You build websites? What language do you use?
Being a web developer these days means you need to know your stuff. Far gone are the days of knowing HTML with a sprinkle of Javascript and, if you want to go back to the old days, CGI. These days a web developer has to know a whole library of different languages and their own language libraries that all tie together in one big mash of code soup to bring forth the websites that are available for modern tastes.
When asked the question 'What language do you use?' I like to think of it is more of a 'What platforms do you code for?' question. This is because my choice of platform has basically determined my choice of languages. Sure it all comes back to HTML and Javascript in a way but what you do in the background is where it counts.
Being a .NET developer I have to answer this question with the following:
C# - for the back end stuff
SQL - for all the database stuff
Javascript - for all the client side back end stuff. That's jQuery for modern times.
CSS - for making it all look pretty because tables have been evil since Web 2.0. Is Web 2.0 even used any more?
HTML - for showing it on screen.
Simply listing them does not give justice to level of knowledge that a web developer has to bring to the table. They also need to have some understanding of how servers work, how security works and how emails are sent. They may also have to slice their own graphics from Photoshop files. Your web developer is now part server administrator and graphic designer. At times a web developer may need some basic understanding of PHP, Java, C++ and anything else a client may throw at them from legacy systems or third party APIs. It just goes on.
If one can be said, a web developer today has to be adaptive above all else. It is true that no 2 websites are the same. There is no single CMS or platform that can do it all. There is also certainly no one language that can do it all and you can count on that in 5 years time there will be whole bunch more 'languages' a modern web developer will use.
