Cracking the code

Web developer jobs on the rise, more preparation needed

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Constantly growing in size, the massive flow of information and e-commerce known as the Internet continues its digital reign. However, this virtual kingdom still needs real workers to maintain and improve its infrastructure in the form of coding and website design. Employers are willing to pay those with the skills, but the candidates often have little or no experience with common hypertext markup language (HTML) and cascading style sheets (CSS) coding.

Web development is a rapidly expanding area of employment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the projected growth in employment of web developers is 27 percent from 2014 to 2024. This growth is much faster than the 7 percent average growth of employment in all occupations. Despite this, high schools often do not have courses in web design or coding that would allow students to enter the job market.

High schools prepare students for higher education and allow students to develop their interests as well as determine possibly career aspirations. Web design is a highly marketable skill set. Schools need to adapt to new career readiness programs required to benefit students.

The median annual wage for web developers is $63,490, while the more experienced can earn up to $112,680, according to the BLS. This area of employment is a profitable one. High schools should offer more opportunities for students to be exposed to this area of study.

Organizations are even attempting to make it easier for schools to teach coding and computer science for the ravenous job market. Code.org is a nonprofit service that is attempting to provide courses in coding and computer science not only at the high school level but also the elementary and middle school levels. One of the main goals of this organization is to make computer science a more prominent component of the core curriculum.

In addition to just preparing students for careers, computer coding skills develop problem solving and critical thinking skills. These traits are useful in any work environment and throughout life.

Web design and coding classes also bolster creativity and encourage ingenuity among those who take them. Coding courses would provide students the opportunity to learn valuable life skills as well as offer the chance to express their interests like an elective course.

Computer graphics teacher Jay Langone believes that coding skills hold power.

“If you think about the Middle Ages, and how written language was becoming the power of the time, digital language is the power of today,” Langone said. “Being able to program or code things is like being that monk and having that ancient knowledge, having that power, that the common people didn’t have.”