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Senior web designer vs web programmer

The differences between senior web designers and web programmers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior web designer and a web programmer. Additionally, a senior web designer has an average salary of $80,678, which is higher than the $72,168 average annual salary of a web programmer.

The top three skills for a senior web designer include html css, sketch and UI. The most important skills for a web programmer are javascript, HTML, and database.

Senior web designer vs web programmer overview

Senior Web DesignerWeb Programmer
Yearly salary$80,678$72,168
Hourly rate$38.79$34.70
Growth rate13%13%
Number of jobs52,749104,212
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age3737
Years of experience44

What does a senior web designer do?

A senior web designer leads a team of website designers to create, enhance, and optimize company websites. The senior web designer's goal is to meet the clients' expectations and build a website that embodies the company's characteristics, voice, style, and vision. The web designer also ensures that customers accessing the website experiences a smooth, functional, and fast website, free from bugs and other problems that may affect user experience and satisfaction. A senior web designer's responsibilities are to efficiently delegate tasks to other team members to meet client expectations.

What does a web programmer do?

Also called web engineers or developers, web programmers create web applications. Their job focuses on the non-design factors of web development such as markup writing and coding. They design and come up with websites and take responsibility for their looks. It is their job to oversee the technical aspects of the websites including their capacity and performance. Sometimes, they need to show clients or employers a website prototype to better understand the finished product.

Senior web designer vs web programmer salary

Senior web designers and web programmers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Web DesignerWeb Programmer
Average salary$80,678$72,168
Salary rangeBetween $55,000 And $116,000Between $53,000 And $97,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CABothell, WA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaWashington
Best paying companyRokuMeta
Best paying industryTechnologyReal Estate

Differences between senior web designer and web programmer education

There are a few differences between a senior web designer and a web programmer in terms of educational background:

Senior Web DesignerWeb Programmer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common majorGraphic DesignComputer Science
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Senior web designer vs web programmer demographics

Here are the differences between senior web designers' and web programmers' demographics:

Senior Web DesignerWeb Programmer
Average age3737
Gender ratioMale, 66.7% Female, 33.3%Male, 80.8% Female, 19.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 6.6% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 15.1% White, 58.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 6.5% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 15.8% White, 58.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage9%9%

Differences between senior web designer and web programmer duties and responsibilities

Senior web designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage all QA sessions and assign fixes when necessary.
  • Lead redesign, code development, and transition of corporate website to WordPress.
  • Manage prototype content in wireframes when necessary.
  • Create a customize WordPress theme using PHP, JavaScript and XHTML/CSS for use on NCI's intranet.
  • Design and implement different layouts using HTML5 and CSS3.
  • Work with technologies such as JQuery and Ajax to make the website more attractive and user friendly.
  • Show more

Web programmer example responsibilities.

  • Manage SDLC solutions for all software issues keeping with HIPAA.
  • Handle the deployment of the website and manage the git repository.
  • Plan, design and develop and manage an e-commerce website using WordPress, along with custom PHP plugins and CSS modifications.
  • Manage intranet updates while administering user access to corporate projects.
  • Code new website with secure content management system in PHP, Ajax, XML, and HTML.
  • Work on migration of AJAX from XML to simpler JSON format and implement features from YUI (calendar) and Jquery.
  • Show more

Senior web designer vs web programmer skills

Common senior web designer skills
  • Html Css, 9%
  • Sketch, 7%
  • UI, 6%
  • WordPress, 5%
  • HTML, 4%
  • CSS, 4%
Common web programmer skills
  • JavaScript, 8%
  • HTML, 6%
  • Database, 6%
  • Web Application, 6%
  • CSS, 5%
  • PHP, 5%

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