Category: Development

Job titles aren’t always accurate. They don’t tell you the little details of what goes into a day’s work. And they can’t predict the odd situations you’ll get pulled into. Web design is a great example.

Sure, I’ve done plenty of “design” during the past three decades. However, I’ve also found myself doing things that have nothing to do with it. Things that are far outside the scope of a web geek. I’d argue that half of my time has gone to these other roles.

Perhaps that’s because web design is still a relatively new industry. Outsiders don’t know much about it. The early days were especially rough in that regard. Being a web designer requires a lot of hand-holding. We educate clients as we go through the design, development, and maintenance processes.

Looking back, here are a few unexpected roles I’ve played. Maybe I deserve an honorary degree or two?

Psychoanalyst

I enjoy trying to understand why people do what they do. It’s a good thing, as I’ve found myself digging into client behavior a lot.

Part of the role is figuring out what motivates people. It’s a helpful strategy when projects stall, or someone keeps changing their mind. Motivating someone results in getting things done – which is always a positive.

You can also use these skills to get people to hold up their end of the bargain. Sometimes, clients don’t do what they say they will (like paying an invoice).

It’s not that they are being cheap or stubborn. I’ve found that it happens with people who are being pulled in too many directions. Their website-related tasks get put on the back burner.

The trick is to know when and how to approach them with a task. Reaching them at a certain time of day, for instance, may make it easier to get their attention. It doesn’t always work – but I like a challenge!

Teacher/Motivational Speaker

Website owners often face a learning curve. Most aren’t familiar with the technologies that go into building and maintaining a site. That’s still true today.

However, it was even more pronounced when I started in the 1990s. Some people knew nothing about computers – even checking their email was an ordeal. Couple that with buggy hardware and slow internet connections, and you had a tech support nightmare.

Working with small businesses made this situation harder. These folks didn’t have the resources to hire an IT specialist. So, much of the technical work was passed on to the person building their website.

That led to a lot of teaching and pep talks. I helped clients set up their hardware and software and learn how to use them. I even tried to install broadband for somebody (it didn’t go well). The boundaries of web design were shattered.

The biggest hurdle is getting people to believe in themselves. I still run into that issue when training people to update their websites. The unfamiliarity with a tool leads to nervousness, which leads to doubt.

Regardless of the technological era, the goal is to simplify things. Show someone how to do a task and allow them space to ask questions. Provide a quick reference they can look at when you’re not around.

If they master a task, look out. They’ll have more confidence moving forward.

Researcher & Fact Checker

Let’s face it: the online world is a playground for scammers. It’s amazing our society functions at all, given the constant stream of people trying to take advantage of us.

A lot of scams seem to target website owners. Those domain registration letters US residents get in the mail are but one example. There are also emails about a site’s purported SEO troubles and payment gateway phishing attempts.

Some scammers are more skilled than others. Their work is harder to detect as a ruse. Thus, clients send these items to me looking for clarity. Is this a real message? Do I owe them money?

I’ve learned to spot likely scams. Knowing who each client purchases web-related services from helps. But there are cases when I need to do some detective work.

I believe things will only get worse. Artificial intelligence (AI) will make scams harder to identify. For instance, poor grammar is a telltale sign of a phishing scam. AI tools can help crooks improve their language and more easily fool victims.

Digital Forensic Scientist

Troubleshooting problems on the web is nothing new. However, the way we build websites has become more complex. And the technologies that make up our digital lives are vast.

That means retracing the footsteps of a task gone wrong. In practice, it’s pouring over access logs to track the source of a malware attack. Or determining how an email was rejected by an ambitious spam filter. There’s also examining WordPress post revisions to see how a page layout was broken. And I can’t forget checking an obscure web browser to see why a client’s site won’t display correctly.

It’s a tedious role that seems well above my pay grade. One can spend hours looking for the source of a problem, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll find it.

What’s more, there are often several links in a given chain. It could be the hosting company, the email provider, or a WordPress plugin. Maybe a client had their password stolen. There are so many places to look and so many things it could be. Determining the culprit is often a wild goose chase.

These tasks are becoming a bigger part of my day. Sometimes they span multiple days or even weeks. Much like internet scams, I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.

Design and a Whole Lot More

Web designers tend to be a catch-all when working with clients. They’re as likely to ask us about an email delivery issue as they are about their website.

On the bright side, it keeps our days interesting. There is no shortage of problems to troubleshoot or technologies to teach. But it also takes precious time away from our core tasks.

It’s a reflection of the industry and of the difficulties facing small organizations. Clients need a team of experts to manage these disparate areas. That’s not realistic, though. The result is that things get passed over to web designers – the one expert they do have on hand.

It has always felt like a part of the job – one no one tells you about. The title certainly doesn’t do it justice.

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