A multipurpose machine and a superior breed

I have been trying to make sense of the evolving profession of Web Designer/Developer in today’s marketplace, and this is my analysis.

I am one of them with years of experience, so I am bias. But, let me say off the bat that I would love to know the kind of response employers are getting when placing ads like the one below:

“Sr. Web Designer needed for 30 hours per week. $13.50 to $15.00 per hour based on experience.
2+ years work experience. Skills: PHP, ASP, .NET, JAVA, CMS, Dreamweaver.
Portfolio and references required. Computer Networking backgrounds a plus.”

Allow me to dissect it. The ad begins asking for a ‘Senior Web Designer.’ Obviously 2+ years of experience qualifies you as such so any recently graduated student in Computer Science is a likely candidate.

I say Computer Science graduate because you are supposed to know three computer languages: PHP, ASP and .NET (I place ASP and .NET in the same package. I guess it could be VB or C#), and JAVA. Not an easy task.

Of course, the aforementioned knowledge doesn’t make you worth $15.00 per hour, no sir. In addition, you must have extensive experience with some CMS (I am guessing it could be Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, SharePoint, etc. The ad doesn’t specify which one, being none of them a piece of cake) and Dreamweaver to top it off.

Lo and behold, let’s not forget the word ‘designer’ in the job description. We are not talking writing code here but working with the other side of the brain, no less, at still $15.00 per hour.

You cannot apply to this job if you don’t have some training (2+ years, perhaps?) in graphic design or visual arts plus, knowledge of the tools of the trade such as Photoshop and Illustrator at the very least, right?

If all of the above were not enough, it would be nice if you knew about network cards, USB wireless adapters, CAT-7 patch cables, 802.11b, 802.11n protocols, Hubs, Switches and Routers, troubleshoot printers and very likely MAC, PC, and Linux on a network.

If you are smart enough – following the ad assumption – you should have all this experience and knowledge within the first 2+ years in the workforce with references and a portfolio to prove it. Of course, you should be excited at making $15.00 per hour. (There is no mention of benefits in the ad, health plan or otherwise. You’ll have to find that out when going to the interview.)

My understanding of a Web Designer, Web Developer and Network Administrator is of a very different nature as it applies to using a computer for different purposes.

Setting aside networking for the sake of this discussion I am going to focus on Web Design and Web Development.

I know by experience how difficult it is for a programmer to visualize a web page in terms of color, aesthetic and old plain visual impact. On the other hand, I know how clueless designers can be when it comes to understanding i.e. AJAX, or how to make a database connection.

It takes more than 2+ years to become a proficient programmer or web designer. Programmers, like designers, are continuously lamenting the fact that they are always playing catch, learning a new scripting language, library, API, or the last Object Oriented Language on the block. Remember C# when you were learning Java or vice versa? jQuery or MooTools frameworks? PHP is the de facto server side language in the Open Source community today so, what gives?

Graphic designers have issues of their own. It used to be Photoshop and Illustrator or QuarkXPres. Then the Web and multimedia came along; you had to learn video and sound editing. Designing for the printing industry was not enough either, so you learned HTML and Dreamweaver. Flash showed up in the table and you had to learn it too but, ActionScript? You had to draw the line somewhere; you were not hired as a programmer. O.K. your job description changed to Web Designer, cool. But, out of curiosity, did you get a pay raise along with these changes?

The above ad reminds me of a woodworking, multipurpose, do it all, machine. This contraption has a table saw, disc sander, stand-up drill, horizontal drill and even a lathe, sometimes even more tools, all integrated into one piece of equipment. It does all that advertise to do – after some lengthy setup for each tool and strict performance limits. If you are a field contractor, you can even take it with you, as some of them fold and have wheels.

The fact is, the computer industry is a very complex environment and will continue to be so: new gadgets, new applications, new ideas, new ways of doing things.

It is a fact that a new, superior and smart, mutt is needed out of the mix of a designer and a programmer.

In my opinion, with the recognition that carries being of a superior breed the computer industry will have to compensate accordingly, not $15.00 per hour like the ad above shows. As a point of comparison, $15.00 used to be the starting salary for a junior cabinetmaker in 1985, in Florida.

I don’t want to tell employers what to ask for when advertising for a job position – they can ask for the moon if they wish. But, what percolates from the ad above, and many others I have seen lately, is a trend from employers toward merging two distinctive individuals – designer and programmer – into one mega dude.

Demand for this mega dude originates from economic junctures and circumstances we are living in. The fact is, and I am going back to my analogy of a multipurpose machine, the employer will not get the depth and capabilities a specialized designer or programmer brings to the job today. But, mind you, you’ll get an original.

With enough time, a new Bachelor Degree will emerge out of a demand for it. It will be taught in colleges with a curriculum dictated by the industry itself. And we’ll know what kind of performance and duties to expect from this person graduating from it, when she or he joins the workforce.

In the meantime, the search for the mega dude will continue.

But, with the kind of money offered for it today, chances are, we’ll run into Bigfoot first when picnicking in the park.

Tito Victoriano
titovictoriano.com
© August, 2010