The Generic Web Guy
In this day and age of blooming ICT businesses, what’s a web guy to refer to himself as? It seems that both “web designer” and “web developer” as terms have become muddled in recent years, with a tremendous amount of overlap in how they’re used and what they refer to.
To further confuse things, the web is now seen as an interface platform, both in the sense of website front-ends being thought more of as user-facing interfaces used to manipulate database-driven data; and in the sense that new kinds of web applications are starting to become increasingly common, forcing us to think harder about things like crossbrowser usability, interface conformity across multiple kinds of devices ranging from mobile devices to desktop computers, and so on.
I often call myself a web designer, or a user interface designer. Sometimes even a web developer. It all depends on who I’m talking to and what kind of responsibilities I’m being entrusted with at the time. Of course, it goes with the territory of working in a company that numbers in the 20-something range instead of employing hundreds or even thousands of people: each employee has a wider range of responsibilities. It certainly never gets boring. The flip side is it’s sometimes hard to know which track your career is heading down.
I actually kind of like the sound of that… “Web Guy”. I should get that printed on a set of calling cards.
