Web Job Titles - What's Yours?
November 18, 2003 | 
35 Comments
One of the things I’ve always thought was funny in my years as a Web professional is the lack of clear job titles and descriptions. To be honest many of them don’t actually describe what it is a Web professional does every day and can be downright misleading at times.
I’d be interested to hear what your job title and/or description is, as well as what it is you do all day. You know, what skills you really use? Not necessarily what is in your Work Content Description.
This is just for my own curiosity and maybe the benefit of some newbies who might wonder what it takes to be a Web professional. Feel free to answer any way you feel or just comment on the topic.
I’ll go first. My job title at the moment is Lead Web Developer. It’s actually fairly accurate, although I do mostly front-end work and I do a whole lot besides “developing”. I’m responsible for much of the front-end development, quite a bit of UI design, usability and things like that. I can’t think of a more appropriate job title, which is funny, because “Lead Web Developer” isn’t exactly right either.
As to what I do all day and the skills I need. I spend much of my day either designing, developing and maintaining our various Web sites, probably more on the maintenance end usually. It really depends on what we have going on.
To be honest I need soft skills almost as much as technical skills. You know things like being able to communicate with a variety of people, and time, meeting and project management skills as well as things like adaptability and problem solving.
Technical skills include a very solid grasp of XHTML and CSS, a solid understanding of Web design and UI issues, Photoshop and graphic design, usability, IA, browser and platform issues, javascript, Flash and other front-end technologies as well as a solid understanding of back-end technology and scripting.
However, on a day to day basis technically, I mostly only use my XHTML, CSS and design skills and related technolgy (Photoshop,etc.).
In the past I’ve held the titles of UI Designer, Lead Coder, Web Designer, Web Developer 2, Web Producer, Creator of Cool Stuff (dot com era), and Associate Director of Partner Integration.
When asked I usually just title myself “Web Designer”.
I’ve also had to be a “master” of Flash, JavaScript, JSP, Cold Fusion, Accessibility, IIS, ActionScript and more — but never all at the same time.
For example there was a time when I worked almost exclusively in Flash with ActionScript and Cold Fusion. I hardly ever use that stuff now. But my job description is almost exactly the same.
So what’s your job title?
Filed under: Web General
Comments
1. ste said:
My official title is Web Developer, but I tend to think of my position more as Webmaster since my responsibilities cover the gamut of web-related activity. Basically, I’m the sole person responsible for the website of my department - from the design and backend programming to much of the content and site administration. Since I’m also the most technically skilled person in a relatively small department, I also serve a number of other roles mostly unrelated to the web like minor tech support as well as database administration and even publication layout and design when necessary. Sometimes I yearn for a job where I’d be focused mainly on one skill or another (design comes to mind), but for the most part, I enjoy the diversity of activities. If I don’t feel like designing or developing one day, I can generally pick another project up instead.
Posted on November 18, 2003 11:06 AM | #
2. patrick h. lauke said:
i’m a “web editor” at my university. my main jobs involve:
…and the list goes on. now, it has to be said that although my title is “web editor”, everybody does refer to me as the “webmaster”.
ah…the joy of labels.
Posted on November 18, 2003 11:12 AM | #
3. patrick h. lauke said:
heh…as i was writing my long list, ste beat me to it with something strikingly (?) similar. but he’s touched on something i forgot: i do enjoy the variety (and the responsibility) as well.
what’s also interesting is that i am trusted with most of these things, and that my decisions can usually be implemented (by myself, again) without much red tape…i just go off and do it (e.g. i did a complete xhtml/css site redesign/relaunch) without having to jump through hundreds of managerial loops, focus groups, etc.
Posted on November 18, 2003 11:15 AM | #
4. Egor Kloos said:
I’ve always considered myself to be a web designer. This could of course take on slightly different forms. In the past I’ve been labelled a Interaction Designer, Lead Media Designer and Art Director. As a web designer I see overlap in all these area’s. As of late I see my knowledge and experience steering me into Art Direction. Basic knowledge of design is very important. The ability to use colour, typography and images within a brand have formed me as a designer. How something communicates and functions is what I look at to create design solutions.
My ability in front-end web development has been beneficial in overseeing a project and helping others adhere to the scope of the design and to the brief set out by the client. Even if I had to demonstrate it by doing it myself (in a prototype for example). Leading by example can be very effective, as long as I don’t over do it. Let others do their job, let others discover the Web Standards.
The real problem I often find is that Web companies have difficulty defining a position. The difference between a web developer and web designer is often mixed up. Sometimes they want a web developer that can design or the other way round. As is mentioned there is always a certain amount of overlap but make sure you have a focus on what you to become or what you are and take from other disciplines that will help you. Having a broad scope is something we see in a so called “generalist “. The “generalist ” is something that we may see less and less of. So make a choice of what you want to be doing 10 years down the line, if you don’t someone will make it for you. That might work out but you may also live to regret not making a choice.
Posted on November 18, 2003 11:26 AM | #
5. ste said:
Heh, like Patrick, I also work at a University (though as I said earlier, in a fairly small department), so perhaps that has something to do with the broad responsibilities. :) And fortunately, also like him, I don’t have to deal too much with red tape in terms of making changes; for the most part, I can make fairly large decisions and just run them by the department director before implementing them.
Posted on November 18, 2003 11:48 AM | #
6. mahalie said:
My title is "Marketing Specialist" on my business card but my email sig says "Marketing, Graphic & Web Design". I work for a 30-person firm and am the only one with any grasp on web-related technologies. I utilize CSS, XML, etc. every day. I don’t think my firm quite realizes what I do, and since I am on the marketing team I must divide my attentions to whatever marketing-related requests come up, ad design, page layouts, etc. and squeeze in web design whenever I ‘have time’.
Posted on November 18, 2003 11:52 AM | #
7. Radical Bender said:
In a previous life, I was “Senior Internet Developer,” a title of my own choosing to signify that (a) I had seniority by being there the longest and (b) I did a lot of web, but I also covered numerous other things related to the internet in general (e-mail, some server maintenance, etc.).
Currently, however, I’m simply “Co-Founder” of my own business. Since there are only two of us (me and the other “Co-Founder”), it works out well since we have to be jacks-of-all-trades anyways. :)
Posted on November 18, 2003 12:00 PM | #
8. Reinier said:
My job title is “Multimedia Producer” and that’s excactly what I do: Produce Multimedia product and services :-)
My everyday skills:
Flash (Design & Scripting)
Photoshop (Design & Photo manipulation)
XHTML & CSS
Not so everyday skills:
Director
After Effects
Cinema 4D
I love my job :-)
Posted on November 18, 2003 12:26 PM | #
9. tomjleeds said:
I guess ‘Script Kiddie’, although I like to see my 15 year-old self as a web-designer, with school being a side project ;)
Posted on November 18, 2003 12:49 PM | #
10. Drew McLellan said:
The title on my business cards is “Senior Media Programmer”. Not sure why, but people tend to go “ooo!”. I guess it uses “programmer” because the others I work with are more design focused but are known as developers. I’m more hard-core tech, so I get to be a programmer.
In the past I’ve been a Web Master, Web Developer, Web Development Consultant (oo-er), and IT Manager-(but who does all our web development). They’re all just labels - as long as those you’re working with understand what you do then it doesn’t matter a jot.
Posted on November 18, 2003 01:21 PM | #
11. Simon Willison said:
I always call myself a “Web Developer” - I’m definitely not a designer (have you SEEN my site?) and developer tends to cover both client side and server side bases. I used to call myself a web monkey but that was before I started doing serious server side development.
Posted on November 18, 2003 02:12 PM | #
12. huphtur said:
my business card says: “webnerd”
Posted on November 18, 2003 02:40 PM | #
13. Keith said:
Simon - your site is great. I think it looks fine and keep in mind one of the great misconceptions of the Web – graphic design is not Web design.
While it can really help to have a solid graphic design background, you do not need to be a great graphic designer to be a great Web designer. In fact some of the best graphic designers make the worse Web designers. Blending the two is quite a challenge.
You know, the whole interactive, form and function thing. Misconceptions is this area (on both ends) seem to cause lots of problems.
You also bring up another good point. My title is “Lead Web Developer” and while I do some server side development and do have a tad bit of a background in that, mostly what I do is front-end design and development. For some reason many folks do associate “developer” with server side technology.
Not sure why that is.
Drew brings up a good point as well. If people understand what you do then your job title doesn’t matter too much.
But how often does that happen!?!? ;) Sounds like he is one of the lucky ones.
Posted on November 18, 2003 02:40 PM | #
14. MikeyC said:
“Internet Co-ordinator” which sounds rather vague and all-encompassing but is actually quite suitable given that I’m involved (in some way, shape or form) in a variety of internet-related activities such as: Web-coding, graphic design, copy-editing and e-mail campaigns.
Posted on November 18, 2003 05:09 PM | #
15. Anton said:
Well, these days my title is simply “Visual Designer”. Although, I have carried other titles in the past much like those posted above.
Great site, btw…
Posted on November 18, 2003 08:09 PM | #
16. Will said:
Heh, President of my own proprietorship.
Posted on November 18, 2003 10:37 PM | #
17. Karl Dubost said:
I have been
Webmaster in 1993/94 - Research Center: Web site creation and design
“Faiseur de Web” (maker of Web) in 1995/96 - Web agency: idem
Internet Specialist, Webmaster in 1997/99 - University: Web site creation, teaching Web classes, backend and frontend.
Information System Director/Technical Director in 2000 - Web agency: to whip the HTML integrator (sic) and Artistic Director to respect the req docs.
etc…
I know someone who’s a Websmith.
Posted on November 18, 2003 11:47 PM | #
18. scottbp said:
On a recent project I was “pig farmer.”
Due to me being very busy and making an inappropriate joke…
I’ve managed to graduate from that now though and am back to being “ask Scott”
but seriously I have been called all sorts of X developer (where X = whatever technology I happen to be using that day), lost of WEB - this and that, along with the odd specialist term thrown in too…
It is strange that we do have such wide ranging job titles… but I guess how we describe ourselves at parties is the most important one.
For me that most recently has been Information architect, but I just used to say
“I draw pretty pictures and then people pay me money”
Posted on November 19, 2003 12:21 AM | #
19. MJH said:
For one job, i’m a Web Master (two words)
for the other, I’m an HTML Author/Developer/Programmer - with the slashes… I lose track of which hat I have on half the time.
Posted on November 19, 2003 05:29 AM | #
20. Andrew said:
Until I moved away from development recently, I was a Client Side Developer - the best title I ever had because it said what I did reasonably well in that I developed front end (or client side) solutions.
The same role before it got a makeover was a HTML Developer (or HTML Coder) but given we didn’t do just HTML it was a bit meaningless.
In a previous job doing similar things, I was an Assistant Internet Producer - which quickly became Internet Producer when they finally accepted the argument that the junior developers didn’t assist anyone. Of course I also loved the fact that I “produced” the internet :)
Posted on November 19, 2003 06:06 AM | #
21. Chris said:
I work for a global software company. My title is “User Interface Designer”. I would, most of the time, agree with that title, except that we produce a fair amount of marketing materials and graphic design/layout stuff that aren’t really “interfaces”, so…
But, I do spend about 80% of my time developing user interfaces.
I think that it just depends on where you work and what industry you primarily develop for. Industry-specific companies have their own lingo, so it inherently goes that you end up with varying terminology for the same things, just like within the industries themselves.
Posted on November 19, 2003 01:26 PM | #
22. Mariann said:
When I managed my university’s website, my job title was “IT Support Specialist in Web Development.” Most people just called me “webmaster,” though had my position been classified as such, I would have been paid $20k more a year!
My responsibilities were broad and relatively vague so when I requested a reclassification, I was denied because my current position title and job description covered the details they were most concerned with me handling, never mind the extra stuff they tossed in.
Posted on November 19, 2003 06:18 PM | #
23. Erik Hanson said:
Not encompassing all that I do , but “Visual Media Designer” is what I have and use. Producing for web, print, video and all that’s visual, it seems to fit me well.
Posted on November 19, 2003 06:47 PM | #
24. Gabe said:
I am Web Manager for my department at the University of Minnesota, although my office door says Web Design Manager whatever that means.
Basically I build and maintain a 500-page site with the help of one student employee (20 hrs/week). Tech support is in charge of our linux server administration, but I tell them what to do (often times in great detail).
I go through cycles at my job. Sometimes I’m doing maintenance, sometimes I’m designing, sometimes I’m coding in PHP/MySQL or even Perl. It’s nice because I don’t get bored.
Posted on November 20, 2003 08:23 AM | #
25. Scott said:
Like ste and Patrick, I work at a University, and I do everything from HTML/CSS and graphic design to caveman DB programming and PHP. Like they mentioned, working at a University affords a lot of freedom to try new things. I’m thinking about designing a XML CMS for the next Web site I build. Why? Because I can, and nobody that I work for cares :)
Posted on November 20, 2003 09:16 AM | #
26. jake said:
Internet Development Specialist…
What I do daily pretty much depends on what project. But I never stop using a technology for more than a month. Recently, I’ve been redesigning the corporate site, so some Flash, ColdFusion, and the usual CSS, Javascript, XHTML type stuff.
This morning I finished up an Illustrator file to be used by another division. I’ve also worked on the annual report and stuff like that.
I am the only person here who handles Print and Web Design, though I don’t get vetoed by the clueless powers that be on web stuff, so I get to have more fun with it. Print is another story entirely.
Posted on November 20, 2003 09:46 AM | #
27. paul said:
my official title is “creative lead and president”. for a while tho it was “web ninja”.
Posted on November 20, 2003 10:34 AM | #
28. Jonathan Snook said:
Director of Technology/Web Programmer: kind of a catch-all. For the most part I do programming (ASP, CFML, Java, Javascript, SQL, etc, etc.) with a little design (interface and web design) with a little server and desktop maintenance. I’d really like to see “Technical Know-it-all” on my business card! :)
Posted on November 24, 2003 10:35 AM | #
29. Shaun said:
I am just working on starting a new media business and we have been trying to figure out our titles. We had “Manager / Devevloper” and Graphic Disigner / Devloper” but realize how does that look when we are trying to market our business… after reading other comments I found a couple I like, “Multimedia Producer” another I also came up with was “Media Consultant”. We pretty much handle all aspects of our business and are still undecided. Anyhow thats my input!
Posted on December 5, 2003 08:48 PM | #
30. Brandon said:
“Front-End Technologist”
Posted on January 27, 2004 10:49 PM | #
31. Jim Renaud said:
My job titles over the years (in order):
Borders Books & Music:
- Sales Clerk
- Special Orders Clerk
Professional:
- Junior Designer
- Graphic Designer
- Web Designer
- Lead Web Designer
- Design Technologist
- Senior Design Technologist
- Web Usability Specialist
- Graphic & Interactive Designer
- Senior Web Designer
- Creative Director
Shit, that’s a lot of titles! I didn’t know I had that many until I started writing them down. I did go a year in the dot.com heyday through 5 jobs in one year looking for the nicest Foosball table and Aeron chair.
Posted on March 3, 2004 09:37 AM | #
32. rarchie said:
Ok – I just got a job and I need a title. I interviewed for webmaster but – I’ll be baby-sitting the server, managing a coding and a graphics person, developing the database, creating real-time integration between the website and a ticketing system, etc etc.
Kinda at a lost here and need to come up with a title quickly. Any suggestions?
Posted on March 16, 2004 07:11 AM | #
33. YorkshireSteve said:
I was once “Internet Services Executive” - Which just about summed it up. I was the executive body dealing purely with services relating to the internet.
I dealt with planning and building the ecommerce site and also managing staff processing the orders. There was also the SEO and marketing as well as server admin. It was a small company, so the title pretty much covered my role.
Posted on April 27, 2004 02:01 PM | #
34. Jay said:
Mines quite a flash one E-Business Co-ordinator - and my manager has asked if I would like it changed! And my answer is yes because in addition to all the web mumbo jumbo I do the collaterals and brochures too - What should I be a Web And Brochures Consultant - that sounds awful! Any ideas?
Posted on June 25, 2004 07:04 AM | #
35. Kay said:
I too have been seeking a good title…I have to pick a new one right now cause people are confused about what I do…..leaning towards “corporate website manager” or “Manager, Web Systems”….in the past I have been webmaster/webdeveloper/IT Section Manager/Training Consultant/Programmer/Software Engineer….
Posted on June 29, 2005 03:16 PM | #
Comments are now closed