Hi Syed, that's a great question that I get a lot from ... parents! 😀
On open campus days, parents (yes, that's a trend!) often join their 18 year old son or daughter and ask me about job opportunities in the web development space. I always say that there's a clear shortage for good developers and designers out there and that's unlikely to change in the first few years. I try to make clear from the beginning that a college degree won't turn anyone into a good designer or developer, intrinsic motivation and the drive to learn and build stuff outside of school is equally important.
I personally think that web development jobs aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Tools like Squarespace or Thegrid.io or any of the countless site generators out there have their place but it's not like they're going to make you a decent saas app. Also, if you think about who's creating and maintaining these tools, it's web developers like you and me.
Having said that, I wouldn't make it my focus these days to create simple websites for the small mom & pop stores around the corner because that niche is being served partly by the do-it-yourself-site-builders out there. On the other hand, users are getting used to more complex and feature rich experiences online and someone needs to build those applications. Static site generators won't cut it for more custom or complex requirements.
It's my personal belief that web development is getting more accessible on one hand, but on the other hand it's also increasing in complexity. That's a cycle that will continue to repeat itself. As long as you're ahead of that curve you'll be totally fine. Being able to code and create user friendly solutions goes a long way. Even if your focus today is the browser or a smartphone screen, transitioning to another medium like AR/VR, iOT, ... isn't that far of from web dev of course depending how you look at things.
Mental note to self: revisit this post in five years and see where we're at!
Hi Syed, that's a great question that I get a lot from ... parents! 😀
On open campus days, parents (yes, that's a trend!) often join their 18 year old son or daughter and ask me about job opportunities in the web development space. I always say that there's a clear shortage for good developers and designers out there and that's unlikely to change in the first few years. I try to make clear from the beginning that a college degree won't turn anyone into a good designer or developer, intrinsic motivation and the drive to learn and build stuff outside of school is equally important.
I personally think that web development jobs aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Tools like Squarespace or Thegrid.io or any of the countless site generators out there have their place but it's not like they're going to make you a decent saas app. Also, if you think about who's creating and maintaining these tools, it's web developers like you and me.
Having said that, I wouldn't make it my focus these days to create simple websites for the small mom & pop stores around the corner because that niche is being served partly by the do-it-yourself-site-builders out there. On the other hand, users are getting used to more complex and feature rich experiences online and someone needs to build those applications. Static site generators won't cut it for more custom or complex requirements.
It's my personal belief that web development is getting more accessible on one hand, but on the other hand it's also increasing in complexity. That's a cycle that will continue to repeat itself. As long as you're ahead of that curve you'll be totally fine. Being able to code and create user friendly solutions goes a long way. Even if your focus today is the browser or a smartphone screen, transitioning to another medium like AR/VR, iOT, ... isn't that far of from web dev of course depending how you look at things.
Mental note to self: revisit this post in five years and see where we're at!
Thank you for such a detailed answer!