Web developer
Build and maintain web applications, including front-end interfaces and back-end services.
Salary
Cited figures only: median full-time weekly earnings for the ANZSCO unit group Multimedia Specialists and Web Developers (2612) from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia), and where available the QILT graduate starting salary for the matching study area.
| Figure | AUD | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median full-time weekly earnings | $2252 | Your Career (2026-09-23) |
| Graduate starting salary | $80,000 | QILT (2026-08-31) |
Jobs, demand and who does this work
Figures for the ANZSCO occupation Web Developer (261212), the closest official match for web developer, from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia data, sourced 2026-09-23).
- People employed
- 9,000
- Future demand
- Very strong
- Work full-time
- 78%
- Average full-time hours
- 41 a week
- Women
- 20%
- Median age
- 35
Where the jobs are (share of workers)
| NSW | 32.1% |
| VIC | 31.8% |
| QLD | 18.9% |
| WA | 6.6% |
| SA | 5.4% |
| TAS | 1.8% |
| ACT | 3% |
| NT | 0.4% |
Highest qualification held by workers
| Postgraduate qualification | 21.1% |
| Bachelor degree | 47.3% |
| Diploma or advanced diploma | 12% |
| Certificate I-IV | 5% |
| Year 12 | 9.9% |
| Below Year 12 | 2% |
What a web developer actually does
Web developers spend most of the day in an IDE such as VS Code, a browser dev console and Git. A typical morning starts with a stand-up followed by focused coding: implementing front-end features, building or consuming APIs, fixing bugs in tickets, and writing tests. Code review takes a regular slice of every day, both reviewing teammates' pull requests and responding to comments on your own. Afternoons often include refinement of upcoming tickets, pairing on tricky CSS or accessibility work, design hand-offs from Figma, and discussions about performance, SEO and tracking with marketing or product partners. Smaller teams and agencies often run developers full-stack across front-end, back-end and a bit of deployment. Most roles are hybrid with 2-3 office days, 38-45 hours per week, with peaks around launches and campaign deadlines. Freelancers and contractors run a mix of feature work, maintenance and client meetings.
Typical tasks
- Implement features in HTML, CSS and JavaScript or TypeScript.
- Integrate APIs and databases.
- Optimise performance and accessibility.
Skills you'll use
- HTML, CSS (including modern layout with grid and flexbox) and JavaScript
- TypeScript on serious projects
- One major front-end framework (React, Vue, Svelte or similar)
- A server-side framework (Node, Next, Laravel, Rails or .NET)
- Git, code review and feature-branch or trunk-based workflows
- Writing accessible markup and meeting WCAG 2.2 AA
- Performance profiling and Core Web Vitals
- Basic SQL and one common database (Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server)
- Cloud hosting and CI/CD on services like Vercel, AWS or Azure
How to become one
- 1Finish Year 12 with English. Maths is helpful but not essential; many web developers come in without high-level maths
- 2Pick a pathway: a Bachelor of Information Technology, a Diploma of IT at TAFE, a coding bootcamp of 3-6 months, or self-study with a strong portfolio
- 3Build 3-4 real projects on GitHub. Include a marketing site, a small full-stack app, and one project that uses an API you didn't design yourself
- 4Deploy your projects publicly. A live link to a working site impresses hiring managers more than tutorials completed
- 5Apply for junior or graduate web developer roles at agencies, in-house product teams, government digital teams or as a junior at a Big four advisory tech team
- 6Decide around year 3-4 whether to specialise as a front-end engineer, back-end engineer, full-stack generalist or move into related roles like DevOps, accessibility or technical leadership
Where you can work
- Digital agencies serving multiple client brands
- SaaS and product companies running web platforms
- Big four banks and other ASX-listed financial services
- Federal and state government digital service teams
- Telcos, large retailers and online marketplaces
- Universities and education-focused product teams
- Not-for-profits and government-business enterprises
- Self-employed freelance or contract developers
Career progression
Typical stages and roles. Years of experience are a rough guide; pay at each stage depends on the employer, award or agreement.
- Junior0-2 yearsTypical roles: Junior web developer, Graduate front-end developer, Associate full-stack developer
- Mid-level3-5 yearsTypical roles: Web developer, Front-end developer, Full-stack developer
- Senior6-9 yearsTypical roles: Senior web developer, Senior front-end engineer, Tech lead
- Lead or principal10+ yearsTypical roles: Lead web developer, Principal front-end engineer, Head of engineering
Is this for you?
You might love this if
- You like seeing your work in front of users within days or weeks
- You enjoy bouncing between visual polish and engineering detail
- You're willing to keep refreshing your stack every few years
- You can pair with designers without taking pixel feedback personally
- You're comfortable shipping then iterating rather than chasing perfect
This might not suit you if
- You dislike constant tooling churn (JavaScript ecosystem changes fast)
- You want to work mainly on long-running systems projects
- You hate fiddly bug work involving browser quirks and CSS edge cases
- You want stable, predictable work with no client or stakeholder calls
Ways in
Uni and TAFE routes for web developer. We only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.
University
Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.
TAFE / VET
Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.
Sources
ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Your Career (yourcareer.gov.au) directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.