The world of digital technology can be confusing. Many organizations fail to understand the clear distinction between various platforms within the digital technology. Do you need an IT specialist, a web developer, or a website designer? And who does what exactly? Digital service providers have a different set of skills and areas of expertise.
This is how it works: you don’t take your car to a collision shop when you want it detailed, or to a tire store when you want the oil changed. The same thing applies to information technology and web development. We are going to dissect the distinction between web development and information technology to help clear confusion and help you better communicate about the different roles.
What is Information Technology?
Information Technology (IT) has to do with the implementation and maintenance of your organization’s computer network. An IT specialist is the person handles the company’s software, hardware, email systems and security systems.
In the Web Industry scope, IT encompasses storage, transfer, reception and manipulation of data using computer networks. It may not be clear at a first glance, but IT represents the technology behind the standardization and coordination of the organization’s information.
What is Web Development?
Web development refers to the creation and development of websites and hosting them on the internet or intranet. This should never be confused with web design, which typically focuses on the aesthetics of websites. To draw a clear distinction, web designers create designs for a website before it comes alive, while a web developer will utilize the design to carry out the actual coding of the website, bringing the ideas to life.
Web developers work on anything as simple as plain text pages, to more complex social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook. During the development, the web developer engages the web designer and the client through critical thinking, planning, and discussion.
If you look at it from the technical perspective, a web developer builds the functionalities of the website, or simply making the website to perform the tasks you want it to perform. An experienced web developer will integrate various coding languages like CSS, HTML, jQuery, JavaScript, and any other digital technologies to bring out the desired outcome.
The Comparison Between IT Administrator and Web Developer
You can now see that these two fields are totally different, but the case may not be immediately clear when you first walk into a web company’s office. Here’s an analysis of the job description for an IT Administrator and a Web Developer:
IT Administrator
An IT Administrator’s roles and duties include:
- Configuring computer networks in the organization for easy communication among the coworkers.
- Setting up and managing existing network infrastructures in the organization and ensuring a seamless flow of data and consistent internet connection.
- Managing all software and hardware used by the organization and keeping all the software licenses up to date.
- Managing software and hardware purchasing.
- Proper keeping of organizations data and information with backups.
- Troubleshooting any computer hardware failures of the organization.
Web Developer
The Web Developer’s duties and responsibilities include:
- Developing websites using the most prominent coding languages and technologies.
- Fixing bugs on the existing websites.
- Interacting with clients to clearly understand their goals and needs.
- Maintaining websites.
- Collaborating with web designers to bring their concepts into reality.
- Handling domain names and hosting configurations.
- Creating technical documentations that accompany websites.
It’s pretty clear now that the two jobs have very little similarities. Training in each area is needed to be successful in either role and being able to explain the difference to companies will make sure you exceed employer expectations in a more defined success plan.
