Skills needed for Junior Web Dev roles in the UK?

[mug2k]

Hi

I'm just wondering what kind of skills/knowledge and level of competency are required to land a Junior Web Dev role in the UK. I'm guessing the following are basics and needed but please correct me and add any others I might of missed.

HTML
CSS
PSD to HTML
jQuery
Git
SASS or whatever
A little Ruby, Python, Javascript or PHP
A portfolio (not a skill, obviously)

I'd also love to hear your stories on how you gained your first role in Web Development for science purposes.

Thanks,
Marcus

 

[touch]

If your list is in order, I would move php further up.
Knowledge of a cms would also be good (WordPress, joomla, etc) and possibly some database experience, depending on the specifics of the role.

 

[mug2k]

If your list is in order, I would move php further up.
Knowledge of a cms would also be good (WordPress, joomla, etc) and possibly some database experience, depending on the specifics of the role.

Oh yeah not sure how I forgot Wordpress, learning PHP & MySQL might be useful as PHP will be useful for Wordpress and the MySQL for the database side of things.

The list wasn't in any particular order, I just happened to have typed it like that. With all the skills and knowledge above what would be the expected range of salary I could expect?

 

[sparkey196]

Expected salary range (in london) for graduate level web dev would be £22k-£30k. The skills you have listed are pretty much on the mark. Some understanding of XP concepts like CI/TDD would also be an advantage, also basic knowledge of Agile and a few basic design patterns would help.

My personal journey after graduation (computer sci).

- Systems Engineer in Enterprise Hosting (1 year)
- Small freelance web development gigs, mostly LAMP (roughly 2 Years). Few hundred quid a day max.
- Longer term contract as web services developer at a one of the big four mobile network. (2.5 years). Some PHP, mostly Java.
- Software Architect (contract) at the same mobile company (current position), mostly working on real-time distributed computing/messaging architectures.

The real money is in enterprise development and architecture where you can easily be on £550-£700/day.

I would really recommend getting a good book off Amazon with career maps and solid career planning advice. Chances are you won't want to be hacking much beyond your mid thirties so keep that in mind.

One book I refer to a lot is "Zoom Factor for the Enterprise Architect: How to Focus and Accelerate Your Career". Try to find something similar for web development.

 

[Tripnologist]

Alongside jQuery, I would also learn pure JavaScript, or at least the fundamentals/principles.
jQuery is great and all, but you'll need some actual JS knowledge once you pass the point of just needing to put a couple plugins together and instead need to build something more akin to an application.