Job description: What does a webmaster do?
Are there still companies today that can manage without a website? We can be brief with the answer: No! Anyone who offers a service today also advertises it online on their homepage. This has given the webmaster job a huge boom. Webmasters, therefore, have the best chances in the job market. After all, they are the ones who breathe life into corporate websites. With their creative ideas, they ensure that an employer can optimally present its offers.
Depending on the customer order, they design, create, and administer entire company websites. To do this, first, present your client a concept for the structure of the company website and discuss with him which design the appearance should be designed in Conservative, hip, or rather classic?
Once all the subtleties have been discussed, the actual design can begin. To do this, the webmaster first defines the structure of the landing pages and subpages. Then he gradually equips the homepage with the appropriate designs, photos, texts and animations or videos. The website must show what the service provider stands for in terms of content and appearance.
Therefore, webmasters need to be able to read between the lines and understand and grasp the things that the customer cannot or only with difficulty put into words. That requires a certain psychological skill.
Webmasters work on the principle of agility. This helps them to understand their customers better and better during the ongoing project. That means: You first develop part of the website and then get the feedback from the client, work in the comments and then proceed to the further design, which also incorporates new ideas that have arisen in the meantime. In this way, webmasters work closely with the customer to develop a tailor-made website that perfectly suits the company.
The work-life balance of a webmaster depends very much on whether you have chosen a permanent position or freelance work. Especially with the self-employed, the workload is often difficult to assess and fluctuates depending on the order situation. Also, freelancers have to shoulder significant business risks.
Education: How do you become a webmaster?
The path to becoming a webmaster is anything but regulated. Many webmasters have completed or at least started university studies and then made a career change. Media informatics, for example, is a suitable course of study.
In the first semesters, the essential basics of computer science and design are laid here. The schedule includes:
- Practical computer science
- Programming
- Markup languages
- Databases
- Design of electronic media
- Development of interactive user interfaces
- Data structures
- Business administration
Then it is about applied, practical IT topics around interactive and networked media. These for example:
- Concepts and implementation of web-based applications
- Network programming
- Software engineering
- Computer graphics
- Animation
The bachelor’s degree concludes with the bachelor’s thesis.
An alternative to studying is training with a creative background that also includes IT elements. Many successful webmasters have not had any training at all and have taught themselves their tools. That is also possible, but rarely.
Employer: Who is looking for webmasters
Webmasters can work in practically all areas of the economy because they are needed wherever a good internet presence is required. However, they mainly find employment in media-related areas. The main employers include graphic offices, media companies, the entertainment industry, publishers, and editorial offices.
Salary: How much does a webmaster make?
What a webmaster earns gross per month cannot be quantified because the income depends on the following factors: state, size of employer and work experience.
Map of webmaster salaries
The darker areas on the map show where webmaster earn the highest salaries across all 50 states. But, based on official statistics, in the USA a webmaster earns:
- Median Annual Salary: $55,000
- Top 10% Annual Salary: $83,000
- Bottom 10% Annual Salary: $39,000
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Entry opportunities: the prospects for webmasters
Webmasters have excellent opportunities in the job market. Since they are versatile and can be used in many industries, there is a multitude of offers and perspectives across all industries. Especially those who have made a name for themselves in the economy cannot save themselves from opportunities.
Application: How do webmasters score
Webmasters should have the following hard and soft skills and should bring them up in their application documents:
- Completed education
- Alternatively: relevant experience
- Persuasiveness
- Social competence
- Confident demeanor
- Quick grasp
- Advisory skills
- Empathy
- Deadline accuracy
- (SEO) Search Engine Optimization
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe After Effects
- HTML / HTML 5
- CSS Javascript
Career: The development opportunities as a webmaster
Many webmasters take the plunge into self-employment and start their own company. But as already indicated, you have to be prepared to take risks: A fluctuating order situation, continuously running costs, and possibly personnel costs that have to be paid regularly.
As employees, webmasters are usually part of the IT department, sometimes the marketing or product department. Here you can pursue a classic career – from team member to a position as team leader to the department head and more.
