Your Job Outlook: Web Designers and Web Developers
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” This is how some people feel about the job outlook in the economy right now; But probably not web designers or web developers.
If Chicken Little (the one credited for the line in the popular children’s fable) would have crafted a website to tell all of his friends that he thought the sky was falling, instead of rounding them up one by one, they probably wouldn’t have gotten eaten up by the fox at the end of the story. (Spoiler alert!)
So, let’s take a look at some reliable sources for job outlook in web design and development.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook reports that the overall job outlook in the field of web development is expected to grow “much faster” than other occupations. It states:
“As the number of services provided over the Internet expands, Web administrators and developers will continue to see employment increases.”
We all know the direction we’re going— small businesses, non-profits, the nightly news, are all realizing that the Internet is the place to be. According to the Nielsen reports, even our grandparents in the United States are now spending 62 hours online a month. And a survey by McKinsey & Company reveals China now spends 70 percent of its leisure time online. So get coding; there is work to be done.
There Are Employment Opportunities
There are a few other factors why the job outlook for Web design is so great. A Web designer can work from anywhere (provided there is a fast-enough internet connection). For freelancers, the pool of jobs to choose from is as vast and wide as the internet itself. You can search any job board or freelance site and find countless requests for designers and developers to build websites.
Besides freelancing, web designers and web developers can work for corporations, schools, non-profits, government organizations or for design firms. And with salaries ranging from around $25,000–$75,000 according to PayScale.com ($39,663–$77,603 for the self-employed web developer), it’s not a bad gig to have.
A Good Education
But even if there are jobs, what about the old catch-22—you can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job? Another reason why webcraft has a great outlook for securing jobs: If you build it, they will come.
One can learn webcraft and start building sites for themselves as a way to gain “experience” and start a portfolio right away. You don’t have to wait to get hired to prove that you can build a website. Once you have a few sites under your belt, you can then start offering your services around town, and start taking projects through freelancing sites. The great part about webcraft is that, so far, it’s still a craft. While degrees are favorable, you don’t have to have one to do the work. There is no official license required to fix internet plumbing problems, or special internet security badges to show. (Although that might be kind of cool.)
While you can attend a University and try to fit in with your friends who are complaining about student loans, you can also gain the basic knowledge you need for the price of an internet connection (or latte and free Wi-Fi) and start learning in your free time. In the meantime, you can start researching all the great job opportunities out there, and try to beat China in your internet usage.
Editor’s Note: Coming Soon! Web Planter is an online educational tool that you can use to expand your knowledge of webcraft, presented by the same team that manages this blog. We’ll offer more details as we have them…
What They Say