How is the business these days?

[KittenKrusher]

I am currently a freshman at a University and so far my major is marked down to Information Systems Management. More specificly Web Development.

Now ISM is more on the Business Managing side than the techy side (Information Science). I would love for that to be my career but I would also like to make some money.

I just wanted to ask you people who do this for a living, how is the business these days? It seems to me that it isn't to good anymore since just about anyone can make a website, or atleast learn easily so therefore no need to hire someone to do it.

 

[plinden]

"just about anyone" can put up a couple of HTML pages and call it a website, but it takes more than that to develop a secure, high availability, ecommerce website that can handle several hundred thousand requests a minute.

 

[Rower_CPU]

"just about anyone" can put up a couple of HTML pages and call it a website, but it takes more than that to develop a secure, high availability, ecommerce website that can handle several hundred thousand requests a minute.

True, but how much of that capacity lies on the hardware side of the equation?

Besides...how many jobs are out there for companies with that kind of traffic? Very few, I'd imagine. From what I've seen, there's much more work to be had with small to medium-sized businesses that don't necessarily need e-commerce at all.

 

[rozwell]

there is always room for a web developers as long as the actually program in something people will use, learn new and up coming stuff, not old or dying languages. geography and the market within that location will also have a lot to do with you ability to get a job. an urban pharama location might prove more jobful than the middle of north dakota. lastly how well you code will also help. dont be good or great. there are to many good programmers out there. you have to shoot for amazing.

 

[mnkeybsness]

We are actually seeing another .com boom that is almost to the scale of the one in 2000. I would say that the web business is doing well.

And having a degree in a field related to Web Design and Development like ISM can be quite useful. I haven't seen any course offerings that really give students the knowledge and abilities to become great web designers or developers, but I have seen many that offer degrees in a similar area.

Most developers that I know have degrees in computer science.

But I still have a problem with graphic designers. Schools teach them design for print, video and other mediums, but not for web. Many graphic designers have trouble with making the transition from print to web because there are very many fundamental differences and web has many unwritten "rules", usability issues, browser compatibility... (oh crap, I forgot that this list of things for the web goes on forever...)

I still feel that the best way to learn Web Design and Development is to learn it on your own while you are working towards a degree in an area that can help you not only in the field, but also in another field in case something goes wrong with the world wide web...

 

[dornoforpyros]

But I still have a problem with graphic designers. Schools teach them design for print, video and other mediums, but not for web. Many graphic designers have trouble with making the transition from print to web because there are very many fundamental differences and web has many unwritten "rules", usability issues, browser compatibility... (oh crap, I forgot that this list of things for the web goes on forever...)

As a graphic designer that deals 95% with web based projects I agree with you 100%. I've spent hours arguging with print designers about the importants of validating code & cross browser issues as well as basic stuff like designing sites that fit within a browser window! Just cuz the screen size is 1024 X 768 it doesn't mean you have that many pixels to work with!

Print design & web are very different animals. I do believe people can get very good at both but you need to understand how they differ or you'll fall on your face.

 

[andiwm2003]

..........there are very many fundamental differences and web has many unwritten "rules", usability issues, browser compatibility... ...

usability is a very important one. many websites are there to as a service to customers. yet the designers still make them in a way to keep you as long on the site as possible. that maybe o.k. for websites that live from advertising, but an online banking site has to be safe and simple.
many designers thing the visitor is genuinly interested in their graphics and design. that's wrong. you want to use the service fast and then get out there.

so for education it would be good to have some sort of degree in a related but different field. that broadens the perspective.

 

[MontyZ]

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[ChicoWeb]

Seems like there are always threads about this topic. My advice to everyone, not only in the design business, but in any business, is that if you are providing a quality product at a quality price, there is always room for you. The market is saturated w/ hacks, flacky designers, and just straight crappy sites.

So, if you are good and have the drive, you will succeed just like anything in life.

 

[KittenKrusher]

Thanks for all the replies. On the topic of ASP, is it possible to program ASP .net on a Mac? Or would I need VPC?

 

[MontyZ]

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