TSTC Web Design and Development instructor talks about the program

(ROSENBERG, Texas) – A lot of work goes into creating a great website. From search engine optimization, graphics, caches, cookies and more, developing a website that can meet everything a company needs is daunting.

That’s where web developers come in.

The Web Design and Development program at Texas State Technical College teaches students the skills needed to be back-end, front-end or even full-stack developers.

“In our program, we teach all aspects of front-end and back-end development,” said Shannon Ferguson, the statewide lead instructor for the program. “So when you graduate with the associate degree in Web Design and Development, you graduate as a full-stack developer and have the skills to build any type of website that you want.”

The curriculum is structured around building front-end programming skills before diving deeper into the back-end development and coding. In other words, students learn the fundamentals of web development and page layout and design in the first two semesters, while specific coding languages and commercial website development is learned in later semesters.

Rarely do students become both back-end and front-end, or full-stack, developers. While the majority of students gravitate toward one end of development, Ferguson still believes that learning both design and coding is necessary to be a successful developer.

“If you are focused on back-end design, you still have a reason to learn front-end design and take it into account as you’re building programs,” Ferguson said. “You can have the greatest piece of software on the back end, but if people don’t like the looks of your website, they won’t give it the time of day. They’ll just move on to something else.”

Graduates of the program can go on to obtain many different jobs, including freelance work or employment at large corporations where they work on a team. Ferguson stated that a large percentage of the jobs available are in or near the bigger cities throughout Texas.

According to onetonline.org, web developers in Texas can earn a median salary of $77,710 a year. The website projected that there would be a 24% increase in the number of such jobs in the state from 2020 to 2030.

TSTC offers an Associate of Applied Science degree and multiple certificates of completion in Web Design and Development, all fully online.

Registration for TSTC’s fall semester is underway. For more information, go to tstc.edu.