Easily Adaptable

While a web designer’s obvious strength is design, there are many other aspects involved with building a great website. Web designers are often well-versed in other areas of the web. Although a knowledge of coding and back-end development isn’t typically necessary for a web designer, familiarization with these components can be extremely helpful in bridging the gap between looks and function. A great web designer knows how to use their knowledge of different areas to create sites that are truly extraordinary.

What Character Traits Do Web Developers Share?

Web developers are responsible for the back-end building of a website. While technically still responsible for the look of a site, developers typically share a different set of qualities than web designers. If you’re destined to become a web developer, you, too may possess some of these characteristics:

• • #1 You’re Analytical

In your career, especially at the start, you’ll deep dive a vast array of coding constructs, error messages, and many different ways of solving problems. A good web developer needs to be analytical in their ability to trace down error messages and use an empiricist workflow to become more skilled overtime. Analytical skills are a must because a lot of what happens in the coding world is deprecation.

There are many tutorials online that you’ll find out-of-date in your job or during your boot camp, and you’ll be challenged to solve problems that will force you to hunt down code examples. Sometimes you will need to try few things, but know when a solution or code snippet is not the correct path.

Having analytical skills prior to joining a coding boot camp or starting your first job will give you a solid head start. However, the good news is in a formal coding bootcamp, you’ll learn the algorithm for developing code and solving real-world problems.

• • #2 You’re Logical

As mentioned above, to excel in web development or software engineering, you’ll need to use sound logic in order to solve complex information computing problems. Often you’ll run into dependency overload because things change at an unprecedented level. As a result, you will find that most of your time is spent looking up code segments, testing the code, tracing error messages, and deciding which way to build your information application or software.

Without using some form of logic to break down problems and getting after answers, you’ll throw in the towel or worse, just struggle to ship out any code, software, or information applications. Employing reasoning or a series of logical steps from an empiricist view can help you immensely (fun fact: this is why philosophy majors make great programmers!).

In Conclusion: Money Is The Motive

There is money to be made building websites. Although web design and web development are both lucrative in their own right, developers tend to earn more throughout their careers; this is often due to the enhanced skills they possess by way of coding and other complex duties. If you prefer to take on a career with the potential to make big bucks and you’ve got the skills to back it up, then a job as a web developer may be just right for you.