that is helpful. so you are saying the majority of web developers don't necessarily go to school for "web development" but indirectly know web development through learning other things.
Very much gray area due to the open source initiative and Google University, if you catch my meaning.
But I can say this about developers, anyone can learn HTML/CSS Flash/JavaScript including the advanced forms and frameworks, but a pro has programming experience including many of these additional skills:
database integration
server side scripting and setup
508 accessibility compliancy
W3C validation (i.e. XHTML 1.0 strict)
SDLC (software development life cycle) - app development
Rich Web 2.0
multimedia streaming, compression and embedding
mashups
web analytics
SEO
basic networking/IPV4|6
web server setup and optimization (Apache, IIS, etc.)
open source initiative
content management systems
DNS
I could go on, you get the idea. Much of this is learned by doing, certifications, on the job training and Google University. College introduces web developers to advanced application development concepts and the SDLC, and offer programs including diplomas, certificates, undergrad, post graducate majors and masters i.e. software engineering, computer science or computer information systems and so on (PhD in Web Development specializations at some universities). More college = more $, benefits, better starting salary, but by no means equates to programming skill or experience in the so called "real world". Always select developers based on previous projects and references first, then factor in education, buzzwords on the resume' and so on, in my opinion. Your hiring criteria might be different, and all of it depends on the budget of course.
-jim