Is Web Development Dying in 2022?
With almost hundreds of courses out there for web development, more and more people are trying to start a career in this profession. The great part about a career in web development is that, with the right amount of learning time, anyone can do it. But with technological advancements, it’s now easier than ever to make a website, and it doesn’t even require coding. So, is web development dying?
No, web development is not going to die anytime soon. In fact, far from it. It's evolving rapidly and is a growing field. Even if there are plenty of templates and options out there for you to build a website, even those templates are being built by web developers. Furthermore, even if you consider AI as competition, you still need people coding to run those AI systems.
Truth is, most technological advancements are meant to make our lives easier. Though at first, it might seem like automating human jobs may cause a scarcity, the truth is that we still need humans to create, run, and most importantly troubleshoot these automatic systems. The same is true for web development.
Is Web Development Still Relevant in 2022?
Web development is still relevant in 2022, and the job market for it is expected to grow by 13% by 2030, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. So not only is it still relevant, the demand is only expected to grow. Due to e-commerce and more businesses becoming internet dependent, we need web developers now more than ever.
E-commerce is changing the face of business for the long run, and no matter what kind of business or corporation you have, you need an online presence. It doesn’t matter which sector you work in, whether it be medical or the corporate world or even in security, websites, and web development are necessary for all sectors.
Think about it, even if you’re doing regular non-technical tasks like paying your electricity bills or registering your child for school, chances are you can do it online. And while it is becoming easier than ever before to get websites up for almost all kinds of work, the rapidly changing aspect of this field ensures that developers are always needed to keep up with this change.
Are Web Developers Still in Demand?
Web developers are still in demand, and the demand is growing. For instance, in North America, there is a shortage of skilled web developers and tech jobs. The projected growth of employment opportunities for web developers is faster than the average for all other occupations!
Let’s take a deeper look into some reasons why web developers are still in demand.
1. Web Development is rapidly evolving
Web development is a vast field that has involved a lot of different kinds of work. And all of it is rapidly evolving. There are new languages, new modules, new techniques, new systems all the time. And this is where human learning is necessary.
Even if there are several options out there for you to make a basic website without the need for a web developer, what these basic templates or automated tools can’t do is evolve with technology. They cannot learn new ways to function better. Web developers on the other hand are always learning new skills and implementing these changes into their work.
2. Custom solutions
While a lot of the market for small business websites or blogs is being catered to by CMS sites like WordPress or Squarespace, there's only so much you can customize with a template. For a unique and custom solution, you're going to need a developer.
Bigger companies and corporations, therefore, might need a function on their web software that is not available with templates or tools. Especially when it comes to security issues or highly sensitive web software like that of a bank, it's not safe to leave everything to templates and people who don't understand what's going on.
3. Templates and tools also require developers
One factor that people often forget about when they think of CMS tools, or web development solutions that allow you to get the job done without coding, is that there must be someone who designed this software too. And as these systems keep constantly updating, they need a developer to run these tools and put out updates.
So, even the website you're going to use to build your website needs a developer. That's why there's always going to be demand for web developers for the foreseeable future.
4. Troubleshooting
Perhaps the most important reason why web developers are still in demand is that automated systems often crash and fail. Some bugs and issues often need to be resolved. With any digital solution, there's always something that could go wrong.
This is where you need web developers to troubleshoot these problems and fix the bugs. If your website suddenly crashes due to a lot of traffic, you’re going to need a web developer to fix it. Your CMS site can’t help you troubleshoot your website problems, even if it allows you to build a website yourself.
Do Web Developers Get Paid Well?
Yes, web developers are amongst the highest-paid workers in the job market. The average web developer, working full time, can earn anywhere from 78,000 USD to 88, 000 USD per year. It’s a well-paying job, no matter what kind of specialization you end up doing.
Even if you work freelance and only do projects, you can earn well and have complete control over your work. That’s the great part about web development, is that you can work from anywhere around the world as long as you have a computer and internet connection. This makes it the perfect job for remote freelancers.
So whether you work on a project-by-project basis or are employed by a tech firm or any other company, you can expect to earn well as a web developer.
Will AI Replace Web Developers?
AI in its current form is not expected to replace web developers any time soon. Even though it sounds very intimidating and scary, AI is still in its infancy, and it simply cannot yet recreate human creativity and analytics. Especially when it comes to architectural planning and problem-specific solutions, human creativity is still very much unmatched.
However, AI is already making the process way more efficient than ever before. AI is, first and foremost, meant to help human beings and ease our problems. With web development and testing, a lot of the tedious, repetitive processes can be done by AI, thus freeing up the time of the developers to think of more creative solutions.
And while AI is evolving at a very fast pace, and even if it catches up to our creativity, chances are you'll still find a job that's even more interesting in working with AI. So there's no reason to be afraid.
Conclusion
Web development is one of the top career fields out there, and you can expect to find a lot of use for the skills you’re learning. Even if you don’t end up working in a way that you expected, you can still make use of what you know and make a career of it in this ever-changing field. Just be open to learning new things and evolving along with the technology!
So, are you still wondering whether or not is web development dying? Well, if so then we recommend that you frequent our post for all the latest news and stats of the world of web development. Thanks for tuning in, and we hope this article was able to inspire you to give web development a try.