According to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook growth for web developers is more than double the national average for all job growth through 2026! This fury of demand being driven by the explosion of mobile device usage and the continuing shift to ecommerce business models is not even close to being met, and researchers project a continued web developer shortage nationwide well into the 2020s! The graphic below from the Department of Labor shows the sharply increasing need for developers:
This growing need for developers is why desperate employers in metropolitan cities around the nation are paying top dollar to web developers who can demonstrate the skills they need to get the job done – whether that’s building a website for a start-up company or coding the next big mobile app for tech giants like Microsoft, Google, or Apple.
4-year Computer Science majors aren’t graduating fast enough to meet the increased demand of quality web developers, especially in California tech hubs such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orange County. This has translated into appreciatively higher web developer salaries, hiring bonuses, and fringe benefits for those capable developers who actually are available to fill the new and existing developer jobs in California.
Part of the reason for the dramatic increase in demand of the past five years is the continuous and exponential growth of global web and mobile consumer markets. More than ever before, Fortune 500 companies and micro businesses alike rely heavily on their web and mobile selling platforms to market and deliver their new products and services.
Not too long ago, university graduates would enter the web developer candidate pool as inexperienced “junior web developers” and would typically be paid between $40,000-50,000/year starting salaries. With the advent of accelerated learning web developer bootcamps, graduates are now entering the workforce with practical working knowledge and experience, earning $50,000-70,000 starting salaries. And, they are doing it in one-tenth the time and with one-tenth the cost it previously took to become an entry-level web developer.
Today, the investment needed to find out whether a start-up will actually succeed financially isn't tens of millions of dollars as it was in the past, it’s tens of thousands of dollars. With a few laptops, some business software, and a few motivated web developers, an unprecedented number of people all over the world are becoming entrepreneurs for the first time and utilizing the web to sell their new products and services. Computers and business software are a dime-a-dozen, but web developers are not. This gives developers the power of choice for the direction of their career, something missing from many professions.
Web developers are problem solvers, and problem solvers will always be in high demand in the tech industry, an industry where commonplace salaries in tech hubs such as Los Angeles and Orange County top $100,000 per year. And, did you know that over a quarter of web developers nationwide are self-employed? Perhaps you already have a great idea in the back of your mind as to the next big “thing”. Well, the sky is the limit as to what you can build as a web developer. Interested? Take a look at our intense and rewarding web development bootcamp, and start your new career in as few as 90 days!