Web design - a term that is getting old

A website can become an art project. Admittedly, stylistic skills are useful when it comes to images, typography or color combinations, headings and design guidelines. All this plays a big role, but the time of static elements on a website is over or is only used occasionally.

If there is no need to change the content, there will not be much Change in the message, the content. The role of the web designer has become more diverse he/she practices a craft, even if this is "only on the computer". This craft has become very complex, as well as the fields of activity. Maybe it can be understood better this way, if the term webdesigner develops more and more variants, which let the webdesigner dive into many possible areas. There is programming, for example, because in addition to image, video or sound editing, many things are required of a web designer. This is not least due to the fact that companies are not always able to fill the various specialist areas with qualified can occupy.

Mistaken decisions are inevitable

This leads to wrong decisions that make employees vulnerable, who not infrequently carry a high degree of responsibility. Image editing is of great importance, but when images have to be inserted dynamically into a website, it becomes more difficult, because JavaScript is of importance here. Thus, professions are moving into other fields of activity that have not always been adequately learned because the Internet has also developed so rapidly. Traditional professions like butcher, carpenter or bricklayer are hundreds of years old. JavaScript in our example is only a few decades young. Trying to classify the profession of web designer has become defacto impossible due to the many overlapping fields of activity fas tun. Having to do many things in the field of web design at the same time is not always clear to the staff, it seems. Many things are indeed required of web designers, but can often be done by one person all by himself.

Web design is becoming more and more complex

Websites have become complex, requirements are constantly changing, many areas make up the range of services and the importance and task of websites can de de facto hardly narrowed down. Thus, the programming is mixed with the design or the web designer becomes becomes a sound or audio technician. Added to this are social media channels, databases or video editing with elaborate YouTube content, where employees can become influencers or YouTubers, bloggers or vloggers. Then the whole thing has to be analyzed and statistically evaluated and for everything there are formatting languages like CSS or programming languages like JavaScript, PHP, Python or Ruby on Rails - you name it. As exotic as all of this may sound, I can only imagine how imagine how difficult it can be for companies to build a functioning IT infrastructure. set up.

The Content Manager

Well, what do you actually want to achieve with your own company presence, undoubtedly a still popular question. Indeed, it's not an unwarranted question, because social media, in particular, offer a much wider range of content that can be can be disseminated on the Internet. This also poses risks that are quicker to iron out in websites, because Mistakes in social channels can have fatal consequences. Search engines copy websites and what once circulated, can only be undone with a great deal of effort, if at all. at all. The web can be brutal and there is no forgiveness on the internet. So the web designer now also becomes a content manager and if the web designer doesn't know what a content Manager is supposed to do, it leads to conflict. Large companies have specialized staff for all areas. Social media managers or content managers, UI /UX designers or front-end developers, Editors or CMS WordPress professionals, etc. An all-rounder can't cover all these areas competently cover - there will be gaps and there is no shame in that. This can mutate into a problem for companies if the strengths and weaknesses of employees are not analyzed and responsibilities are not is distributed in a sensible way.

Job ads are becoming a mystery

Filling out a job profile becomes a problem when. Job ads are published with templates. Recruiters need to be be clear about what a web designer can really do in practice. As already mentioned above, mid-sized companies are likely to divide Internet administrators into individual and most likely expect the tasks to be done professionally and competently. competently done. This approach proves to be fatal and serious mistakes can happen if the positions are not filled competently. It has already happened that interns have completely crippled web servers. Recently, I heard about a case in which exactly that happened and there was not even a backup. This is not uncommon and even the most most capable people make mistakes that can have disastrous consequences.

Shit happens!

How could all this be avoided, or at least the likelihood of of something like this happening? Facebook and Ebay have also been down once or even several times for hours "OFFLINE." A content manager who, in such a situation, has to bring the company pages back up in such a situation could be overwhelmed. On the other hand, the programmer will not necessarily be a good copywriter. Programmers are often in the tunnel anyway, so engrossed in their task that they often don't care about the design, but about the functionality. Steve Jobs was not a programmer, but he had a strong sense of aesthetics. That's not to say that functionality came up short for him; he could simply combine. I doubt that people like Steve Jobs would be recognized in a regional company. would be recognized. Not in Germany anyway, because Silicon Valley is a few thousand kilometers further west on the Pacific coast. west on the Pacific coast - and things work differently in California. I can say I can say that I'm allowed to take a leaf out of my book - I lived on the West Coast for four years, and I lived up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. Of course, also on the east coast of the States or in Arizona. Anyway, I can get a reasonably good picture. Of course, there are also in the States, there are victims and perpetrators in personnel management, and in the Bay Area, too, all that glitters is not gold. what glitters, but there are incisive differences.

Foreign use on the job

But what do I want to tell my reader anyway, what do I want to express or even complain about? The key word is misappropriation, because that happens not only in the IT industry, but certainly in medicine or elsewhere. Perhaps a lack of personnel is the problem, if not - then sooner or later misappropriation of personnel will become the problem. The worst case scenario occurs when people are hired and the training phase is over. Puppy protection, I even heard that once in a company. Then the puppy protection is is over and I confront the web designer with the bitter truth, which can often be unpleasant, when it suddenly comes to tasks that turn out to be unsolvable. From my point of view, the boss of a company is never or rather rarely the problem. Bosses want to be be left alone, are absorbed in other tasks. One would think that skilled personnel would be would be hired to competently solve tasks, but the reality is often different.

Complexity requires room for development

So what have we learned? The bottom line is that the tasks for IT staff are diverse and increasingly complex. The Internet - the digital age - is advancing in quantum leaps and bounds, and the company should be happy about every employee who gives his best and tries to solve tasks, even if they sometimes seem unsolvable. It is not always the educated ones who manage complex tasks atok. In practice, the situation is quite different, although I must admit that a meaningful application is of course necessary. Of course, you have to try to find out where an employee's strengths lie, right? But who finds out, and how do you find out yourself if you find yourself in such a situation? find yourself?

Slow down, don't be so fast with the wild horses!

Actually, the answer to sensible employment rhythms is already contained in contained in the job description. In my opinion, employees shouldn't go into a job with cramming and Trumpets into a job, not necessarily in the IT industry. Of course, it must be clarified in advance be clarified in advance what the company actually needs and what knowledge resources are important. Above all, the recruiter responsible for the advertised position needs to know this know this. The first impression at the interview may be advantageous, but it proves nothing. IT geeks are often tinkerers, they can improvise, they need to feel comfortable and have the freedom to try things out. to try things out. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and "testing, testing, testing" is an indispensable prerequisite for expandable knowledge. The brightest minds that have made a real difference have often dropped out of often dropped out of college, came from other professions, or had to find themselves first. find themselves. Employees grow with the company and with the tasks they are given.

The boss is not the problem

If the chemistry is not right, and this happens more with work colleagues than with the boss, then the job becomes an impossible task. That's why the biggest companies like Apple, Hewlett-Packard or Amazon were born where? In the garage at home, right? There have There have always been a handful of freaks who set out to change the world, even without top top qualifications and sometimes even financially inferior. This phenomenon has been Silicon Valley for decades, and quite a few in the Bay Area have made it or will make it. will make it. Tesla, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and many others would not have had a chance in Germany. had a chance in Germany. Many CEOs of top companies were not always presentable from the start, with fancy suits, combed and freshly shaved. Nevertheless, they have gone their way against all odds and prejudices. prejudices. But there's one thing they definitely didn't do: they didn't go down in any company. Namely, where they would not have been recognized, where they might have been sold short.

Enthusiasm makes a difference!

I admit that it sounds, or must sound, like a risk to a company must sound like a risk to hire people like that. But let's start with more flexibility, how about hiring them Hiring by the hour. Nothing is set in stone and the tasks can be expanded Or the freelancer or part-time jobber can grow into it. Covid-19 has also taught us that it is not uncommon for freelancers to be equipped with a high-tech workstation that does not exist in the doesn't exist in the company. Why do computer geeks have four computers, six screens, a laptop and things that are actually superfluous in the home office. The answer is enthusiasm, that's what, and enthusiasm should never be taken away from people. Enthusiasm is what sparks the essence of the progress of the most outstanding inventions.

Flexibility for company employees

I can imagine that more flexibility could solve some problems in Companies could solve. At least it is worth it, the web designer of today can even cover some Areas to cover if more staff is out of the question for cost reasons. But try and error is here announced and important, can be worked out together and deepened. It should be worth it, should be worth it to the company.