Since its beginnings at the end of the 20th century, the internet has grown exponentially.

In the modern
world, pretty much everyone has internet access of some form and a huge percentage of people use the
internet every single day. Web development is quickly becoming one of the most attractive and best-
paid career choices in the modern world. But what is a web developer and what exactly does one do?

You may have thought about learning a programming language or two and becoming a web developer.
Luckily for you, we understand that aspiring web developers will have questions about the profession,
which is why we have put together this comprehensive guide, which aims to answer the above
questions and more.

We will look at the types of web developers, and we will look at the web design vs web development
debate. We will also cover some of the most popular programming languages for aspiring web
developers, including Python, JavaScript, and HTML.

PHP

Historically, PHP has dominated definitions of what is a web developer. Known as the language of the
internet, it is currently used in some form on over 80% of websites in existence. Although it is slowly
decreasing in popularity, PHP is still a great language for any back-end web developer to learn.

PHP is very easy to learn and is quite easy to use, which makes it very popular for beginner back-end
developers. It is very popular on small websites built on platforms like WordPress or Wix, and there are
plenty of freelance work opportunities for PHP developers.

If this sparks your interest, consider taking an online PHP course. Note that it is very important to take
an up to date course, like those offered by BitDegree, as older versions of the language are quite
different from the modern version (PHP7).

A web developer is a programmer who specializes in, or is specifically engaged in, the development of
World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS and
JavaScript in the client, PHP, ASP.NET (C#) or Java in the server, and http for communications between
client and server. A web content management system is often used to develop and maintain web
applications.
There are no formal educational or licensure requirements to become a web developer. However, many
colleges and trade schools offer coursework in web development. There are also many tutorials and
articles, which teach web development, freely available on the web - for example Basic JavaScript

Even though there are no formal educational requirements, dealing with web developing projects
requires those who wish to be referred to as web developers to have advanced knowledge/skills in:

HTML/XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery.

Server/client side architecture like all or some of the above mentioned.

Programming/Coding/Scripting in one of the many server-side languages or frameworks (e.g., Perl,

Python, Ruby, PHP, Go, CFML - ColdFusion, Java, ASP, ASP.NET, Node.js)

Ability to utilize a database

Creating single page application with use of front-end tools such as EmberJS,[1] ReactJS[2] or
AngularJS[3]