Career Overview for Web Development

Web development is a blanket term that can be used to cover all the people who plan, build, and manage a given website-which can include everyone from product and project managers to writers, designers, information architects, programmers, and database administrators. Web dev professionals are charged with nothing less than conceiving, designing, building, programming, populating with content, branding, marketing, supporting, and managing websites. If you're going into Web design, minimum requirements include knowledge of HTML, Photoshop, and Illustrator. If you're going into content development or production, HTML and writing skills will be important. Experience with Web databases is a required skill for most database jobs. In addition to technical skills, companies want to hire people with a good knowledge of how the Web works, experience using the Web for research, and knowledge of trends in e-business. Across the board, the ability to work effectively with a team and communicate both in writing and orally will be necessary. Organizational and project-management skills are critical to production, and many roles require the ability to persuade others who don't necessarily report to you.