The State of Web Development: A Talk for Students

I was invited to give a talk at a local university about the current state of web development. The audience was mostly CS students about to graduate, full of talent but uncertain about what the industry actually looks like from the inside. Here is a condensed version of what I shared.

The web platform in 2024 is unrecognizable from what it was five years ago. Server components, edge computing, AI-assisted development -- the tools have changed, but the fundamentals have not. Understanding HTTP, knowing how browsers render pages, writing clean and maintainable code -- these skills are timeless.

I spent a significant portion of the talk addressing the elephant in the room: AI. Will it replace junior developers? My honest answer: no, but it will reshape what "junior" means. The developers who thrive will be the ones who can direct AI tools effectively, understand what the generated code does, and debug it when things go wrong.

Hackathons came up repeatedly in the Q&A. I am a strong advocate for them -- not because you will build the next unicorn in 48 hours, but because they compress the learning cycle. You ideate, build, fail, and present in a weekend. That feedback loop is incredibly valuable.

For job search strategies, I was blunt: your GitHub profile matters more than your GPA. Contribute to open source, build side projects that solve real problems, and write about what you learn. The students who do this consistently are the ones who get hired first.

The full slides from this talk are available as a PDF download if you want to dig deeper into any of these topics.