So how easy is it to make money from web design these days?

[Participant]

Firstly, I'm aware that this is somewhat of a 'how long is a piece of string' question...

But subjectively, what's the market like for freelance web designers these days?

- Are you employed in web design?
- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?
- Full time or contract work?
- What field of web design?
- How did you start?
- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?
- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?

I'm a management accountant by trade, but I'm looking to supplement my income by picking up another professional skill to diversify my marketability and just generally further myself, even if it gets me nowhere. I really enjoy the creative aspect of web design but also the logical side of the coding etc. I know it will take me years and years and years to get anywhere near good enough to get people to pay me proper money for this, so I'm currently just looking for people's stories and experiences really.

Discuss!

 

[redeye_uk]

- Are you employed in web design?
Yes. I am a freelance web developer based in central London. My main skills are HTML, CSS and Javascript (inc jQuery).

- Full time or contract work?
I am currently on a contract working with a digital agency so we have a good mix of producers, UX people, designers and developers. I cant comment on what day rates the web designers are getting, but I imagine it would have been around the £400pd mark. One of the designers skills in photoshop was truely out of this world.

- How did you start?
I was stuck in a perm role being paid peenuts and one day just decided to pack it in, move to London and start contracting. Getting the first contract took me a couple of weeks, but now I have to constantly turn down work. I am now 26 and think I am doing very well for myself.

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?
It is possible to be a jack of all trades, but I would say focus on one core set of skills, but have knowledge in other areas to. I have UX skills and design skills, but I would never chase a contract looking for these skills above all else. Saying that, if it was freelance work then I would be happy to do some basic designs and offer UX advice as part of the package.

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?
From where I am standing the must have skill for a front end developer is OO Javascript. It is becoming ever more popular and with things like node.js (server side javascript) it is going to be around for many years to come.

We get a lot of front end contractors coming through our doors, but hardly any of them are truely competant at Javascript. In London there is no reason why a decent Javascript developer can't earn £500pd. Then if you're a team lead you can double that day rate.

Thats my 2 cents. Sorry for the wall of text

 

[shifty_uk]

It would be a pretty nice subsidiary earner dependant on location, I would imagine. Cities have an abundance of agencies to cater for the businesses small or large. Towns, villages and so forth have few and the independent businesses would rely on freelancers - At a guess! That seems to be the case around here, anyway.

As for career route, I spent 2 years in a web agency which, at the time were top of the game - It was a great learning experience in terms of understanding pipelines, UX so on and so fourth but by the end of the two years I was squealing for a change of scenery. I just couldn't imagine being stuck in an office designing web sites for the rest of my days. Salaries just aren't attractive, either unless you're a talented sole developer with a consistent stream of contracts.

 

[dgmark]

- Are you employed in web design?
Run a website design company

- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?
x

- Full time or contract work?
F/T

- What field of web design?
All!

- How did you start?
Personal interest really, went from online tools, to dreamweaver, to programming, to CMS systems

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?
HTML, CSS, PHP, jQuery are winners nowadays

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?
I personally think it's better to employ someone who is a bit of a jack of all trades. Often, when handling projects customers will require different aspects of each, and they prefer it to be dealt with by one person rather than one to another to another, so I'd really recommend learning the basics of each and developing from then

Hope this helps!

 

[gord]

- Are you employed in web design?
Yes
- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?
I'm the graphic/web designer/developer for a group of companies.
- Full time or contract work?
FT
- What field of web design?
All
- How did you start?
Always been creative. Web design was a natural progression of my skillsets in IT and art.
- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?
HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Jquery are musts. You can't build anything competitive if you don't know your way around these.
- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?
Best? Not sure. Personally, I'm a jack of all. I'm a stronger designer than I am a programmer. I've never seen anyone who is excellent at both.

 

[Cuchulain]

- Are you employed in web design?
Unfortunately.

- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?
Employed by a company

- Full time or contract work?
Full time

- What field of web design?
All

- How did you start?
Got roped into doing a corporate intranet site many many years ago (when 9600baud modems were all the rage) as they assumed I knew something about it.

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?
Javascript (jquery/prototype etc) and PHP

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?
Personally I wish I'd specialised in something, I have friends who've stuck with say, PHP and they've ended up as far better coders than me and consequently earn more money.

 

[FabienO]

- Are you employed in web design?

Not design, but development.

- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?

I work for a company that makes web companies.

- Full time or contract work?

Full time, 40 hours a week; though, I am expected to do more like 50-60.

- What field of web design?

PHP & MySQL Development mainly.

- How did you start?

Hobby growing up. Self taught for about 6-months on PHP and landed a junior role.

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?

Depends on what you're after. Javascript is the only really common thing I see

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?

Jack of all trades. It's what most companies expect; though, I don't agree with it. It's basically like merging roles. But have a 'main' coding language.

 

[shifty_uk]

Jack of all trades is too broad a term. I wouldn't expect some hardened brain box developer to sophisticatedly design the front end(graphically) a complete user focused site. That's why the designers sit in the corner with their crayons.

Designers. Developers. Both should have broad knowledge but the two shouldn't inter link, imo.

 

[swinnie]

- Are you employed in web design?
Yes.

- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?
Self Employed.

- Full time or contract work?
Contract work. Am also on a Full Time BSc Computing Degree, so contract work is what fits in well.

- What field of web design?
All.

- How did you start?
Started learning HTML in Secondary School, been interested in programming/web ever since. Got the opportunity to work with a design agency on a self employed, contract basis at the age of 17. Expanded my client base, and also offer general IT support, training etc to keep me ticking over.

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?
PHP and JavaScript with jQuery Framework.

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?
Depends on who you are working for. If you're working for a large design house, you need to specialise to fit in with the ethic of team working; obviously additional skills are useful for overflow/larger projects, but ideally you need to be specialised in a particular area.

Working as a 'one man band', a good common knowledge of all areas is better. It instils confidence with your client where you can answer the majority of questions stronger than a specialist in UX/UI Design or other, more 'technical' areas.

I'm a management accountant by trade, but I'm looking to supplement my income by picking up another professional skill to diversify my marketability and just generally further myself, even if it gets me nowhere. I really enjoy the creative aspect of web design but also the logical side of the coding etc. I know it will take me years and years and years to get anywhere near good enough to get people to pay me proper money for this, so I'm currently just looking for people's stories and experiences really.

I've been self employed since I was 17, did a few trial projects at 16 to show the business owner that I was capable, and he was really impressed and worked consistently through the summer from home for the company. Managed to pick up other work from additional contacts I regularly bought products from, who have since passed on recommendations. I've not had the need to advertise in the last 2 Years, as word of mouth has kept me really, really busy. I also think it engages you a lot more with clients, keeping a personable approach.

Diversifying after 7 months into the general IT field got me even more work, again, through word of mouth. I think it adds another string to your bow if you can offer additional/value-added services to your client.

 

[Muel]

- Are you employed in web design?
Yep.

- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?
Full time but also do freelance. (But never find any).

- Full time or contract work?
Errm, above question explains really, both.

- What field of web design?
Just design in Photoshop and development in HTML and CSS in my full time job, bit of everything in freelance.

- How did you start?
A mate of mine worked for a company who sacked their IT guy, I rang them up wanting the job, they said "you know your way round a computer, can you build us a website?" so I said "Errrmm, yes...". Then I ran home to learn how to do it.

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?
PHP, MySQL, jQuery/JS, and personally I'd like to see everyone learning Ruby, as it's a lovely language.

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?
Best to have a grasp of all aspects really, but specialising in one thing. I struggle to keep up with the front end game as it is, sack trying to keep up with back end stuff too!

 

[GravyMonster]

- Are you employed in web design?

Yes - as a developer.

- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?

For a firm.

- Full time or contract work?

Full time.

- What field of web design?

Development. Specifically ASP.Net MVC

- How did you start?

Lowest of the low. Started learning HTML/CSS in school, then learnt classic ASP on the job and then moved on to .Net, whilst learning it in my own time.

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?

To be a developer, then HTML/CSS and a server side language - either PHP or .Net. To be self employed/free lance, then both the above, plus Javascript and SQL

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?

Again it depends on what you want to do. A freelancer must have a good, broad knowledge of most web development topics. If you're looking to work for a company, then a specialisation is what you need.

 

[Participant]

Good info here guys, thanks. Interesting to hear what people do and how they got into it too. I'm determined to do something with this, so now I've got my learning list, it's time to get some books and start practising! My dream scenario is basically to stay within my current job, whilst starting off with low key low pay / voluntary projects here and there on the side until I build up some knowledge. Then make it into a weekend / evening profession, then if I love it, who knows.

The reality is that it's most likely that nothing will come of it...I'm not sure my brain can cope with coding languages! I'm ok with fairly complex nested Excel formulae etc. but I do that day in day out every day, so it's hard to forget anything.

 

[Dani]

Jack of all trades is too broad a term. I wouldn't expect some hardened brain box developer to sophisticatedly design the front end(graphically) a complete user focused site. That's why the designers sit in the corner with their crayons.

Designers. Developers. Both should have broad knowledge but the two shouldn't inter link, imo.

Completely agree, especially your last sentence.

 

[DanF]

Yeah it usually depends on team/project size. Small teams will need generalists, a developer that can do html/css/js/code and db work. As the team size grows then positions specialise. It's always good to have an understanding of the whole shebang though and usually as you start you'll need to do some of everything anyway to set up your first sites and just to play around.

 

[LiE]

I've always wanted to work in web design but having landed the job I'm in now by chance and earning very well, I can no longer afford to to start at the bottom with web.

I make a few website now and again for family members as I enjoy it i.e. http://www.gemmahayden.com html, css, photoshop and some php/mysql.

 

[rexehuk]

I've always wanted to work in web design but having landed the job I'm in now by chance and earning very well, I can no longer afford to to start at the bottom with web.

I make a few website now and again for family members as I enjoy it i.e. http://www.gemmahayden.com html, css, photoshop and some php/mysql.

Pretty much same here... no real experience as such but more of a hobby / learning thing.

I'm hoping to get a few paid sites done this year as purely a side income, just for fun and personal satisfaction.

I usually stick with CMS systems and modify templates tbh, sites I'm doing are for very small firms.

About to start one for my fathers new business, rather do a website for him than pay someone thousands for little return.

 

[Imy]

But subjectively, what's the market like for freelance web designers these days?

Not great if you have less than 2 years experience, pretty good after that.

Are you employed in web design?

Yes, web "development" which can encompass web design

Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?

Both.

Full time or contract work?

Full time (40hrs) then freelance on the side through my own company.

What field of web design?

Too many to list

How did you start?

Summer job in 1999

What coding languages would you say are a must these days?

There are 4 main paths and you only really have to go down one. They are (in order of highest paying): .NET, Java, PHP and Design. It's worth noting there aren't that many Java jobs about anymore but that has kept the pay levels up. All of these paths with the exception of Design also require you learn XHTML, CSS and Javascript (EDIT: SQL also) to a high level.

Also worth looking into mobile development which has a lot of similarities to web development but pay is one of the highest in the sectors if you're experienced due to a lack of developers. PHP is the most competitive field due to how easy it is to learn and the market being flooded with amateurs.

Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?

Nearly all small/medium sized businesses and even a lot of large ones will expect you to have a wide range of skills in the area of web development, unless you are a designer or are applying for a very junior role.

I'm a management accountant by trade, but I'm looking to supplement my income by picking up another professional skill to diversify my marketability and just generally further myself, even if it gets me nowhere. I really enjoy the creative aspect of web design but also the logical side of the coding etc. I know it will take me years and years and years to get anywhere near good enough to get people to pay me proper money for this, so I'm currently just looking for people's stories and experiences really.

Discuss!

Have you considered plumber, electrician - even blinds fitting? You'll be earning decent hourly rates far quicker than if you went into web development.

One other thing, there are virtually no graduate opportunities anymore in this sector due to the amount of developers with more than a year's experience looking for jobs and willing to accept low salaries as well as the high levels of outsourcing abroad that goes on.

 

[Pants]

- Are you employed in web design?

Yes. But more development than design. And they are applications for internal use rather than websites.

- Do you work for yourself, or are you embedded in a firm?

I work for a large firm, so bare in mind my experience is tainted by this.

- Full time or contract work?

Full Time.

- What field of web design?

I develop tactical Business Applications, intended to last at least 4 years, pending a longer term solution.

- How did you start?

At the bottom as a support guy in IS, doing routine daily tasks. Then I learned how to develop at home. I automated my support jobs and got promoted to developer. Now I'm a lead developer, on the current project at least. Seems to be a fairly common route into it, most of our team has't done computer science, etc.

- What coding languages would you say are a must these days?

Client Side: html, css, javascript, jquery. I would say these are a must along with SQL.

These are good to invest time in as it won't change soon and you will need it whatever the server side solution.

Then next must is a server side technology. I can only comment on the Microsoft ecosystem as that's all I know.

Server Side: As we're a Microsoft bunch we use ASP.NET MVC with C#, LINQ, Entity Framework, etc. And SSIS packages for scheduled jobs.

Other things you may need to learn are Agile development methodologies (which are getting very popular), domain driven design, test driven development, continuous integration, how to use version control systems etc.

It's not easy to learn this lot in a short space of time, sometimes I wish I specialised in one area!

- Do you think it's better to specialise in a niche aspect of web coding, or to try and be a jack of all trades?

For a project a jack of all trades is more useful, you can put them on any job. Specialists are fine too but they should look to spread that specialism to the rest of the team, within reason. That way you end up with a very skilled team and tasks can be swapped / moved around etc.

 

[pauLAW]

Lots of people are saying that they learnt themselves in their own time. I am wondering how did you know where to start, I have been to college and done HTML/CSS and Im stuck in a job I hate trying desperately to get out and get into design or development, I see so many different paths to take that I am just sat here not knowing where to start!

People say OU, go college full time, just learn from the net....I just don't know where to start its becoming stressful!

 

[GravyMonster]

I taught myself because I didn't have the money to buy books

Learning by doing really is the best way when it comes to coding. Think of a nice simple system you want to build - maybe a calculator - and download the language and off you go. PHP is a great place to start.