Trends in Web Design and Web Development

Episode #10 Transcript

PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 24, 2010

Welcome to Onward Search Career Cast; the podcast that brings you the latest insight and career advice from experts within the Internet marketing and creative space. Onward Search is a leading nationwide provider of web-based talent and offers a full range of recruitment and staffing solutions. If you’re looking for a career in search engine optimization, interactive design or emerging technologies, you should apply online at: onwardsearch.com or call 1-800-829-0072 and speak with an experienced recruiter, today!

Peter Clayton: Welcome to an all new episode of the Onward Search Career Cast. I'm your host Peter Clayton. Joining us today is Cindy Caldwell, Account Executive from Onward Search Atlanta office to discuss the latest trends in web development and design with a particular focus on the Hotlanta area.

Cindy welcome to Onward Search Career Cast.

Cindy: Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.

Peter Clayton: We're going to really do a deep dive in to a lot of things that are going on around web development. What are the main differences between web developers and web designers?

Cindy: Web designers, they concept the design of a website or take existing designs from other marketing collateral or mockups to create the design, the front of the web design. They also know about graphic user interface and can do the layout. They typically maintain and provide ongoing design of the website and design promos and add banners as necessary, and they use to look like a Derby Creative Suite, Dreamweaver and Flash.

Web developers take that design and build out, and program the site. They also know how to create web pages that can be viewed on all types of browsers and use on any type of server so that's another thing that they really need to know which kind of browsers and servers work well together. They often use programming tools like HTML, JavaScript, CSS and ActionScript. Some people are web designers and developers, but usually they excel in one of those areas.

Peter Clayton: As the web has gotten much more complex, it's really become much more to your point of either going one direction or the other, right?

Cindy: Yes, and sometimes our clients will say I need someone to do design and development or a developer that has an eye for design. So it is important to have a little bit of both in your background but typically you're either a developer or a designer.

Peter Clayton: Content management systems have become extremely popular, things like Joomla and a lot of the free PHP stuff. Do you get those kinds of requests?

Cindy: Yes, we do. We often get either web developers who are familiar with content management systems or who can manipulate content management systems so that they set in what the client is trying to do with their website or even web copywriters now are being asked to know content management systems enough that they can put their information in, attach files... it's good for anyone in web marketing to be familiar with the different kind of content management systems or CMS that are out there.

Peter Clayton: Cindy, how should students in either field prepare themselves to enter this market? Are there some skills they should focus on strengthening over others?

Cindy: Most schools will offer a graphic design or a visual communications degree and then maybe some will offer web development or programming, and then may a separate web design degree. Again it's great to excel in one of those areas but what students need to keep in mind is they may be a great designer and conceptor and have a wonderful portfolio, but they should still take a couple of development classes. They should still know basic HTML coding. A designer should still know JavaScript. They don't need to be a programmer, they don't need to do that as their full-time job, but a designer should still have your basic programming skills and the same goes the other way too; a developer should still attend some design classes and to learn basic software in case they need to make changes in how the user interface.

I can't stress highly enough that students should do one to two internships in their chosen field and also volunteer for any pro bono projects or if their school does an independent project with a nonprofit, they should volunteer for that. The more experience they have while they're in school, the better they will be.

Peter Clayton: That's some great advice. Do these roles specifically web designers or web developers, are these more competitive than other design in development fields?

Cindy: I don't think they're any more competitive than we saw in the past the print design or with other IT or programming related fields, but I do think that there is a few things that web designers can do to establish themselves from the rest of everyone else out there looking for work. I think the main thing, especially for web designers (and it goes for developers as well), is that they should have their own website and that kind of goes without saying but I think a lot of people, especially when they got out of school and they're looking for work, they forget to do that or they feel like they don't have time or it's not that important. And I think it is very important for them to make their own website, put up their samples, especially any real work experience they have.

A few years back it was fine to send a list of links to your work but you don't know if those websites are still working or not and often times now our clients are saying they must have a website portfolio. We don't want to see just links. So I think it's very, very important that they have their own website, and then also have the one page PDF that showcases some screenshots, testimonials, and a client list of what they've done so they can show that with their resume as quick email blast.

They should be networked into LinkedIn and Twitter and going out there on networking events because you can do all this stuff online but if you're not out there meeting people, you're going to get left behind.

Peter Clayton: I think that's some really great advice as well, and I am sure your recruiters at Onward Search are all over LinkedIn and Twitter looking and keywords searches, looking for the experts in specific areas that you can recommend to your clients.

Cindy: Absolutely, we definitely, and some professionals still don't see the value in LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a daily tool I use now and I'm on Twitter everyday as well, and we definitely do keyword searches for people on LinkedIn not just on the job boards but on LinkedIn as well.

Peter Clayton: And as quickly moving as all this technology is, I mean these people really need to look at themselves as lifelong learners, they need to continue to hone their skills.

Cindy: Absolutely. The software that might be the new hot thing now may not be in a year or two, so they need to continue their education, whether it's their own research or if they are out of school but they want to continue learning online, there is many websites, and one particular one I've heard is very good is Lynda.com that's got plenty of software and programming skills that they can learn at their own pace. Many of the programs offered are accredited, and they have everything from learning how to do SEO to learning the new version of Adobe. It's a really good tool.

Peter Clayton: Are you seeing any trends regarding the most in demand skills these professionals should possess; what are hiring companies looking for the most?

Cindy: Right now, the hot thing are... they're actually distinguishing between the front-end web developers and backend web developers. The front-end web developers, again, need to know things like HTML hand coding and know how to do Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and JavaScript, but they also want that kind of eye for design. They'll probably have the design already concepted out and the color scheme and collateral they can base itself on but they need some design skills and know how to do the front-end programming.

Other people are asking for the backend programming, more of the database management, the programming that is not visible, obviously, to the person looking at the website, but it's still just as important.

I think that's the thing that's really hot right now is front-end web developers, and then designers with a very good eye for design. I think clients are just getting back to basics. They're looking at website that are easy to use, they're functional, that are interactive. The Ajax and jQuery are also good things for people to learn as well.

Peter Clayton: Speaking about the trends, you can't hardly talk to anyone in this space without having a conservation about social media and search marketing. How do those two disciplines integrate with the kinds of things we are talking about with developers and designers?

Cindy: Of course social media and SEO (search engine optimization) are very, very important. I think our clients and businesses are starting to realize that a social media expert and a search engine optimization expert and a web developer and web designer are all different things. So they may hire somebody to come in and do social media and do their web copywriting maybe, and then they'll have someone come in and do the search engine optimization but they all work together. The web designer and developer should know at least a little bit about Twitter and how to maybe incorporate an ongoing Twitter feed onto the website or make sure that they have Facebook button - like an "I like button" on their web page, and they need to know at least a little about incorporating these elements onto the website so that all these elements work well together. They don't need to be an expert in social media but they should know at least enough about incorporating it into the website.

Peter Clayton: Let's talk a little bit about the Atlanta market specifically; what are you seeing in terms of hiring trends and are designers and developers in high demand there at the moment?

Cindy: Again, we're seeing lots of requests for front-end web developers, also people who do the HTML coding and Flash designers are still pretty hot except we have also noticed that people are asking about "I need them to know the jQuery," or "I need them to do a Flash site but I want it to be able to be search engine friendly." So I think gone are the website of maybe five years ago they were all flashy and everything and now they're kind of getting back to basics.  They just want people who are very good designers, have a good eye for design, clean, crisp websites, easy navigation, and very friendly user interface are always what clients are asking us for.

Peter Clayton: Tell us about some of the hot jobs that you currently are out there trying to find great candidates for.

Cindy: We are looking for interactive project managers, which we haven't in touch upon that, people who have managed web projects for agencies. We're also looking for web developers with PHP and JavaScript and front-end web developers and, of course, we're constantly getting requests for search engine optimization and pay per click management as well. So kind of across the board, honestly, with the interactive space.

Peter Clayton: What's trending right now; is it more agency jobs or more corporate?

Cindy: That's a good question. I'd say right down the middle, I think, right now. It seemed to be more corporate but when I was talking to my agencies over the summer, which is traditionally a slower time for agencies, they said we're anticipating things picking up in August, and it has. It has really picked up a lot. Traditionally in creative staffing, I found summer to be a slower time and things gradually picked up between mid-August and the first of September, and we have been going nonstop through August. I'm just anticipating things to be even better over the fall for the interactive job market here in Atlanta.

Peter Clayton: That's great. One last question for you Cindy. Mobile. That is just like so amazing right now. Are you getting requests for Android and iPhone developers in the Atlanta market?

Cindy: We are starting to see requests for mobile developers. They haven't gone as specific as saying we need an iPad or we need a good Android, but they do want the mobile marketing people; people who can take that interface and make it useable for mobile and already have experience doing so - because it is a different platform and it needs different design qualities. Yes, we are starting to see requests for that as well.

Peter Clayton: Cindy, thanks so much for taking time to speak with us today on the Onward Search Career Cast.

Cindy: Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

Thank you for tuning into Onward Search Career Cast. For more information on the career opportunities available through Onward Search, you should visit us online at: onwardsearch.com or call 1-800-829-0072 and speak with an experienced recruiter. And you should also Onward Search on Twitter at: twitter.com/onwardsearch.