The internet is a digital space that is expanding rapidly. According to some estimates, there are more than 300 websites launched every minute. Let’s do the math! That 18,000 websites every hour and 432,000 every day. Now, it is possible that these predictions vary considerably but they give a slight glimpse into the extent of growth that we are witnessing.

Web design and development both play a crucial role in building a website. As a result, both career paths have lucrative prospects. The real answer to this question, therefore, depends on individual priorities. What really motivates you to pursue any of these two fields, for instance. This article sheds light on both these roles to help guide your decision-making process.

Roles and responsibilities

It is possible for a person to learn both web design and development. There are certain skills and tools which are common to both these fields like HTML, CSS, and GitHub. However, the tasks which a specific job position requires both these professionals to do can differ.

Web Designers

Designers are more like artists who get to experience website creation in a visual way. Their tasks mainly revolve around creating the ultimate and most user-friendly look for a website. So, this is what they focus on. It is a prevalent myth that designers mostly work with Photoshop or Illustrator to create mockups. While this is a part of their responsibilities, they also have to write HTML and CSS codes.

Web Developers

If a designer is like an artist, a developer resembles a scientist whose approach is logical and based on strategic planning. Both web developers and designers can build websites from the ground up but the former focus heavily on the coding part. This includes both front-end as well as back-end code. Web developers have the responsibility of making sure that the codes for each website are written well.

The job market

Web designers’ and developers’ responsibilities may sometimes overlap but they are separate professions with footprints of their own. Web development, as per the numbers released by the US Bureau of Labor, is the fastest-growing profession in the country. The 15% percent annual growth in job openings for web developers beats out all other professionals.

That doesn’t mean that web designers are not in high demand too. In fact, most of the times, both these professions are the same. In many places, web design and development are used to refer to the same thing. Even a Google search for one brings up a lot of results for the other. The market for web designers is just as sound as that of web developers because they both have a substantial role in the creation of a website or application.

Salaries

One of the biggest influencers for professionals in the modern world is the money they will make in a specific role. Besides passion and interest, salaries are also great influence in driving the answer to the question which we have set out to answer. If we consider the overall average, web developers take home a higher average salary as compared to designers.

However, it doesn’t end there. It might be true that as part of the larger picture, developers make more money than designers but there are roles that fall under the latter’s category which pay more than the average salaries of web developers. Mobile designers, for example, earn $92,000 per annum as compared to the $87,000 for developers, according to numbers taken from indeed.com.

Benefits

Web design has a lot of similarities to front-end web development. Both these fields also share certain benefits. For starters, they offer sound futures with great potential for growth in terms of experience as well as monetary rewards. The jobs are also flexible and easy to get started at. The learning opportunities are immense because of the rapid developments which occur in this arena. Any individual looking to become part of either of these fields can expect to enhance their capabilities a lot.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the final decision rests with you as a potential professional. Is the science, i.e. coding which attracts you more, or the art, i.e. the design. For more information and clarification, you can set up a consultation session with our student advisors by getting in touch with us.