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The issue is that web development encapsulates too many different roles, each of them is a job in itself. The role has grown to encompass too many specialties:

The issue is that web development encapsulates too many different roles, each of them is a job in itself. The role has grown to encompass too many specialties: -You need to be an expert* JavaScript developer with strong understanding of computer science at the same level as say a Java engineer. -You need to be an expert on cross browser, cross-device and cross-OS compatibility and performance of Javascript, HMTL, CSS. -You need to be an expert in animations, transitions, SVG, canvas. -You need to be an expert of analytics, statistics and presenting data. -You need to be an expert of responsive design, accounting for countless myriad possible platforms, compatibilities, viewports, constantly evolving standards and best practices. -You need to be an expert of accessibility, semantic html. -You need to be an expert in working with various types of databases, or API and local storage, caching etc -You need to be an expert at test automation, writing unit and integration tests with increasingly high stakes. -You also need to spend time and have strong understanding of ancillary issues, such as package management, devops, CI etc etc -You need to do all this and your work is pretty much almost entirely customer facing (or stakeholder). People who don't understand the constraints, or dont appreciate the difficulties of what a problem may require. And this is without talking about things like Typescript, React (and the millions of other dependencies, libraries, hot new things) you have to deal with Just look at the URL shared on this article and see how many subject mentioned were totally not part of web dev say just 10 years ago. 5-10 years ago my job was: - build websites with a bit of javascript DOM, ajax, or jquery UI interaction Now my job is: - same as above but with the added responsive aspects - building single page applications - building browser extensions - building command line tools - building react native mobile apps - building electron apps for desktop - writing tests - building tooling and managing dependencies - building internal libraries, style guides and associated documentations *this is the expecations, i know the reality is not really the same.

Zababa 5y ago
> -You need to be an expert* JavaScript developer with strong understanding of computer science at the same level as say a Java engineer. I would put Java engineers in the "software engineering" category more than the "computer science", but that may be just an expression of my bias.
lobocinza 5y ago
I think it's one of the most complex jobs the only thing that helps is that technical expectations generally are low.
dkarl 5y ago
> The role has grown to encompass too many specialties The good news is that none of the successful lead web developers I have worked with meet these requirements. I feel like you're talking about a large team more than a single developer, and in many places where you say "expert," I would say "willing and able to tackle the subject to the extent required." I think a better way to sum up web development, instead of making it sound like an impossible job, is to say there is virtually unlimited scope to make yourself better and more valuable at the job by expanding your technical skills.
Dudeman112 5y ago
Now if only people stopped saying "you need to be an expert" and said "you need to not be clueless at it" then it would be easily achievable over a few years. The "expert" expression is abused by approximately the whole tech sector. No one meets those job requirements anymore, and yet the world (of web development) still moves on.
- notapenny 5y ago
  Exactly. People like the parent make themselves crazy thinking they need to be the expert at absolutely everything. You don't. Learn your fundamentals, and learn how to learn. All of these front-end frameworks, that's just tech. All of them do the same thing in slightly different ways. You'll work in a team anyway, someone will be good at something, someone will be good at another thing.

Zababa 5y ago

> -You need to be an expert* JavaScript developer with strong understanding of computer science at the same level as say a Java engineer. I would put Java engineers in the "software engineering" category more than the "computer science", but that may be just an expression of my bias.

lobocinza 5y ago

I think it's one of the most complex jobs the only thing that helps is that technical expectations generally are low.

dkarl 5y ago

> The role has grown to encompass too many specialties The good news is that none of the successful lead web developers I have worked with meet these requirements. I feel like you're talking about a large team more than a single developer, and in many places where you say "expert," I would say "willing and able to tackle the subject to the extent required." I think a better way to sum up web development, instead of making it sound like an impossible job, is to say there is virtually unlimited scope to make yourself better and more valuable at the job by expanding your technical skills.

Dudeman112 5y ago

Now if only people stopped saying "you need to be an expert" and said "you need to not be clueless at it" then it would be easily achievable over a few years. The "expert" expression is abused by approximately the whole tech sector. No one meets those job requirements anymore, and yet the world (of web development) still moves on.

notapenny 5y ago
Exactly. People like the parent make themselves crazy thinking they need to be the expert at absolutely everything. You don't. Learn your fundamentals, and learn how to learn. All of these front-end frameworks, that's just tech. All of them do the same thing in slightly different ways. You'll work in a team anyway, someone will be good at something, someone will be good at another thing.