Previous topics: Building Awareness of Your Web Launch, Production Planning

Job Roles
Who do you want to be today?
7/6/98

by Jennifer Fleming

Am I the only one going through a professional identity crisis? Being in web work can be like building a house on a sand dune. Things are constantly shifting, and that's part of why I like this field. It can make nomenclature a tricky business, though.

For example, at some point or other in my career, I've called myself a web consultant, a web developer, a web designer, and a web producer. A friend and fellow web geek has had his job title and description changed three times in the past year. And lots of people in the field have turned away from generic titles like "webmaster" in favor of more specific roles such as web product evangelist, usability specialist, or production coordinator.

So what does all this mean? Looking past the shifting wording and creative euphemisms that seem to characterize our field, you can spot some definite trends in web roles. For example, specialization is in. So are teams. There's also a noticeable shift toward more customer-oriented positions, such as quality assurance, usability, and customer service.

In this article, we'll look at some of these trends. When you're done reading, you can help us get a handle on web roles by taking our developer survey. Let us know how you work and who you're working with. Results are ongoing, so you don't have to wait for us to tabulate and present them.

view a printable version of this article