I love results, especially when we can take advantage of this survey and show how the internet made hundreds of jobs.
Some that weren’t in demand in the last 10 years, and then start to become the top demanding job this year.
Not only that, even if these jobs were not applicable, the skills and resources gain from having a “internet” or “computer” job, translate very well to other relevant jobs.
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Matt Fitzgerald
I notice how clearly the survey commentary spells out the salary difference between men and women, however, I also notice that under the “hours worked” section these is no mention of the fact that more men working longer may result in the higher male salaries.
After all, if we are going to make judgments on weak correlations we may as well be even-handed.
One thing I’d love to see gathered on the 2009 survey is data on respondents living/family/financial support situation. What I mean is, ask respondents about total household income and compare that to their individual reported income, ask whether any of them have spouses or partners that contribute to household income, and also ask about how many children or other dependents they support.
I’m curious to see this information because a personal observation I’ve made is that many freelancers I know are married and have a spouse who works, or don’t have kids to support, which would explain how they can survive on the lower income that freelancers seem to have, according to the survey.
My personal situation is that I’m working in a corporate web development position, and am supporting my wife who is a stay-at-home mom, and our two kids… and wondering how many other web development types are in that situation.
Definitely a lot of interesting data. I wasn’t too surprised that most of the respondents were male, but I have hope that will change in the future. As a female copywriter/editor, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that most copywriters are women. Overall, great work! Really appreciate all of the information!
For next year, I would prefer to see companies/corporate separate from universities/libraries/non-profit. Having worked both in a corporation and an industry that would fall under universities/libraries/non-profit, I can say that they are different worlds and would like to see the difference between them.
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Richard Fink
This was a new question. Did this mean a disability bias specifically towards web designers/developers or employees in general?
And what disability(s) in particular, I wonder.
Firstly I want to say thank you for these wonderful statistics! Am proudly in the apparent super-minority of being a female small-business-owning career developer from the antipodes.
My question is: would there be any way to represent the new breed of people that are exactly ½ caucasian?
Another small comment was that I found the data in the tables comparing 2 different sets difficult to read. On one hand it’s fabulous to have exact numbers, but on the other hand I found that I was subconsciously constructing line graphs in my head to represent the data, which is harder for me to do than a computer – to me having it represented as both would be the most ideal.
As the mother of two mixed race kids, I can appreciate wanting to have information about others like yourself. But practically speaking, it’s not entirely feasible. Why stop at folks who are half Caucasian—why not folks who are half black, or half Chinese, or half Jewish, etc.?
At some point I think you’ll have to just be content with checking the “Other” box and moving on. If we divide people up into boxes too small and specific, the data stops having any meaning at all.
It would be very interesting to use color scales (or only grayscale) in those crossing-categories tables that only show numbers (those like the FIG. 1.2). Something like: the greater the number, the darker the color. It would be very easyer to understand, even whitout reading the numbers.
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rod homor
hey there, ALA,
I have enjoyed your site for years as a means to stay educated, and to learn new things.
And, I occasionally look under the hood at the CSS and HTML to see how you all do things. Imagine my surprise when I saw that your <div id=“wrapper”> was now <div id=“ludacris”> !! I was ROTFLMAO!!
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Heribert Wettels
Besides the survey and its data, I’d like to point out the extremely well done only charts. They are HTML/CSS only and this is a very good example that semantic markup is superior to images. A case study on creating these charts would make an interesting article as well.
I wasn’t surprised to see that young adults (19-29 years old) have the most people creating websites.
In fact, almost all of my friends have a website in a way or two – ranging from Blogspot blogs to personal blogs. (Probably that’s why 71.9% of the respondents have a personal blog.)
But full-time and freelance web professionals at that young age? Wow, I’d be glad to know these people because I’m one of them.
Dominic
Here’s my site in case anyone is wondering: “Article Submission”:http://www.articlesubmitauto.com
It is not surprising that the U.S. is the largest respondant and provider of web content. These is no close second place. I wonder what the true number looks like if other countries and languages were taken into consideration?
Great article, well presented. Just curious about the use of “b” vs “strong” for boldface tags. I’ve been using “strong”, but I’d much rather go “b” (I’m lazy ;-) if that’s the now acceptable standard.
Does the data support a growing trend in the number of freelancers compared to corporate/employed professionals. At least in my market, there appears to be more and more freelancers and fewer companies (per say) actually doing web development. Maybe it is just an Ohio thing (or lack there of).
45 Reader Comments
Back to the ArticleHenry Tran
I love results, especially when we can take advantage of this survey and show how the internet made hundreds of jobs.
Some that weren’t in demand in the last 10 years, and then start to become the top demanding job this year.
Not only that, even if these jobs were not applicable, the skills and resources gain from having a “internet” or “computer” job, translate very well to other relevant jobs.
Adidasi Originali
Thank you guys for keeping us up to date ;-) Great article.
Matt Fitzgerald
I notice how clearly the survey commentary spells out the salary difference between men and women, however, I also notice that under the “hours worked” section these is no mention of the fact that more men working longer may result in the higher male salaries.
After all, if we are going to make judgments on weak correlations we may as well be even-handed.
Peter Wood
One thing I’d love to see gathered on the 2009 survey is data on respondents living/family/financial support situation. What I mean is, ask respondents about total household income and compare that to their individual reported income, ask whether any of them have spouses or partners that contribute to household income, and also ask about how many children or other dependents they support.
I’m curious to see this information because a personal observation I’ve made is that many freelancers I know are married and have a spouse who works, or don’t have kids to support, which would explain how they can survive on the lower income that freelancers seem to have, according to the survey.
My personal situation is that I’m working in a corporate web development position, and am supporting my wife who is a stay-at-home mom, and our two kids… and wondering how many other web development types are in that situation.
Jay Rhome
This is the best reference and crunched numbers that the industry
The amount of data exceeds my the expectations!
Thank you for all this great work.
Jay
Peter Jones
I am also curious about family status questions, which are of import to me, personally, as I juggle several gigs, parenthood, etc.
Also, I hope ALA Staff get a chance to weed out the spambot posts at some point here… Why isn’t spam a capital crime?
Thanks for the incredible work.
Caitlin McAuliffe
Definitely a lot of interesting data. I wasn’t too surprised that most of the respondents were male, but I have hope that will change in the future. As a female copywriter/editor, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that most copywriters are women. Overall, great work! Really appreciate all of the information!
Steve Fisher
For next year, I would prefer to see companies/corporate separate from universities/libraries/non-profit. Having worked both in a corporation and an industry that would fall under universities/libraries/non-profit, I can say that they are different worlds and would like to see the difference between them.
Richard Fink
This was a new question. Did this mean a disability bias specifically towards web designers/developers or employees in general?
And what disability(s) in particular, I wonder.
Elena Williams
Firstly I want to say thank you for these wonderful statistics! Am proudly in the apparent super-minority of being a female small-business-owning career developer from the antipodes.
My question is: would there be any way to represent the new breed of people that are exactly ½ caucasian?
Another small comment was that I found the data in the tables comparing 2 different sets difficult to read. On one hand it’s fabulous to have exact numbers, but on the other hand I found that I was subconsciously constructing line graphs in my head to represent the data, which is harder for me to do than a computer – to me having it represented as both would be the most ideal.
simon walters
This is definitely the best crunched numbers and reference we have ever received in our industry.
There is more data available than I had ever imagined!
Thank you very much AEA and ALA for all this good work.
Simon
amber simmons
@Elena:
As the mother of two mixed race kids, I can appreciate wanting to have information about others like yourself. But practically speaking, it’s not entirely feasible. Why stop at folks who are half Caucasian—why not folks who are half black, or half Chinese, or half Jewish, etc.?
At some point I think you’ll have to just be content with checking the “Other” box and moving on. If we divide people up into boxes too small and specific, the data stops having any meaning at all.
Anderson Leal
It would be very interesting to use color scales (or only grayscale) in those crossing-categories tables that only show numbers (those like the FIG. 1.2). Something like: the greater the number, the darker the color. It would be very easyer to understand, even whitout reading the numbers.
rod homor
hey there, ALA,
I have enjoyed your site for years as a means to stay educated, and to learn new things.
And, I occasionally look under the hood at the CSS and HTML to see how you all do things. Imagine my surprise when I saw that your <div id=“wrapper”> was now <div id=“ludacris”> !! I was ROTFLMAO!!
thanks, ALA! Stay Golden!
- Rod
Heribert Wettels
Besides the survey and its data, I’d like to point out the extremely well done only charts. They are HTML/CSS only and this is a very good example that semantic markup is superior to images. A case study on creating these charts would make an interesting article as well.
dominic 8654
I wasn’t surprised to see that young adults (19-29 years old) have the most people creating websites.
In fact, almost all of my friends have a website in a way or two – ranging from Blogspot blogs to personal blogs. (Probably that’s why 71.9% of the respondents have a personal blog.)
But full-time and freelance web professionals at that young age? Wow, I’d be glad to know these people because I’m one of them.
Dominic
Here’s my site in case anyone is wondering: “Article Submission”:http://www.articlesubmitauto.com
mtb servant
It is not surprising that the U.S. is the largest respondant and provider of web content. These is no close second place. I wonder what the true number looks like if other countries and languages were taken into consideration?
Black Box
Thanks for the read : )
David Rummls
Thank you guys for keeping us up to date ;-) Great article.
wdc
Thanks for the great survey. Very interesting results.
web design leeds
thanks for the article!.. nice findings.
vestaviascott
Great article, well presented. Just curious about the use of “b” vs “strong” for boldface tags. I’ve been using “strong”, but I’d much rather go “b” (I’m lazy ;-) if that’s the now acceptable standard.
Frank Beier
I’m curious to hear from others.
Does the data support a growing trend in the number of freelancers compared to corporate/employed professionals. At least in my market, there appears to be more and more freelancers and fewer companies (per say) actually doing web development. Maybe it is just an Ohio thing (or lack there of).
Frank
gschisani
Thanks for sharing. It is surprising that 26% spent less than a year at the current job.
melissasims
..i would like to encourage everyone under the same area to start to build the change too and stand up just like what these guys have been up to now.