Nowadays, having a website helps businesses increase their digital presence, generate leads, and strengthen their credibility, among other benefits.
And while some companies have a strong technical team ready to build a website, many are not in the same position. That’s why learning what web developer skills to look for becomes fundamental for businesses who want to hire a tech specialist ready to design, build, maintain, and improve their websites. Here’s a guide on the top web developer skills to look for in candidates:
10 Remote Web Developer Skills To Look For
Table of Contents
1. HTML and CSS
Every remote web developer should be skilled in both HTML and CSS. These two languages are the core of web development.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the foundation for creating web pages as it provides the basic structure of sites. HTML uses tags that identify the types of content and the purposes they serve on the webpage. For example, the heading, the body of an article, the subheading, and the images, are all labeled by HTML that provides the skeleton of the webpage. The elements of the language label these pieces of content.
On the other hand, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) formats and layouts the content previously labeled by HTML. In other words, CSS focuses on dictating how the HTML elements of a website appear on the front end of the page. It styles the content, so it appears the way it’s intended to be seen. CSS gives the website the colors, the fonts, the background images, etc.
Without these two languages, it is impossible to build a website.
2. JavaScript
JavaScript is a logic-based programming language that modifies website content and behaves according to users’ actions. With JavaScript, web programmers can design interactive websites that ultimately increase the engagement of users.
Javascript is an essential web developer skill because it helps you fulfill the demand of your clients. You can build interactive websites focused on improving the user experience. For example, with JavaScript, you can build confirmation boxers, interactive CTAs, among other things.
3. Testing and Debugging
It doesn’t matter how talented a developer is; debugging and testing are part of their life. Even if they are skilled enough, they might face errors and irregularities in their code, and that’s why testing becomes a fundamental web development skill.
There are different types of testing, such as Unit testing or UI testing, that focus on seeing how things are working on a website. Developers need to perform these tests constantly, and when errors come up, they need to start debugging.
When web developers are debugging, they are basically trying to find bugs or any irregularities or errors in their code that can affect the website’s performance. They focus on figuring out why and how these bugs are happening, fixing that problem but also understanding how to avoid it in the future.
4. SEO
Nowadays, one of the top web development skills is SEO.
Briefly explained, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a set of practices that help websites appear and position themselves in the search engines. And while a skilled web developer can design and create an attractive website, it would be difficult for users to even find that website if they ignore SEO.
When web developers build SEO-friendly websites, they enhance the site ranking, making it gain more visitors. They also improve the user experience, achieve higher ROI and conversions, and increase a website’s speed.
5. Web Hosting
There are approximately 1.88 billion websites. Therefore, it often happens that the name you choose for your website is already taken. Additionally, when you choose a name for your site and want that name to be the address, you need to register that name with a domain provider.
Web hosting will help you store your resources on a server and access them via the internet. And after the web development process is completed and it’s live, users can access it and generate tracking. And knowing how to deploy code is required for this step. Web developers need to know how to deploy their code using SaaS providers like AWS and others.
6. Back-end
When building websites, web developers also need to take care of the back end, commonly known as the “behind-the-scenes” functionality. The back end focuses on the operational aspect of websites and is made up of servers, apps, and databases.
The code written by developers connects the web to a database, keeps track of user connections, and runs the web app. Back-end developers are mostly focused on the operation of a website, so what they’re working on is never visible to customers.
Besides prioritizing the front end, Web developers should also be skilled in the back-end as it is necessary to deliver the final product to the end-user.
7. Git
Git is a version control system useful for web developers as it helps them track and review code changes. In other words, it helps them identify and rectify errors that their code may contain.
Additionally, Git helps developers revert their code to an earlier version if they mess something up. Instead of having to undo and fix all the errors manually, that can be one of the most time-consuming tasks web developers can roll back to a previous version and try a different solution until they solve the problem.
8. JS Frameworks and Libraries
JavaScript has a wide variety of frameworks, such as Angular, Backbone, Vue, React, that provide developers with a ready-made structure for their JS code. Each framework has different purposes and focuses on different needs, but a skill that all web developers should master is when it comes to JS frameworks and libraries. This makes them write code faster and more effectively.
Both libraries and frameworks speed production and provide developers with a set of tools already tested and used by other programmers.
9. Front End Frameworks
Front-end frameworks focus on the same aspects as JS frameworks: increasing a programmer’s productivity.
When evaluating your web developer skills make sure that they are familiar with front-end frameworks. These are valuable tools as they include software packages that provide pre-written and reusable code modules. It’s easier for developers to create web applications as they don’t have the need to code every object or function from the start.
10. Mobile Design
According to Statista, over 90% of the global internet population uses mobile devices to go online. Businesses that want to build a website need to focus on building one suitable for mobiles.
Responsive and mobile design skills are fundamental in web developers as they will help you build a website that provides users with a smooth experience when visiting it on their phones.
Something to keep in mind is that mobile design can also mean creating a separate mobile design. Sometimes the experience you want to provide your users is different on the desktop than on the mobile, so the developer needs to have the necessary skills to build two different sites.
Web Developer Skills for a Remote Environment
While technical skills are one of the most important aspects when evaluating web developers, you also need to prioritize soft skills, especially when hiring a remote developer.
Not everyone likes or knows how to work and perform in a remote environment. Some people need constant supervision, others need to be around others to get the job done, so learning more in-depth about how a web developer works and their experience with remote work is valuable.
Here are some additional web developer skills to look for:
- Strong communication skills (both verbal and written)
- Autonomy
- Problem-solving skills
- Time management
- Teamwork
Wrapping Up
The skills of a web developer are constantly evolving as the internet world is constantly evolving as well. SEO a few years ago was not as known as it is nowadays, for example. So, although skills such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, testing, and debugging, among others, are fundamental aspects of web development, what really matters is to find a web developer who is also growing and looking to expand their knowledge and their profession.
