What is it like to be a Web Designers/Developer?

[Regs]

I'm actually thinking about a "career" change and I wanted to ask someone who has or had experience in the field. Is the pressure enormous? Is the competition rough?

Basically, what is the stress level to have a job like this?

 

[DesiPower]

varies form job to job, company to company, boss to boss. I have seen team that have a great time, overtimes and pressure only towards to end of the project (like once a year..). And I have seen people suffer for years at a time, loong hours, work on weekends and all this in the same company. The difference, boss and job responsibility. Support work is generally more demanding than project work IMHO.

Also, every few year or so your job will sent to India and your role will change and you have to start doing things differently, if you are not laid off, that added stress will always be there.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Here you go

 

[Regs]

Thank you for your responses 🙂 . I've been studying up on PHP, mySQL, and XHTML and trying to get some freelance work to add to a portfolio. I'm pretty proficient with Photoshop, HTML, CSS, and other web publishing software. Keeping up with technology I imagine is another added pressure.

And lol @ outsourcing to India. ( 🙁 )

 

[Patranus]

Web development has a pretty low ceiling in terms of earning potential.
When it comes to programming it is much better to hone the basics and move from there.
Programming language or end product should be relatively irrelevant as a good programmer can take their knowledge to any platform regardless of the language or tools.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Like this: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

 

[yllus]

Compensation/demand: I get nearly one LinkedIn request a day to interview somewhere. The pay range where I live, North America's third most expensive city to live in (Toronto), is $75k - $105k. I've been doing web development for ten years.

The pressure can be extreme at times (when the deadline is approaching). Surprisingly, you need to be a good communicator in order to understand what the client is asking you to build, and to be able to argue when they're wrong about something and not come off as a clod. But it's fun work and very dynamic.

 

[DesiPower]

Like this: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

ha ha ha that's awesome!!!

 

[Regs]

Like this: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

Oh my hah.

 

[Regs]

Compensation/demand: I get nearly one LinkedIn request a day to interview somewhere. The pay range where I live, North America's third most expensive city to live in (Toronto), is $75k - $105k. I've been doing web development for ten years.

The pressure can be extreme at times (when the deadline is approaching). Surprisingly, you need to be a good communicator in order to understand what the client is asking you to build, and to be able to argue when they're wrong about something and not come off as a clod. But it's fun work and very dynamic.

Thank you Yullus. Can the dead lines be damn near unrealistic? I guess the hardest part would be explaining the capabilities and limitations of the technology. What is the hardest you had to do in terms of implementing a design or database?

 

[Aluvus]

You might find parts of this interesting: http://aneventapart.com/alasurvey2010/

Edit: possibly also this: http://clientsfromhell.net/

 

[yllus]

Thank you Yullus. Can the dead lines be damn near unrealistic? I guess the hardest part would be explaining the capabilities and limitations of the technology. What is the hardest you had to do in terms of implementing a design or database?

They're never completely unrealistic. The client really does look at you as an expert in the field, and will take your input seriously about what can be done in what amount of time. And the days of major unforeseen disasters are long past anyways - everyone uses mid-project goals to ensure things are demonstrably on track and accounted for.