You might think that choosing one specialization in tech severely limits your interactions with other branches. After all, if you choose to become a web developer, you’ll be working with web development exclusively, right?! Well, not really. One of the many benefits that the tech sector offers is the ability to work across a multitude of areas, relying on help from experts in other areas to share their knowledge.
Two areas that frequently interact are web development and data analytics and you’ve probably already checked out our article on the role that data analytics plays in web development, but we’re going to flip it around and talk about the role that web development plays in data analytics.
Sounds good? We hope so! But as always, let’s first define both data analytics and web development so that you’re completely sure of each role.
What is Data Analytics?
Broadly speaking, data analytics is the study of large amounts of data to then make insightful decisions. It consists of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, modeling, interpreting, and visualizing data so that data analysts can draw data-backed conclusions which will then help them make better decisions overall. Within data analytics as a whole, we can divide it into three categories: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics.
Descriptive analytics: using data aggregation and data mining, analysts using descriptive analytics look exclusively at past data, looking to understand past decisions and their effects.
Predictive analytics: using probability, predictive data analytics use statistical modeling and machine learning together with historical data to predict what will happen in the future and guide business decisions along with that.
Prescriptive analytics: instead of merely showing results, prescriptive analytics is used to provide a specific and actionable solution from analyzing both historical and present data.
When used properly, data analytics can absolutely transform a company’s results, accurately predicting what clients will want next and optimizing processes. On a broad, overhead level, companies can benefit from the following when implementing data analytics:
Improved employee productivity, efficiency, and engagement: by analyzing business actions and seeing what areas are redundant and where time can be saved, companies can save both time and resources, directing employee efforts to the areas that really matter.
Tightened cybersecurity: data analytics isn’t limited to just making predictions about the future! In fact, predictive analytics can help detect fraud, launch automatic warnings, and make sure that real-time threat detection tools are working properly.
Better customer experiences: clients share their data with companies to receive an improved and personalized experience; by looking at what customers like, want to see, and not working can help improve the overall experience.
Faster launch of new products or services: no company is going to launch a new product without properly testing it beforehand; part of this testing is analyzing past data to see when the best time to launch something is, what customers are looking for, and what works best with the target audience. When all of these have answers from data, it makes the product launch process much easier.
Better decisions based on data: data analytics doesn’t just mean looking at past data to predict how the future will go; you can predict the success of certain actions by looking at predictions and then make the decision. With both historical data and future estimates, your decisions will be much better.
Now that you’re a data analytics expert, let’s dive into web development and see how the two work together.
What is Web Development?
When you hear about tech, and especially coding, your mind might jump right to web development. And that’s completely understandable! After all, web development is a major part of tech and creates the backbone of the internet: the structure and make-up of websites. Using various programming languages, tools, and techniques, web developers create, maintain, and optimize websites. The vast majority of web developers and web development tasks fall into three categories: front end development, back end development, and full stack development.
Front end web development: simply put, front end development handles the part of website creation that users will eventually see and interact with; it’s the role of front end professionals to create user-friendly and responsive websites through HTML, JAvaScript, and CSS.
Back end development: this is the more technical side that users will never see; this is where data is handled and stored. Back end developers use programming languages such as PHP and Java to write the code that supports the website.
Fullstack development: both back and front end development are required knowledge for fullstack developers who create the website as a whole, taking on both front and back end responsibilities.
These are definitely the three most common roles, but you can also run into web designers, web programmers, content developers, and webmasters. But no matter your chosen role, high-quality web development is absolutely crucial for a company’s online success and here’s why:
It creates a better website: it might seem too obvious, but clients are more likely to return to websites that are easy to use, clear, and visually appealing.
It attracts new customers: with a high-quality website that works quickly and directs clients to what they’re looking for, companies will also attract new audiences.
It allows you to make edits accordingly: well created websites will allow back end developers the ability to make quick changes if any information is adjusted, promising true and up-to-date information to customers.
What Responsibilities do Web Developers Have?
Web developers are responsible for the construction, maintenance, and upkeep of both online websites and applications. Exact responsibilities vary depending on if you’ll focus on the front or back end, but generally speaking, web developers will be responsible for:
Solving any website problems or bugs
Working with UX/UI designers to ensure the design aspects of the website match the back end coding
Ensuring that the websites are safe and securely store user and company information
Using programming languages like HTML, CSS, Python, JavaScript, and more to construct the website’s foundations
Monitoring website traffic to see which pages are receiving the most visits
Optimizing website aspects that are not working as planned
Staying up-to-date with what’s going on in technology
How do Web Development and Data Analytics Differ?
This is an easy one: they’re totally different! As you’ve probably imagined from the rest of this article, web development and data analytics are completely different fields of technology and the skills required for both are diverse. Let’s explore a few of the main differences:
Web developers rely on coding and programming to do their job; data analysts use their knowledge of statistics and mathematics to make sense of data derived from websites.
Projects for data analysts tend to have a short span, seeking to deliver actionable results in a specific window of time. Web development projects, on the other hand, are long and detailed projects that can last for years as optimizations and improvements are implemented.
Looking towards the future, we can expect that machine learning and artificial intelligence will have a major impact on the field of data analytics. Advances in e-commerce and e-learning, however, will play a large role in the future of web development.
How do Data Analysts and Web Developers Work Together?
Although we just finished explaining how these two fields are quite different, we have a little secret: data analysts and web developers do actually work together, looking to use data to make smart decisions when it comes to web design. Not sold on the idea? Let’s give you an example.
Say a web development team has been tasked with creating a dog walking app. Before the developers even begin their planning, they’ll meet with data analysts to understand why they’re creating this kind of website, their goals, and important things to keep in mind, such as knowing that the dog walking app needs to hold personal data and allow for secure payments. Once the website has been launched, data analysts will then come to the development team with information about bounce rates, areas for optimization, data on competitors, and anything else they’ve learned from checking out data.
The roles of web developers and data analysts are different, we’re not going to argue that! But when they work together, they can complement the responsibilities of the other, churning out an all-together superior final product.
Both web development and data analytics are fantastic fields with lots of opportunities, room for growth, lucrative salaries, and interesting projects. No matter which you choose, we’re sure you’ll reach success in no time; check out our Web Development and Data Analytics Bootcamps today.
