Web development: a portfolio career growing faster than average

The short answer: web development is one of the few well-paid technical careers where employers routinely hire on demonstrated work. Federal projections have the occupation growing faster than average through 2035, and every participant in our program graduates with live projects to show.

The numbers

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $92,650 for web developers as of May 2025, within a combined occupational category ("web developers and digital designers") that BLS tracks together for projections. The lowest-paid 10 percent of web developers earned less than $48,100, and the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $162,290. That spread mostly tracks specialization, employer type, and years of experience rather than credentials. BLS projects employment of web developers and digital designers to grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, faster than the 3 percent average projected for all occupations, with about 13,600 openings projected per year on average over the decade. Most of those openings come from workers changing occupations or leaving the labor force, not from net new positions.

On education, BLS states that requirements "range from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree" depending on the employer and the role, and that many employers weight a portfolio of working sites more heavily than a specific degree. That is the opening our program is built around. Young adults without a four-year degree can meet the bar employers apply, provided the work is live and they can explain it.

What the program covers

The Web Developer track runs about 24 weeks at 15–20 hours a week, building from fundamentals to shippable projects. Participants work through:

• Front-end fundamentals. HTML for structure, CSS for layout and styling, and JavaScript for interactivity, with an emphasis on writing code that another developer can read and maintain.
• Responsive and accessible design. Pages that work on a phone, tablet, and desktop and meet basic accessibility expectations (semantic markup, alt text, keyboard navigation, color contrast), which many client contracts and public-sector RFPs now require.
• Version control. Git and a hosted repository on GitHub, the workflow used at nearly every professional dev shop, to track changes, collaborate, and avoid losing work.
• Content management systems and basic back-end concepts. Enough understanding of WordPress and of how a site connects to data, forms, and hosting to be useful beyond a static page.
• AI-assisted development. Using current AI coding assistants for scaffolding, debugging, and routine work, while still being able to read, explain, and fix the code that comes out of them. Employers increasingly expect this. BLS notes that improved AI tools may moderate future demand for some routine coding tasks, which is why we teach the tools as a multiplier rather than treating them as optional.
• Portfolio construction and client basics. Assembling a body of live, deployed work, and learning how to scope a small project, communicate with a non-technical client, and price freelance work realistically.

Participants build and deploy working websites throughout, not exercises that get deleted at the end of a module. A graduate's portfolio link is what they hand to an employer or client.

The tools you will use

The track uses the same free or free-tier tools that working developers use. Visual Studio Code as the editor. Chrome or Firefox developer tools for inspecting and debugging pages. Git on the command line and GitHub for hosting repositories. Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub Pages for deploying static sites, and shared hosting with WordPress for CMS projects. Figma for reading a design handoff. A current AI coding assistant for pair-programming. None of these require a purchase for a student portfolio, and a graduate who can already work in them needs less setup time in a first job.

What the work looks like day to day

Day-to-day tasks in this occupation, per O*NET's occupational profile for web developers, commonly include writing and testing code for cross-browser and cross-device compatibility, planning the structure of a site with stakeholders before building it, integrating an e-commerce or content workflow into a site, and maintaining basic security practices for the systems involved.

In a junior role at an agency or in-house team, a typical day starts with a short standup where each developer says what they finished yesterday and what they are working on today. The junior developer picks up tickets from a board in a tool like Jira, Trello, or Asana. A ticket might say "the contact form on the About page does not submit on mobile" or "add the new pricing section from the Figma file." The developer creates a branch in Git, makes the change, tests it in the browser at several screen widths, opens a pull request, and a senior developer reviews the code before it goes live. Afternoons often include a call with a client or a project manager to clarify what a request means. Our training follows that same rhythm: plan, build, test across devices, fix, document, and hand off.

What an entry-level interview asks

Junior web developer interviews are usually in two parts. The first is a conversation about the portfolio. Expect questions like "walk me through how you built this," "what would you change about it now," and "what broke while you were building it and how did you fix it." The interviewer is checking that you wrote the code and understand it. The second part is a practical exercise, either a small take-home project (for example, build a responsive page from a mockup) or a live session where you fix a bug or add a feature while explaining your thinking. Some employers add basic questions about HTML semantics, CSS layout (flexbox and grid), and how JavaScript handles events. Mentors run practice versions of both parts before a participant starts applying.

How the track maps to the job

Each unit in the program corresponds to something a junior developer is asked to do in the first months on the job. Building pages from a mockup maps to the daily ticket work. Git and pull requests map to the code review process. Accessibility work maps to the compliance requirements agencies face on public-sector and healthcare clients. The CMS unit maps to the large share of small-business sites that run on WordPress. The client-communication unit maps to the calls where a developer has to translate "make it pop" into a specific change.

Realistic paths after the program

Graduates generally head in one of three directions: a junior or entry-level developer role inside a company or agency; freelance website work for small local businesses, often the fastest path to first income because demand for a basic small-business site is constant and local; or, for a smaller number, a small web-design service of their own once they have a track record. The freelance path pairs well with our Marketing track, since a graduate who can build a site and bring it traffic is worth more in the market than either skill alone. Self-employment is one optional branch, not the goal we train toward. We do not promise a job, a client, or an income figure. Results vary with effort, market conditions, and personal circumstances.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to already know how to code?
No. The program is designed for people starting from zero. It assumes comfort using a computer and a willingness to put in consistent hours, not prior programming experience.

Will I need to buy software or a specific computer?
The tools used in the track are free or have free tiers appropriate for a student portfolio. If equipment access is a barrier, tell us during the application. See the equipment note in how our programs work.

Is this the same as a coding bootcamp?
It shares some structure with a bootcamp (project-based, portfolio-focused) but is tuition-free, about 24 weeks rather than a few weeks, paced at 15–20 hours a week so it can run alongside a job, and paired with a one-to-one mentor rather than a large cohort instructor.

What if I want to freelance instead of taking a job?
That is a path some graduates pursue, and mentors help with client work during the program. It is one option among several, not a guarantee of income, and it takes longer for most people to reach reliable freelance income than to land a first job.

For employers and agencies

Status, September 2026: our first cohort is in training. The first graduates are expected in late 2026. Employers can register interest now.

If you maintain client websites and need reliable junior build capacity, a mentored Azgari Foundation graduate is a no-fee hire with a live portfolio and a mentor still available for support during onboarding. Start a conversation.