Do Web Developers need to be good in math?
I posted a job on Facebook requiring a web developer and a web designer. For a web developer, i had specified that i wanted someone with a good background in Maths and in this case, their KCSE maths results would be a good indication of their strength. Some people were of the opinion that i will lock out good web developers because i had put maths as a consideration. Before i continue, let me break down these two terms (Frontend and backend); terms that are widely used in the Web Development world.
Frontend development
Frontend involves the part that people see. In this case, we are talking about people who can work with photoshop, HTML, CSS and Javascript or jQuery. It involves stuff that is controlled by the browser, ie the UI, font, menus, sliders, transitions and forms. For a front end development, having an artistic mind is always a plus because you are mostly dealing with the look and feel of the website.
Backend development.
The backend consist of a server, an application running over the server and a database. When you visit a website, you mostly interact with the front end. If there is a form to fill, you will submit your data which is then saved in a database. Later on, someone might read the data stored in the database by displaying it on screen.
So, where does Maths get into all these?
Anyone can write a programming code as long as you are interested in programming. But if you want to be a great programmer, then Maths should be your friend. Fundamentally all actual programming is discrete mathematics. While it may not be necessary for most developers, a good grounding in Mathematics will certainly be a plus.
Most people considered as great programmers also happen to be great mathematicians. I am talking about the likes of Donald Knuth, Edsger W. Dijkstra, Noam Chomsky, Peter Norvig, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Steve Wozniak. I don't think maths was a coincedence to these people but again, i could be wrong.
Web developers in the corporate world don't really need maths because all they do on a day-to-day is create, read, update and delete (CRUD). CRUD does not need any deep understanding of Maths to apply and anyone can do that. For those dealing with CMS where algorithms are required, sorting of data in a particular way, managing of accounting data in a company then maths will be more than necessary.
In short if you want to be a great developer/programmer/computer scientist, you have to make sure you have those "killer" maths skills or else you will end up being a CRUD developer(Yes Pun Intended :-) ).