php now mandatory to consider yourself a "web developer?"

iKwak

Do you believe that .php knowledge and experience is mandatory to call yourself a web developer?

Mordecai

No, but it certainly helps. There are other competing languages (ASP, CFM, JSP), but they're all inferior to the almighty PHP.
There are some people who can successfully call themselves web developers who only know HTML and CSS and design-only concepts.

rachel2004

Originally posted by iKwak
Do you believe that .php knowledge and experience is mandatory to call yourself a web developer?

You might want to add what you consider a web developer as you know/understand it today... I'm sure you'll get a lot of interesting posts in response.

iKwak

Originally posted by rachel2004
You might want to add what you consider a web developer as you know/understand it today... I'm sure you'll get a lot of interesting posts in response.

That is a good question. I know that the market is very competitive so we need to learn everything that we can get our hands on.

onion2k

Web development is language independent. You don't need to know anything particular in order to jump into it.

The key skills, in my opinion, are:

The ability to write code in something (ASP, CFM, Perl, PHP, Python, TCL, whatever).
Good knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript.
Some knowledge of design.
Extensive knowledge of web usability.
The ability to solve problems.
A keen interest in what is happening to the internet.
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The most important thing is a passion for websites. If you enjoy using the web then you're much more likely to have seen sites that work, and sites that don't, and you'll be able to create solutions to problems that users like. For example, theres no way I would ever trust a web developer who didn't regularly shop online. If you don't trust the way sites work then theres no way you'll be able to write a trustworthy solution for a client. If you're not going to use it then why should anyone else?