Take a moment to examine this Web page. Everything in your browser window–the blue-and-yellow color scheme, the twelve-point Verdana bold font, and the stock image of the Web-browsing brunette–is a decision under the control of a Web designer. On the technical side, Web developers create and maintain the databases behind some sites and design sites so that search engines could bring you here. If you have a head for code and an eye for design, a career in Web design and development may offer the perfect opportunity to put your skills to work.
A career for the digital age, Web design and development involves the design, construction, and maintenance of Web sites–as well as the files that keep them online. Web designers combine text, photography, animation, and sound to create an intuitive interface–also identifying problems through testing and user feedback. Because Web designers and developers work in a digital medium, their profession combines the creative disciplines of art and design with the technical aspects of computer science and computer system design. You can use a amazon coupon code to save some cash on Amazon.com.
The Final Frontier: Web Design and Development
If you’re interested in a Web design career, you couldn’t have picked a better time. With the dot-com bust now almost ten years behind us, the next generation of Web pioneers is forging a new frontier. Over the next decade, continued growth in the online community is expected to expand job prospects for Web designers and developers by 14 to 20 percent–faster than the average for all occupations. Computer systems design and related services (a sector of the economy that includes Web designers and developers) is expected to add 489,000 new jobs during the decade between 2006 and 2016.
While your career prospects are bright, your potential to earn a competitive living may prove even more attractive. According to a 2007 Salary Guide released by Robert Half International, annual salaries for Web designers range from $47,500 to $69,500. For Web developers, annual salaries ranged from $54, 750 to $81,500. Senior Web developers enjoyed even more competitive earnings, with salaries ranging from $71,000 to $102,000.
Education for Web Design and Development
If you aspire to the income of today’s most senior Web design and development pioneers, postsecondary education is an important stepping stone. Although you can find entry-level Web design or Web development work with an associate’s degree or certificate, employers generally prefer applicants with a bachelor’s degree and professional experience. Thankfully, you can gain education and relevant experience through a number of college degree programs.
Design coursework can provide you with a solid aesthetic foundation in typography, color theory, and writing for interactive media–while courses in scripting language, content management systems, digital media, Web page scripting, scalable vector graphics, interactive motion scripting, and interface design can help prepare you for the more tech-heavy responsibilities of a Web design career. Additionally, college degrees for Web designers and developers often include elective courses in project management, argument and debate, English composition, and mathematics to round out your professional skill set.
Between the attractive compensation, expanding job opportunities, and the wide availability of education for careers in Web design and development, you have ample reason to check out degree programs at local colleges and universities, or even online programs. Don’t wait, though–after all, the final frontier won’t wait for you!
anonymous
Studying Web Design and Web Development?
Can I study in the US both together or do I have to finish one and later start the other?
I want to study a bachelor of both but I don’t know if I have to study 4 years of web design and later 4 years of web development or both at the same time. I don’t mind waiting 8 years but I don’t know if is possible to study both in just 4 years. I don’t want to study an associate’s degree.
I have never done a website before (I always try to but never knew much) but I just love looking at different websites everyday and their designs and I always have ideas of how I want to do mine too and this is what I want to do as my future career.
I want to design websites plus controlling where the next page will go after you click an images (I think that’s what a web developer do). ^ ^
For those that studied both, what did you do?
**I’m not good being creative when I draw (but I’m good at looking!). Do I have to study an asso/bache of arts before I study both?
Please help me and thanks!
What is IT?
I heard it before but I haven’t found information about it…what is it?
Do the professors teach it by taking web design/development or do I have to study IT separately?…if so how many years or months?
there are many free sites that will teach you both web design and web development in a few months not years
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Currently I am working on a bachelor’s degree for IT/Web Design. Because Web Design isn’t a big degree plan, most schools don’t offer a bacherlor’s in Web Design only. (that’s what I was trying to do at first).
Right now, web design and web development are intertwined into my degree plan. There are many many schools that do this.
Someone mentioned above that there are many sites that teach this in just a few months. That is true, however, that’s only really good if you want to freelance. Most businesses are asking for atleast a bachelor’s degree now to design for them.
I have to tell you that I like taking IT as well. It makes web design easier to learn. There are many different areas of computers that are incorporated with Web Design that if you do find a school that offers web design only courses, you are at a disadvantage.
Some of my previous IT classes have been programming and advanced programming languages. This helps so so much when working with some web design techniques.
Really, you get what you pay for when you go to school for both.
If you want to try some online classes at a University I recommend Kaplan University or University of Phoenix. Both schools offer bachelor’s degrees in IT/web design.
? Happy Designing!
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You sound like you really want to do this but I’m afraid that it might be boring for you.
Web Developers have to know the most common languages in use to day they would be…
Databases like Oracle or SQL(My, Portage, Lite, etc).
Scripting languages like PHP, Ruby, Perl, ASP, etc…
Markup Languages like HTML, XHTML, WML, SXL, etc
In order to be a good designer you need to know how to work with the above languages.
There isn’t alot of drawing in web development cause there will always come a time when you have to put aside programs like DreamWeaver or NVU and code by hand to achieve the desired results.
About the part on finding work…
There are a lot of people doing web design so trying to find a job is difficult. You can either work for a company and be told to do a site or go freelance and then wait for work to come.
I didn’t mention all the hacking you will have to be doing to achieve browser compatibility.
I don’t know about degrees cause I’m self taught but 4 years for all this junk is a waste of money in my opinion. You can learn everything there is to learn online.
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Just go to a local community college and learn there, it will save you money compared to a 4 year school and you’ll learn just as much if not more.
Here is a book that can help you learn the basics.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780596101978&itm=1
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