While the last article in this series on careers focussed on the business perspective of owning a website, this one will deal with how websites are developed.

“Websites have revolutionised today`s business world and they have become a major marketing and selling tool that ensure your presence in the market. Websites increase brand recognition and expand client base enormously and a website developer is a person who gets this job done by developing a website and then launching it online with all your desired contents,” explains Daniyal Waseem, owner and developer of taqaza.com — a web portal.

“Despite being a valuable business tool, job market in website development these days has become saturated in Pakistan as there`s no shortage of website developers. Companies wanting to have their corporate website get their job done by simply choosing a freelance web developer,” he adds.

“However, many big firms also prefer degree holders in computer science with additional expertise in some web development applications,” reveals Daniyal. “They pay web developers good salaries and fringe benefits but, as already mentioned, getting a permanent job as a web developer is not that easy as the market has become saturated and there are more candidates than the number of vacancies available. Therefore, one must think carefully before choosing website development as his/her sole source of income.”

“Nowadays, we see many institutes that provide short-term courses in website development and some companies prefer experts in web development even if they lack formal qualifications,” explains Daniyal, adding that despite all this, it`s better to have a master`s degree in computer science if you really want to get a job in a well-reputed company. Along with the degree, you must have some expertise in software essential for website development.
While shedding light on career options in website development, Daniyal explains, “Web development is a vast field and has a number of branches, for example website conception and design, application development, multimedia design and development, website maintenance and support and search engine optimisation (SEO).

And then there are many tools to learn for each and every facet such as for database development, applications like MySQL, Oracle, Access, SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, OpenBase, PostgreSQL and FrontBase, can be learnt. For multimedia application, tools such as  Photoshop, Flash Action Script, Dreamweaver, FireWorks, CorelDraw, Maya, Adobe Premier, Autodesk Combustion, Adobe After Effects, Cool Edit Pro and Sound Forge are commonly used.

“Therefore, it`s really difficult for a person to have a command on each and everything related to website development. So I suggest that one should first decide on his area of interest and gain expertise accordingly.”
As far as working as a freelancer is concerned, it is a little difficult as you will not get a fixed monthly income, rather you will have to look for clients. For that you should have a portfolio to show to your clients so that they can judge you work and can rely on your abilities.

But once you become successful in developing potential contacts, then you can easily get assignments and can generate good income, opines Daniyal.