First, I hope this question is in the right place, even though there might be some debate as to the answer…
I am considering making a career change. I work in a corporation that is slowly sinking. I want to change to something that I think I would enjoy and my interest lies in web design. I highly enjoy being creative and have slightly above average computer skills. I can get around photoshop, dreamweaver, illustrator and fireworks. My coding is just ok. So obviously this field would hold a pretty large learning curve but not an insurmountable one. This is ok because I am still getting paid decent right now and can afford to learn on my own time, which I am doing. I have no prior education in this field other than a few dreamweaver courses. I also have an understanding of simple, access-type database creation, which I think might be helpful.
So my questions are:
Is this an area that I should pursue? Can it be lucrative even at a small scale? I mean, it would be a while before I could tackle a large corporate site or something of that nature. But I could handle a website for a restaurant or band or a smaller type venture. If anyone is in this field, is there enough work to go around? How cut throat is it? How do I get started? I see sites everyday that impress me but I also see many that I f think I could do better at. What are your opinions? All information would be greatly appreciated.
As an employee of a IT integrator (we make software talk to each other), skills in demand are the more mundane ones of DBs, coding, applications like SAP, Siebel, etc.
Unfortunately, the internet boom/bust meant a lot of web designer people are out on the market…
It probably varies a lot by location, but generally speaking now is not the time to get into web design. I know people with years of experience who can’t find contract work, it seems unlikely that somebody without a portfolio would get hired before them, although if you know somebody…
I work in this field, for a product development company.
IMHO the problem you may encounter is that that Web design on its own doesn’t pay well, doesn’t have anywhere else to go (apart perhaps from managing other designers), and as has been said, the market is currently flooded with applicants.
My advice would therefore have more than one string to your bow. E.g. in addition to Web design, I do marketing, advertising, print design, production and typesetting, as well as assisting developers with GUI design. Thus my employers find me very useful, rather than a burden.
My hunch: the database integration part of your skillset is probably the thing to focus on. Keep the design skills up, and create a portfolio, but train in SQL or Perl, and how to integrate that with scripted websites (this is something I’m lacking, and would love to be able to do) - then you’ll be able to produce interactive sites that work well as well as look good, and you’ll be eminently employable.
[aside]fbagner, what field of integration are you in? You might be interested in my company’s product.[/aside]
I’d say everything jjimm is right on. I’ve got a very talented friend who has been doing web design in NY for a few years who just got laid off 'cause they didn’t have much for him to do.
I work in a communications department where I do many of the same things jjimm does. In fact, my web design skills, while quite solid as far as they go, are pretty limited. But, I am able to work with the company that manages our website, send them pages of my own design, and communicate clearly with them as I have a working knowledge of what they do. But, aside from my web responsibilities, I work on advertising, designing and preparing printed materials (using photoshop, pagemaker, ventura (desktop publishing software) and the like. I’d say developing solid computer and design skills based around all different sorts of media would be your best bet for a solid, secure job. Of course, I ain’t gettin’ rich either.
Web page tools these days are at the point where anyone with above average computer skills can put together a decent couple of pages. Because of this, my department had a bunch of us create pages of our particular areas of expertise as side projects rather than hire somebody to do it for us. What we did hire was a company to set up the tools and framework for the departmental web site. My guess is that this type of thing is done in a lot of places. Our web administrator is a guy who left to work at a dot com and came back when it went out of business. He deals with this web technology company when things go wrong.
So while we can put together the actual pages (following a template) and load the content we are generally clueless about the behind-the-scenes stuff that make our pages work - the design tools, how tabs and sidebars work, getting docs rendered into .pdf files, flash animations, logos and other graphics, why graphics go on an ftp server and other stuff doesn’t, all the security and administration, the electronic approval process (after all, we can’t just make this stuff up willy-nilly), not to mention all the servers and networking stuff.
My point is anyone (almost) can put together a functional web page (not a great web page) so the market may not be so hot for that type of job, but if you can learn the behind-the-scenes stuff mentioned above you might do better.
I’m a web developer who does freelance web design on the side, and yes, the demand is horrible-- if you don’t have the connections and the experience straight off, you’ll have a hell of a time getting hired. Coders/developers seem to be more needed-- most anyone can learn to design a half way decent site and mark it up in HTML, but learning things like Perl, Database Adminisration, ASP, Servlets and the like takes a lot more brain power then (most) design*, and certainly a lot more time to learn. Most employers I’ve interacted with want a BS in Computer Science or some kind of technical degree in lieu of experience.
You said you enjoy being creative, so I don’t think web development would be the way to go if that’s your biggest priority. I don’t know what the demand is like, but have you considered print design? Many people where I work have “graduated” from print in order to do web, so perhaps this could be an alternative path to your final destination. Any print people care to comment?
*[sub]I know that having a user-friendly, eye-catching, well-assembled website takes a ton of thought and work, even as much as backend programming. However, it’s very rare to find designers who actually take usability and form into account, and this is the kind of “easy” design to which I refer.[/sub]
Thats exactly what I was looking for, some real world experience. And you dopers never let me down.
I would enjoy hearing more about the print side of things as . ** cercaria ** alluded to. I’m also getting the idea that the technical side of things is more in demand than the actual creative aspects. I have been able to create some rather in-depth databases in Access that my company uses on a daily basis and I understand the basics of SQL, so maybe I should focus on one of these aspects that less people are spending time learning.
I’m looking at a potential career change 6-12 months down the road too so that gives me some time learn while I am watching the industry.
Thanks again and additional comments are certainly welcome.
Web Designer is a bad, bad choice as many others have noted. There are a lot of people who can do the work, the pay is the bottom of the scale even among dotcoms, and there’s no prospect.
My advice is to think long and hard about what you like to do. Sure, you can bring in money coding, but if you don’t like sitting in front of a computer all day long grinding out code, it is going to be painful.
Then they proceed to do a very bad job The truth of the matter is the Web is a totally different medium, any tricks, techniques, etc. brought over from printed side most likely doesn’t work.
Maybe not that much Development tend to be a lot more involved, especially when the site is big.
I reckon maybe you and I would meet in the middle with regard to usability.
The truth of the matter is the Web is a totally different medium, any tricks, techniques, etc. brought over from printed side most likely doesn’t work.
Development tend to be a lot more involved, especially when the site is big.