So this is just for fun! I thought it'd be interesting to gauge where everyone is "at". How are people finding web design? Is it your career? Are you earning a good salary? How long have you been doing it? Etc etc.

 

Don't take it too seriously! But of course be honest. Perhaps people could then post about how they feel their career is going in web design.

 

Personally, I'm happy where I am at. However, I want to earn more, and at some point in the next few years I'd like to set up my own agency, so I can start earning money for myself. I find back end code quite tricky, but I think I'm comfortable with front end code now. I think my quality of designs has improved a lot but I still need to improve a huge amount more before I'd consider myself anything close to an "expert".

Edited May 31, 201214 yr by brightonmike

Good thread!

 

I'll go through my answers, i'm not ashamed of who i am!

 

It's my full time occupation. Since being made redundant from my previous job, it's been my one and only source of income. Been beavering away at it for over 12 years but really only been pushing it as hard as i do now since 2009. Income is very much a sliding scale but i'd say i'm comfortable, doesn't mean it's any less stressful when the work slows for a while.

 

I'm a freelancer, i enjoy the work. It's what i love doing. After a break, the first thing i want to do is see what's going on in the world of web design and figure out some personal projects to get cracking on with if work is slow.

 

Do i see myself in this industry in ten years? Yep, the role may have changed but i'll always be somewhere close by!

You should have added another option for the second question:

 

"I consider myself equally incompetent in all these areas"

You should have added another option for the second question:

 

"I consider myself equally incompetent in all these areas"

 

It does?

Edited May 31, 201214 yr by brightonmike

It sums up my expertise level pretty well.

Added my answers to the list. Thank god for Google— it makes converting currency so easy.

 

I'm officially an Interaction Designer at the company I work at, but I wear the UX and Visual Design hats, too, since I'm the only designer. I work with a Front-End developer (who's also my business partner, go figure), so my job consists mostly of conceptualizing a solution to a problem, sketching or wireframing it out (usually the latter, since they are easily portable) and bringing it into Photoshop.

 

I also do freelance work on the side, though the projects at my day job have been more taxing of late, so my ability and desire to do work after I get home has vastly diminished. Oh, and Diablo III happened...

 

I've been at it for about 4 years technically, but in a professional capacity for almost 2 years. Salary-wise I make a little below what an average UX designer in Boston makes, but that gives me some room to grow, I suppose. With the ridiculous cost of living here my salary is probably a bit inflated in regards to actual buying power. Like Mike, I'm quite comfortable, though.

 

Direction-wise, I'm not sure if Design is something I want to be working in five years down the road. I enjoy it, I love coming to work and I love the challenge of solving problems, but I haven't been feeling like it's a calling of late. It could just be time for a vacation.

 

I'm intrigued by Product/Industrial Design and Game Design, so I may see about branching off towards doing UX for Games or working on physical products (since the UX principles of software are drawn from the physical world, I feel the skills would translate very well). I'm still young (24) though, so I don't feel any pressure to rush into picking a career path. That's pretty much where I am today.

Edited May 31, 201214 yr by porkchops