What's the job market like for newbies in web page design?

[mm]

I really don't know where to ask this question.

I have a young friend, early 20's, who may have gotten his B.A.
degree, or he's close, but he has no career training. He needs a job,
one with a future, preferably.

There was a time when anyone with a little bit of training could get a
job as a computer programmer.

I have heard for a decade or 2 or 3 that that is not true anymore, but
I wonder about webpage design and webpage writing**

It seems like there are still loads of businesses that need a webpage
or need their current one improved, and that it might be easy to get
work doing this. For someone who's not good at drumming up his own
business, through a contracting or consulting company, or an agent.

I don't want to suggest to my friend or his parents that he set his
sights on this, if the market isn't still good, and if the amount of
training required is a lot.

Can anyone fill me in, or suggest a better place to ask?

What's the job market like for newbies in web page design, or
writing**, or data processing in general?


**Is there a fancy name for webpage writing?

 

[Alias]

I really don't know where to ask this question.

I have a young friend, early 20's, who may have gotten his B.A.
degree, or he's close, but he has no career training. He needs a job,
one with a future, preferably.

There was a time when anyone with a little bit of training could get a
job as a computer programmer.

I have heard for a decade or 2 or 3 that that is not true anymore, but
I wonder about webpage design and webpage writing**

It seems like there are still loads of businesses that need a webpage
or need their current one improved, and that it might be easy to get
work doing this. For someone who's not good at drumming up his own
business, through a contracting or consulting company, or an agent.

I don't want to suggest to my friend or his parents that he set his
sights on this, if the market isn't still good, and if the amount of
training required is a lot.

Can anyone fill me in, or suggest a better place to ask?

What's the job market like for newbies in web page design, or
writing**, or data processing in general?


**Is there a fancy name for webpage writing?

There's only one type of business that does well if there's a recession
or not: catering to the rich. In the past two years, most people have
suffered. The rich, of course, got richer. HTML authoring is a very
competitive field nowadays so he should probably try and think of
something else.

 

[The poster formerly known as 'The Poster Formerly]

I really don't know where to ask this question.

I have a young friend, early 20's, who may have gotten his B.A.
degree, or he's close, but he has no career training. He needs a job,
one with a future, preferably.

There was a time when anyone with a little bit of training could get a
job as a computer programmer.

I have heard for a decade or 2 or 3 that that is not true anymore, but
I wonder about webpage design and webpage writing**

It seems like there are still loads of businesses that need a webpage
or need their current one improved, and that it might be easy to get
work doing this. For someone who's not good at drumming up his own
business, through a contracting or consulting company, or an agent.

I don't want to suggest to my friend or his parents that he set his
sights on this, if the market isn't still good, and if the amount of
training required is a lot.

Can anyone fill me in, or suggest a better place to ask?

What's the job market like for newbies in web page design, or
writing**, or data processing in general?


**Is there a fancy name for webpage writing?

Web development. Your friend needs to intern somewhere. This is a very
competitive field with not a huge demand right now unless you have the
right skills. He would be better off going into mobile development
right now.

 

[Big Frank]

There's only one type of business that does well if there's a recession
or not: catering to the rich. In the past two years, most people have
suffered. The rich, of course, got richer.

Where are you getting your facts from boy? British Minister for
Business thinks "the vast majority of people in the country today had
never had it so good as during this so-called recession"

Bank of England’s base rate of 0.5 per cent has meant borrowers have
suffered much less than they did during the 1980s recession, when
interest rates peaked at 17 per cent, or during the 1990s downturn, when
rates neared 15 per cent.

The fall in rates will have provided a real boost to homeowners on
floating rate mortgages, or those who needed to refinance. House prices
have fallen less than in past recessions, unemployment is much lower,
and repossessions of homes and business failures are way below the
levels seen in the last recession.

Are you saying you are suffering now? If so, say so explicitly and don't generalize!

 

[xfile]

Your friend needs to intern somewhere.

I concur that internship (a.k.a. hands-on experience) is extremely important
for a young folk to get started, and sometimes, it's even more important
than one's diplomas and certificates.

This is a very competitive field with not a huge demand right now unless
you have the right skills.

I'd say that the demand is still there, but it depends on one's skill sets.

In particular, I'd strongly advise to build up a skill set to include
cross-functional knowledge, such as a primary domain knowledge on
programming languages and a secondary domain knowledge on business
operation.

There was a time when companies and business executives knew very little
about bits and bytes, so IT projects were lead exclusively by pureblood
technical professionals, which unfortunately, resulted in lots of wastes and
inefficiencies.

Today's IT projects in serious business are required to provide (and will be
evaluated against) clearly defined tangible benefits, or it would be
dropped.

So having the ability to understand, communicate, and/or uncover
user/business needs is no less important than having the technical skills to
deliver.

Just my two cents for your reference.





"The poster formerly known as 'The Poster Formerly Known as Nina DiBoy'"

 

[Alias]

Where are you getting your facts from boy? British Minister for Business
thinks "the vast majority of people in the country today had never had
it so good as during this so-called recession"
Bullshit.


Bank of England’s base rate of 0.5 per cent has meant borrowers have
suffered much less than they did during the 1980s recession, when
interest rates peaked at 17 per cent, or during the 1990s downturn, when
rates neared 15 per cent.

Interest rates are lower but the banks won't lend.

The fall in rates will have provided a real boost to homeowners on
floating rate mortgages, or those who needed to refinance. House prices
have fallen less than in past recessions, unemployment is much lower,
and repossessions of homes and business failures are way below the
levels seen in the last recession.
Bullshit.


Are you saying you are suffering now?

No, I didn't say that.

If so, say so explicitly and don't
generalize!

Where did you get these "facts", your imagination?

 

[mm]

Every time my daily paper does a special on getting hired (at
least once a week), they point out that the primary way of
getting hired is to network. Waiting for jobs to be advertised
is, they say, definitely a loser's strategy. If you haven't made
contacts and gotten hold of information before a job is made
public, you won't get it. That last point, "they usually have
some connections", that's how you get a chance of an
interview.

Well, thanks to everyone for their ideas. Hey, at least it's not my
kid in this situation, but I'll talk to his father and tell him what
you've said.

 

[Mike S]

I've also gone into a similar field of graphic design and the outlook is
not good. I have been searching for months for a decent job that has
anything to do with graphics, (web sites, print shops, design) and have
not got any good results. Kinda makes me feel like i flushed my $30,000
down the toilet.

Try online sites like helpwanted.com and. They sometimes have freelance
projects if you grab them fast enough but you have so many people
applying your bond to get undercut on pricing making it not worth your
time.

Newspapers have very few leads for jobs in this field so the best thing
to do is look online and apply at anything that is halfway relevant.
Also, he should get references from his instructors as they usually have
some connections.

Also planetsourcecode.com. You'll have to work for very little money
until you establish a decent number of high rankings from people you
work for, then you can up your prices.

 

[gargoyle60]

Every man and his dog wants to be a web designer. Suppose that explains why so many commercial
websites look like crap and don't adhere to even the most fundamental interraction-design
principles. Even many government websites look as if they've been put together by a school kid.

If you're serious about this as a career then go and get professional training and accreditation,
otherwise don't even bother considering it.

 

[Tester]

Every man and his dog wants to be a web designer. Suppose that explains why so many commercial
websites look like crap and don't adhere to even the most fundamental interraction-design
principles. Even many government websites look as if they've been put together by a school kid.

If you're serious about this as a career then go and get professional training and accreditation,
otherwise don't even bother considering it.

Who the **** are you to give such a crap advice?

 

[gargoyle60]

Who the **** are you to give such a crap advice?

A professional of over 30 years with corresponding professional qualifications, dip-shit!
Most IT people are neither properly trained nor suitably qualified, as is clearly the case with you.
I call it the Lotus Syndrome - anybody who can use a spreadsheet thinks they're an IT expert.