Web Design - Supply vs. Demand

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Web Design - Supply vs. Demand

22 January 2010

Posted by Robk

Is your career secure in Web Design/Development?

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Well, you can be rest assured that the answer to that question according to Yahoo! Jobs, other job forecasting sites, is a very positive one. Through statistics found on onetcenter, a job forecasting website, we can see that turning to the web design/developemtn field is a very lucrative and practical decision.

Median wages (2008) $36.13 hourly, $75,150 annual
Employment (2006) 136,000 employees
Projected growth (2006-2016) Faster than average (14% to 20%)
Projected need (2006-2016) 57,000 additional employees

The growth rate is above normal and there are some other great benefits to working in this field. You can choose to be a freelancer and become your own boss. You are granted complete freedom and can write off most of your purchases, even utilities, to the tax bureau. You can express your creativity through your design or your scripts and are overall happier than you would be working in a nine to five desk job.

On the other hand, working in a company grants you valuable experience and contract opportunities they may be not be entrusted to you as a sole freelancer. The pay is very good and you have a respectable position within the community. Since most people have no idea how you do what you do, in a sense you are a sort of magician that gains people's awe and respect with your technical magic. You usually get to work with a great team and sometimes can even still work partially from home.

Obviously, this sounds amazing which is why the number of web designers/developers has been sharply increasing. So does the demand really math the supply? Are the analysts correct?

Supply Vs. Demand

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I have personally seen the amount of followers in web design/development increase at a very high pace, but of course my views are a bit bias as all the places I frequent (webmaster sites, technical sites) are crawling with people looking to make money in the comfort of their own homes. So, they turn to web design/development to make their dreams come true, and why not?

I have noticed that over the years more and more people from third world countries are looking to offer quality designs at a much cheaper price than developed countries and are cutting us off at the kneecaps. Of course, one has to remember their clients are probably looking for deals that we couldn't provide and we still have the advantage of local clients. So does this keep everything in check on the supply and demand scale?

In these financial unsettled times, I feel that more and more people are taking risks on business ventures and booming online markets. These entrepreneurs are both local and international so there is enough meat to go around, isn't there? Should we align ourselves with these third world designers/developers to balance out the share or should we do our best to find ways to crush or shut them down?

As the old saying goes, "If you can't beat them, then join them."

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