How Covid Is Impacting The Web Development Industry?

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected several sectors negatively, crippling economies along the way. At the same time, tech-related jobs like web development, web design, and everything concerning digital technology have surged in demand. This surge is because many businesses have digitized their services to stay afloat amid the pandemic.

Key Areas That Have Contributed to the Surge in Demand for Web Developers

Web developers and designers have been working on increasing the bandwidth and capacity of existing apps. The most popular products developers are currently working on are work-chat and video conferencing apps. It’s only through the hard work of web developers that many economies haven’t crashed completely. These are some of the key sectors where demand for web developers and related tech professionals has surged during the pandemic.

1. eCommerce

Online shopping has been gaining ground over the last decade. This is understandable because online shopping is quick, easy, and efficient. From the comfort of your home, you can order electronics, groceries, and almost everything else. Web developers helped people who initially had offline businesses to move to ecommerce platforms.

Unfortunately, not every small-scale business owner was able to pay a reliable web development company or independent developer to take their stores online. In 2019, the cost of developing an e-commerce website in the United States ranged from $5,000 to $200,000 depending on what you want to achieve. In 2021, the minimum cost for a basic e-commerce website is $10,000 from professionals.

2. Entertainment

Despite the lockdown in major states, the entertainment industry managed to thrive. While visiting cinemas and other entertainment centers was prohibited in most places, online streaming platforms got a lot of traffic. Millions of people were at home at the same time so it took the work of the best software engineers across the globe to ensure that people stayed entertained. Companies like Netflix, Hulu, CineTrak, Google TV, Apple TV experienced a surge in traffic. This is why they hired more developers during this coronavirus era.

3. Social Media

While face-to-face interactions have been limited because of the Covid-19 pandemic, people were able to stay in touch with family and friends through social media networks like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and others. These companies and more have all reported an increase in user activity over the last 12 months. People haven’t just been using social media for social calls, they’ve been using it for business as well. Even those without the funds required to build an e-commerce site have used social media to promote their goods and services.

4. Education

The education industry was significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Across the globe, millions of students were forced to stay at home because of the pandemic. In developed nations, students switched to a digital curriculum since they could no longer attend in-person classes. These digital resources have allowed students to continue their education even if they are at home. Software and web developers have not failed on this front. There are mobile and web apps for collaborative learning, online practicals, and student-teacher interaction. Some of the apps that have gained popularity during Covid are Frog, Chromebook App Hub, One Tab, Sleuth IT, Grammarly, Screencastify, and Blippar.

5. Video Conferencing

You can’t talk about developers in the Covid-19 era without mentioning video conferencing. Developers have been making and maintaining video conferencing apps that allow people from different parts of the world to video chat at the same time over the Internet. Zoom, one of the most popular videos conferencing apps in the world, now has 300 million daily active users. In December 2019, the video app had just 10 million daily active users. Google Meet gets 100 million daily active users while Microsoft Teams has over 115 million. All these companies recorded gains and employed developers while others were taking heavy losses.

6. Healthcare

The healthcare industry is another sector that has required the services of software engineers now more than ever. As medical scientists searched for a cure and vaccine, they were only able to make progress because of the hard work of software and hardware developers. Artificial Intelligence-based apps were used in the research and development of the Covid-19 vaccines. Also, people from across the globe started relying on healthcare apps for basic health checks. Apple reportedly got the highest number of smartwatch sales in 2020. These wearable devices come with many amazing health features at your fingertips.

7. Work-Chat

As stated above, work-chat apps have gained momentum over the last 12 months. This is because working from home is now the new normal. Work-chat and office tools have grown in demand. One of the most popular work-chat apps, Slack, is now being used by more than 12 million people daily from different parts of the globe. Some other remote office tools have also gained traction. This includes, but isn’t limited to, Discord and Mattermost. All Microsoft and Google tools have been recording high traffic in the past few months. Many of the major tech companies that have started working from home have announced that things will continue like this even after the Covid-19 pandemic has been eliminated.

8. Financial

Another aspect of technology that has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic is the financial sector. The number of financial apps has increased significantly since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s not limited to remittance apps alone. Apps for saving, lending, tracking income, and other forms of financial activities have become more popular now. Even apps related to buying and selling cryptocurrencies have gained popularity as people look for alternative methods of earning a living.

Bottom Line

Things have been hard for everyone since the beginning of the year but there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Many businesses and learners have taken advantage of the opportunities that web development and mobile development teams have put in place. High-paying tech jobs have been increasing in demand since the beginning of this year and some companies have been recruiting entry-level tech professionals. In Silicon Valley, many tech workers who have been working from home have reportedly been more productive than when they worked in an office. This is all thanks to the hard work of developers.