What is an interactive developer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted expert

Brian Glas

An interactive developer creates and develops interactive digital experiences, such as websites, mobile applications, and virtual reality environments. They use programming languages and software tools to design and implement user interfaces, animations, and other interactive elements. Interactive developers collaborate with designers, project managers, and other developers. They also test and troubleshoot their work to ensure that it functions correctly across different devices and platforms.

What general advice would you give to an interactive developer?

Brian Glas

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Union University

Build relationships: Different technologies will interest and challenge you, but throughout your career, you'll find that it's the relationships that are the most important. This is harder to grasp earlier in your career, but much easier to understand after 15-20 years.
Gain different perspectives: Spend time with people in other roles that your job interacts with, and gain a solid understanding of how they view things; this is most valuable for career progression and understanding of how your work fits into the big picture.

ScoreInteractive DeveloperUS Average

Salary

7.0

Avg. Salary $89,875

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.2

Growth rate 13%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 15.84%

Black or African American 6.42%

Hispanic or Latino 11.96%

Unknown 6.50%

White 58.86%

Gender

female 30.32%

male 69.68%

Age - 36

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 36

Stress level

5.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being an interactive developer?

Pros

Exciting and dynamic field
Creative freedom in developing interactive experiences
Collaboration with designers, animators, and other developers
Ability to work remotely or freelance
Satisfaction of creating engaging and enjoyable experiences for users

Cons

Long hours and tight deadlines
Challenging and complex projects that require attention to detail
Difficulty in finding reliable clients or employers
Potential for burnout due to high stress and workload
Competitive job market with a need to stand out among other talented developers.

Key steps to become an interactive developer

Explore interactive developer education requirements

Most common interactive developer degrees

Bachelor's

76.0 %

Master's

19.4 %

Associate

2.9 %

Start to develop specific interactive developer skills

Skills	Percentages
UI	8.25%
JavaScript	7.41%
User Interface	5.13%
JQuery	4.58%
Html Css	4.00%

Complete relevant interactive developer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New interactive developers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an interactive developer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real interactive developer resumes.

Research interactive developer duties and responsibilities

Manage the issue tracking, bug tracking and project management functions by creating user stories as tasks in JIRA software.
Manage all aspects of maintaining/improving multiple websites running on Magento.
Develop the codes of UI using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to create the system features and animation performance.
Involve to create different cross browser compatible user interactive web pages, using web technologies like HTML, XHTML and CSS.

Prepare your interactive developer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your interactive developer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an interactive developer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable interactive developer resume templates

Build a professional interactive developer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your interactive developer resume.