[thelist] RE: Does web design have a future in 'high wage'co untries? (wasQuestion])

[the head lemur]

Yes, No and maybe.

First a note defining 'web design'. A few short years ago, one of the top
considerations was getting the color right and making sure that the
brochureware site had contact info, and the logo was sized to be swapped
with other sites. Browser issues rant <snipped>

Nowadays a lot of the questions start...'How do I connect to the database,
return records and track activity?

This points out that website building has moved way beyond the static page
building into programming and issues requiring a lot more thought than the
color of the background.

Yes it has a future. Not every business is on the web yet. There is no
business that cannot use a web site. Is it in your(royally speaking) future?
That depends on who and what you build sites for, your level of comfort with
technologies available and if you can sell snowballs to eskimos.

Are the hordes of second and third worlders who will code for mere pennies a
day gonna take the bread out of your mouth? You bet. As long as you play on
the same field as they do, businessmen will always look at cost. If you can
justify your cost premium you will not starve.

Do you tell your clients that websites are advertising and every penny they
give you is a deduction on their taxes? Do you advise them that 1 person
answering email and processing leads can multiply their sales force by a
factor of 10?

That they can save the cost of at least one salesperson on staff, wages,
benefits, cars, mileage, leave, insurance?

No there is no future in web design. Coding pages is not dead, but is on
life support. Beyond the name address and phone number, the ability to plug
the clients products and services into a framework that a potential customer
can access and manipulate leading to either the buy now button, or the
information form is where the business of webdesign has been going for the
last two years.

Being a generalist in design, images, computers and the internet is perhaps
the most valueable asset you can have for selling locally, and regionally.
The good news is that you speak the language,(in terms of customs, local
meanings, and hopefully knowing the client's business) The bad news is that
they can call you all the time.

Web design as a business requires you to know business and things that have
nothing to do with opening the code editor and banging out a few tags,
adding an image or two and calling it good. If you are lucky you will only
spend around 80 hours a week at the business of building websites for a
living.

Of that 80 hours you will be lucky to spend 5 hours at the keyboard,
actually coding. The other 75 hours will be spent hustling work, meeting
with clients, checking your work, trying to get paid, billing, and having
your family forget what color your eyes are, but being able to spot you at
two miles from the back of your head.

However the internet is global, and having friends in far places can help
you to avoid looking for a different career.

The high wage situation is a thorny one as business looks for return on
investment. If your efforts turn out to be the rathole that folks toss money
down, they will raise prices to recover their costs, making things more
expensive, requiring you to raise your prices, and so on.

That money can be made here or abroad is not in doubt, making a fortune is.

There is always real estate.

the head lemur

blog: http://theheadlemur.typepad.com/
Community: http://www.evolt.org