Promising job prospects for web design/dev

Very often, some young students turn towards me, asking for some piece of advice about their studies : how is the ICT job market going in Mauritius or do they pay well, things like that. Job Career fairs might not always be the right place for these pieces of advice as they want to hear them from someone they know personally.

Before elaborating more on this topic, I will share some of my first-time experience when I uploaded my web site on the internet around mid 2002. Today, I have gone back into some of my back ups to retrieve some designs that I saved, probably to remember those old times or to show to my grandsons and granddaughters lol. So, the ‘designs’ below were done in Frontpage and Dreamweaver lol :

I still remember hunting free hosting web providers, fancy javascript scripts and news ideas to include in the site. At that time, I updated my web site monthly with new content, mostly jokes, wallpapers *yeah lol*, small games and funny sms messages. Having 10visitors per day was really great at some point of time, encouraging me to improve and put more stuffs online while I slowly learnt HTML, a few flash techniques and programming in PHP, all by myself..

That’s why during the last years, I highly motivate people showing signs of a growing passion for having a web site/blog.

[yashvinblogsfan]

Good job prospects in web

Did you know graphic designers and web developers are highly demanded in Mauritius? .

While some companies are willing to provide training to the fresh IT graduates onto these web technologies, others need experienced guys too. Despite the introduction of PHP into the web technologies module at UOM, I find that the passion for web has still not yet been of much interest to most of Computer Science (and related studies) students.

What matters for some of them might be : “A job in one of the fastest growing pillars of the economy”.

The Mauritian job market has loads of prospects for web geeks good at PHP, JAVA and .NET and we still lack a good workforce specialized in these web technologies.

Start learning web technologies very early. Having a few web sites in your portfolio/CV is a very good sign for potential employers, even if they are simple HTML or PHP web sites. Everyone has to start somewhere, isn’t it?

And finally, I highly encourage anyone to embark into this exciting journey and promising career in web design/development 😉

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23 thoughts on “Promising job prospects for web design/dev”

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  1. As well as being technical, this domain also demands creativity a good combination for those with PC and artistic skills. A nice way to earn a living.

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  3. Thanks for writing this informative article. However, isn’t it possible that in some more years, we will be having an excess of web designers? In other words, you’ll be struggling to find a job in this sector. 🙂

    I believe that it is also important to encourage people to embark in careers related to language, history and the arts. It’s not boring or obsolete. 😉

    This is my opinion though. No doubt that for the moment, web design is an important sector. Even young teens like Ou are earning huge overnight. http://labs.stephenou.com/itunes

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  4. Thanks for this informative post.

    People from other countries such as USA send me mails to setup their websites(paid) and write custom plugins for them.

    The funny part is that i don’t know PHP or even basic HTML. I google each and even HTML or PHP codes i need xD

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  5. Your website still uses old HTML 1.1 elements.
    You should consider HTML5.0 or XHTML which are much newer than this old 5 year+ HTML

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  7. No need to learn any code to build a website nowadays. I’ve built few websites for free and without any programming knowledge thanks to Yola and Wix. I made a website for my professional profile, another one for promoting my father’s business and few others. I tried few CMS software like Drupal and Joomla as well and found lots of advantages compared to basic HTML or CSS templates. Never tried WordPress though, I was always happy with blogspot. The problem is that a .com domain is not free (or I’m skinflint). I’ve planned to give HTML5 a try and learn how to make xml sitemaps to make my websites more search engine-friendly. I think that too is important.

    I’d like to know which webhost you use. I’ve used Orange’s own hosting plan (the free 50mb that is bundled with my ADSL package) and its fast but sucks in overall as it doesn’t have vista panel or anything. Just the primitive ftp.

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  10. there is also nowadays lots of prospect for mobile apps. Iphone / android. Since its a relatively new in Mauritius, the Salary offered over throws what an experienced web developer is actually earning.

    So if you are going for a final year project might as well consider doing a mobile app.

    Even if you don’t end up doing that for your full time job afterwards its something that will help you earn extra money if you ever consider selling your apps.

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  11. I’m a Photoshop/Flash designer and PHP/Java developer myself for over 5 years and I have to say that UOM is really late in introducing PHP in just one module or two. There is a lack for a seperate degree on Web Development.

    If you look at MyJob, you’ll see a big demand for PHP/MySQL developers, more than Java and .NET. But wait, it’s not the basic PHP you learn in Web I. Knowing PHP means being familiar with at least 1 of the opensource systems namely WordPress, Joomla, osCommerce or even rarer: Drupal! Look for someone knowing Drupal and you’ll be waiting weeks and weeks.

    I had the same problem while recruiting a couple of years ago, and it doesn’t seem to get any better. Flash developers/designers are also rare. There really is a need for a BSc Web Development and Diploma Web & Graphics Design. With modules specific to Web App Security, Opensource databases etc.

    @Yowan: having a dated site doesn’t mean it’s bad. Following one standard (any one) is important vs writing proprietary code.

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  12. There’s a lot of job prospects but its still abt 8-5pm. Why dont these web/design companies find freelancers or partimers or hourly workers? Students could benefit and get experience. Already working people could get some extra money.

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  16. Well hmm… just a question …. What about computer programmers ? I mean like true programmers who write in languages like C++ …. Is there a need for them in our country ?

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  17. Hello all,

    I’m nadim, web developer at Alienworkers. Before joining Alienworkers, i’ve worked for one an a half year at (ex)Servihoo from jun2001-nov2002 after my 4-year b.engg computer science & engg course at UoM.

    I would like to point out that there are many misconceptions here in mauritius. Directors and managers, as well as students in ICT sector seem to think that a web-designer can do web development also, and a web developer can design web pages in addition to programming (PHP, .NET, etc).

    Web designing and web development are totally two different jobs. We can classify the jobs for the web in different categories: conceptual, technical, production, commercial/marketing and legal. Web designing falls in the conceptual category, while web development falls in the technical one.

    Knowing how to use photoshop doesn’t make you a web designer (as we often hear in mauritius: i know photoshop, illustrator, etc.. so i’m a designer) ! Web designing involves more: user interface design, typography (use of typefaces is NOT design), usability principles, and above all design to sell.. sorry great designers say “communicate to sell.” Also note that experts say that 95% of web design is typography and that typography is the soul of design — i bet typography is not taught at UoM 😦 So how come students of UoM are designers after their studies ? Students at Charles Baudelaire Institute (Orbis Court, QB) are taught typography in their design course – but unfortunately they know only about design (print and online media) but not really web design and are not as technical as UoM students… here’s what I found on the website of a training institute in Mauritius:

    Course Title: Practical Web Design Course
    Content: Web design introduction, Frontpage, html, graphic software, ftp connection to server, publishing online, managing hosting
    Target achievements Design and publish professional websites online
    Duration: 36 hours, twice per week
    Target students: Computer literate, minimum form IV

    Do you think web design is learnt in just 36 hours ? kidding right ?

    In between the web designer and the web developer there is a “grey area” (overlaps i’ll say)

    The web developer is somebody who basically builds or develops the site from scratch and is interested in making the website work effectively. Some of the tools required by developer are sound knowledge of ASP, PHP, .NET, JSP, xHTML,HTML, CSS, AJAX, PERL. Now the web developer has a lot to do: slice and dice (can be done by the web designer) – i.e. transform the design (graphic) into web pages, keeping in mind the concepts of the web designer. They also need to do the backend development, etc. Providing cross-browser pages is a must. You’ll need knowledge of the box model / CSS, differences between the major browsers (u’ll be making websites to be viewed on these browsers, right ?), etc. Are these taught at UoM / Orbis court ? I bet not…

    If you think you can build web pages without these knowledge, then surely you are not a web designer or a web developer – you are more of a web builder (using website builder tools) than a web developer then. Nor knowing one of the CMSes (joomla, drupal, etc) makes you a web developer, though it is good for a web developer to be familiar with one of them — well i’ve NEVER used one of these CMSes; always tailor-made websites for clients with their specific requirements..

    Enfin, I have a lot to say but i’m not an expert blogger / online author. I really don’t know how to put in writing what I really feel about the web in mauritius.

    Finally, YES there are a lot of prospects in this field BUT we do not have the required workforce in Mauritius, unfortunately. Up to you guys to become great web designers and web developers (i said great and not good – good designers see their work as a graphic design and decorate while great designers see their web-pages as a user interface and communicate … good web developers will make the webpage functional while great web developers will transform the website into a remarkable brand, and one that sell!). According to me, a great web designer or web developer will be someone in the grey area (see above).

    nadim
    bbnadim@intnet.mu

    P.S.: I quote the words of an expert: If a designer’s focus is merely to make something ‘pretty’ doesn’t that make he or she a decorator, not a designer?

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    1. reminds me about a debate there was on the MBC website on this blog. You say it all, and I totally agree.

      there’s also the acceptance of users: properly designed, interesting and functional websites will receive the most visits.

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    2. what’s the basic salary of a web designer or developper? I’m hesitating between web design and software engineering + my parents want me to study law… Hellllp plzz 😦

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