
Job Titles in the Web Industry - shadeless
http://css-tricks.com/job-titles-in-the-web-industry/
======
jedberg
> SEO Specialist

As someone who has been called "one of the world's experts on SEO", let me
just say this title and industry is BS.

Here is my expert opinion on SEO: Write good content, make it easy for a human
to read, and get other humans to share it with other humans in their network
of friends.

I'll admit that there is a very small set of things you can so to help your
rankings in search engines: have a descriptive URL, a unique title on each
page, a proper robots.txt, a sitemap, basically all the stuff that is called
out in the Google Webmaster tools.

Beyond that it is all snake oil. I challenge anyone to show my objective
metrics proving any one SEO technique works.

~~~
ssharp
If you're hiring someone to do SEO, they need to not only implement SEO
tactics (like you say, URL's, title tags, robots, GWT, etc.), but also create
a surrounding SEO program/strategy.

Doing things like keyword research, selecting keywords to target audience
segments, measuring the effectiveness of the targeting, etc. is all part of
what an SEO should be doing. You're not simply optimizing SERP rankings as
much as possible. A good SEO should be able to bring in results and measure
that their plan that brings in 10k visitors and results in $10k in revenue is
superior to the plan that brings in 100k visitors but only 5k in revenue.

For these reasons, I think it's completely unjust to call SEO work beyond
tactical implementation "snake oil". Sure, there are less-than-honest people
calling themselves "SEO Specialists/Strategists/Ninjas/Whatever", but if I'm a
company hiring an SEO, I expect MEASURED business results in return and
scrupulous and honest contractors, employees, and agencies should be able to
deliver that.

~~~
jedberg
I agree completely. I would expect measured results.

I've just yet to see anyone show me objective results that show they brought
in 10K users for $10K in revenue or anything of the sort.

------
efa
I used to hate telling people I was a Web Developer. People would always say,
"oh you build websites! I've done that some myself with Front Page!".
Basically most of my career I've done traditional business applications. Just
happens they have a web interface. So I always just say Software Developer.

------
CodeCube
Job titles (in my experience) have been 100% worthless to my day to day. I go
in and do what's necessary based on what skills I have. Sometimes that means
writing code for the web (html, css, etc.), sometimes that means writing a
windows service to run a long running or recurring process, sometimes it means
writing stored procedures, and sometimes it means writing a process to
automate deployments.

It's always upset me a little that I've had to communicate with people using
this narrow definition of what I do from day to day. And so, I prefer the
title Software Engineer because it's not specific to mobile, web, devops, etc.

~~~
jarek
Some people who can do a wider range of tasks are useful, and at some
companies necessary, but division of labour was set up for a reason.

~~~
CodeCube
Yeah, that's true. I really enjoy working with a) designers, and b) good
IT/devops people. I definitely wasn't trying to suggest there shouldn't be
specialization ... but it is frustrating when you run up against no-my-job
kind of people.

------
kabouseng
Interesting question being asked in the comment section I'd like to repeat
here. Is it correct to call yourself a (software, web, backend, whatever)
engineer without actually holding an university engineering degree?

~~~
kamjam
Engineering degree in what? Mechanical engineering? Electrical engineering?
Architectural engineering? etc. These have nothing to with software either.

Politicians often don't have a university degree related to politics...

~~~
jarek
> Engineering degree in what?

Software engineering.

~~~
kamjam
The point still stands. Just because you studied it at university does not
make you an engineer in the field or necessarily any good at it. We don't need
parrots, we need thinkers and sometimes that means drawing on experience from
different fields.

I know plenty of software engineers that never went to university, and one of
the best dev's a know studied Russian. Undoubtedly mathematics is the
underpinning for programming, if someone held that degree would they be any
less of an engineer, esp given a lot of work relies heavily on algorithms?

~~~
kabouseng
No, but being registered with a certification body does for example the IEEE
([http://www.ieee.org/](http://www.ieee.org/)). Just for interest sake, would
you apply your same logic to surgeons and pilots etc?

~~~
kamjam
Surgeons, sure you need relevant education. But pilots, do you require them to
have a degree in flying, or aeronautics? Sure they have to be licensed, but
that's different from having a degree in the subject - which is what the
original question was.

As for being a member of a relevant organisation, I think that comes down to
what you are working on. If I had a mission critical* piece of software (used
in military, medical, lift mechanism etc) then I would specify that all
employees need to have certain minimal credentials. Am I going to be better at
my job coding up some websites which just provide some info, probably not.

Anyway, IMO titles are meaningless in this industry, the ability to do the job
is far more important.

*subjective, I know.

~~~
kabouseng
But that brings us back to the original question, would it be appropriate for
a web developer to call himself an engineer. What engineering effort is there
in web development?

But I agree with you, talk is cheap, and certifications are meaningless if the
person cannot do the job.

------
scrabble
When writing resumes in the past I've taken lousy job titles and updated them
with actual job titles equivalent to the work I was doing -- for example
changing "Software Developer" to "Front End Developer" or "Full Stack
Developer".

What's the opinion on this? Is it considered deceptive if it matches the work
that you were doing?

My thought is that it more accurately represents what you were doing for HR
filters, since I don't really care about my title on a personal level.

~~~
grey-area
Sounds fair to me. As long as you're not being deceptive about what the job
actually entailed, and are trying to describe it more fully, I see no problem
with switching job titles - they're just a descriptive label.

Job titles in software development are mostly invented out of whole cloth
anyway as it's such a young and dynamic profession, and many labels are
borrowed from other professions solely to lend a patina of authority to the
role - developers are not engineers or architects in my opinion except by
analogy.

------
troymc
It bothers me that the word "designer" has been twisted by the web community
to mean only non-engineering design (e.g. design of aesthetic appearance).

All engineering students must take "design" classes where they learn to design
things like bridges, electrical circuits, distribution systems, spacecraft,
snowmobiles, software, or boilers. Is that not design?

~~~
a3voices
Anything that the end user sees counts as "design".

As such, electrical circuits and the internals of software don't really count.
They're hidden from the user.

~~~
troymc
Is this somehow the official definition or are you just being sarcastic?

~~~
a3voices
I don't think it's an official definition but it's how I interpret it, and
probably how others do as well.

~~~
troymc
In my experience, it's only the web community who has this "look and feel"
definition of design.

An electrical engineer who designs an electrical circuit calls that process
"circuit design." An aerospace engineer who designs a spacecraft trajectory
calls that process "trajectory design." See the Wikipedia article on design:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design)

You'll see that the web community is living in a language bubble.

------
jlas
One title I found interesting recently was Rasmus Lerdorf's (creator of PHP.)
He is a 'Distinguished Engineer' at Etsy
([http://lerdorf.com/resume/](http://lerdorf.com/resume/))

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Alternatively he could use the title Jeff Atwood jokingly bestowed on him:
"History's Greatest Monster".

Jeff doesn't like PHP much.

------
columbo
Good job on this list, for decades titles have been really lousy in this
industry.

I didn't see Technical/Web/Application Architect on the list. It's been very
common to add "architect" to the end of a title, even to go as far as to have
Application Architects under Sr. Application Architects... I wonder if
eventually we'll have "Sr. Principal Application Architects".

I'm curious to see what HN would consider calling an
Application/Technical/Product Architect and if there is a better name or more
clear description.

~~~
untog
I actually think 'Architect' is a pretty good term, when used correctly.
Someone who plans out the architecture of an app, maybe lays the groundwork,
but leaves the actual development to others.

------
EnderMB
> Web Design: ...Specific skills would be design-tools-of-choice, HTML, CSS,
> and light JavaScript.

I've worked in a startup, and at a few design/web agencies, and I'm yet to see
a single "Web Designer" write HTML/CSS, let alone JavaScript. A Web Designer
does just that; creates designs for the web. There are some designers that
like to write mark-up, but they never class themselves as designers without
mentioning that they can handle front-end development too.

I find it safe to say that if someone classes themselves as a designer, they
design. Writing mark-up is not design.

One other issue I have is with the prefix "Lead". Senior indicates experience,
whereas Lead states that they lead a team. My first full-time job after
university was at a start-up and after six months I became the Lead Developer.
I was in no way Senior, but the title Lead was correct as I led all
development, along with the decisions that came along with it.

~~~
flyosity
And on the flip side, if you are a freelancer with a title of "Web Designer"
then it is expected that you can also build the webpages that you create.
Businesses want someone to design & build them a website and if you can only
do part of that job then you can only make part of the money they want to pay.
I don't know anyone doing web design consulting/freelancing who can't also
write HTML and CSS.

~~~
EnderMB
I've met a few freelancers that claim to be able to do both, but they tend to
fall into either the designer or developer camp; either a good developer that
can just about use Photoshop, or a designer that can throw some mark-up
together. In each instance they've always classed themselves as "Web Designer
and Developer" and never as either.

Either way, I'd never hire one person to do everything, and no company I've
ever worked at, including non-tech companies have ever been ignorant enough to
suggest that one person should do everything. A designer designs and a
developer develops. I wouldn't expect a plasterer to fit my windows on my
house.

~~~
randomdata
> In each instance they've always classed themselves as "Web Designer and
> Developer" and never as either.

I've had independent jobs as a designer (including one that was not related to
software at all) and as a developer. Though I do bill myself as a designer and
developer because I enjoy both and prefer to have a job that is the mix of
both.

> I'd never hire one person to do everything

I think that's fair for a number of reasons, but why not hire two people who
are great at both aspects? Then they can collaborate on both sides of the
project, which is surely better than having someone who can only design and
someone who can only develop.

~~~
EnderMB
> I've had independent jobs as a designer (including one that was not related
> to software at all) and as a developer. Though I do bill myself as a
> designer and developer because I enjoy both and prefer to have a job that is
> the mix of both.

This is the way I've always found it to be in reality. I too have worked in
both areas, and although I am good with Photoshop I've worked with too many
good designers to ever want to classify myself as one of them.

> I think that's fair for a number of reasons, but why not hire two people who
> are great at both aspects? Then they can collaborate on both sides of the
> project, which is surely better than having someone who can only design and
> someone who can only develop.

Because I'd want someone who is both a great coder, and someone that knows
design inside and out. I'm yet to see a single person that can boast
impressive (senior-level) skills in both fields.

Sure, there are plenty of developers that can design a good site, but the best
designers do FAR more than this. Their skills lie in the process, rather than
the ability to design. In similar vein, a great developer is far more than a
code monkey. They have considered opinions on the functionality of a site,
they are at home with JavaScript, understand cross-browser constraints, and
are expected to work alongside designers to help with the process.

~~~
randomdata
One thing I have noticed that when I've been only doing development for an
extended period of time, my design skills go out the window and it takes a
while to bring myself back to a level where I consider myself "good" again.
The reverse is also true.

With that, perhaps because of the hostile environment for designer/developers
we've created in industry, you are always interacting with people who come
from an environment that only fostered one side of their skills? And given
that you are hard lined on the separation in your own workplace, you're not
going to see them grow in the other direction either.

Where I work, we've actually been encouraging the designers to learn how to
program (not just simple markup stuff) and the results have been quite
promising. It's really just a matter of practice, I am convinced.

~~~
EnderMB
On the contrary, the agency I work at now is almost purely a development
agency. We usually get freelancers in to handle design, but I will pick up
Photoshop whenever I can to do very basic things, such as to mock-up a form
change.

However, I've worked with enough designers to know that even though I can
create a design, that I am no designer, and that it would be offensive to a
real designers ability for me to compare myself with them. I can cook a mean
steak, but I'm no Gordon Ramsey.

I agree entirely that all designers should learn to handle basic code, and
vice versa. In fact, any agency I've worked at has worked similarly, and was
very keen to get each "side" working collaboratively and learning how the
other half lives. It's a necessary part of getting an agency working in the
same direction. However, putting a designer in front of an IDE doesn't make
them a developer by title.

~~~
randomdata
> I will pick up Photoshop whenever I can to do very basic things, such as to
> mock-up a form change.

That's not exactly the kind of environment that fosters improvement on the
design side though. In fact, your situation sounds similar to mine right now
where the design work I do end up doing is basic things like that and the
results usually end up being pretty poor.

Your structure really has to treat design and development as one in the same
if you want to see growth on both sides. But those jobs are so rare, people
are forced into only one aspect of the job, which produces what you've
witnessed. And thus begins the feedback loop.

~~~
EnderMB
You're making a number of baseless assumptions about the quality of my job.
I'd say my company is more than ideal. In fact, I'd say that we're pretty darn
close to having one of the best processes I've seen in an agency or startup.

We work very closely with designers. We're a part of all kick-off meetings,
we're involved in all phases, we even sit in during workshops so we understand
the process from the client perspective. It is a process that works well in
all manners of small business, and most importantly, it works for our clients.

My design work is basic because the task is basic. Why pay for a designers
time when I can modify something in 5 minutes? It's basic common sense to do
so.

~~~
randomdata
> You're making a number of baseless assumptions about the quality of my
> job... We work very closely with designers.

Unless you disagree with my earlier premise that the skills see some atrophy
if not used, then you most certainly do not have an environment that fosters
designer/developer skills. If you have specialized roles, and you are handing
the majority of the design work over to a dedicated designer, then you are
left with a developer seeing an emphasis on developing code. I do not have to
make any assumptions, that is just basic mathematics.

Jumping into Photoshop every once in a while to help out does not lead to a
"senior level designer" as you already attested to yourself. You have to have
intense focus on both almost every day if you want to see senior level quality
on both sides. It can be done, but the jobs are quite rare, so few people ever
have the opportunity to reach that level. It goes without saying that finding
such people then becomes a challenge, but not because of it being some
fundamental truth.

Programming itself requires design skills, so we know all (good) programmers
have what it takes to be good designers by default, they just need an
environment to frequently practice those skills in contexts other than the
text editor.

~~~
EnderMB
I had written comments for the rest of your points, but then I read your final
paragraph.

> Programming itself requires design skills, so we know all (good) programmers
> have what it takes to be good designers by default, they just need an
> environment to frequently practice those skills in contexts other than the
> text editor.

This is a huge red flag for me. The design skills you are talking about are
incomparable to the design skills my comments have referenced.

~~~
randomdata
It is well understood in programming circles that the code layout/design is
one of the most important aspects of maintainability, and achieving that
requires exercising the same parts of the brain that any other design work
does.

The most obtuse example is the old Perl one-liner, which is generally void of
any real design thought, and can scare away the best programmers just at the
first glance. But even code that attempts to be written well can fall short
without the developer having some design sensibilities; the same sensibilities
that apply to any design medium.

Good code, and therefore maintainable code, brings on a positive emotional
response before you even start reading the content within. That's straight up
design. The exact same kind of work you do in Photoshop, a piece of paper with
a pencil, paint and canvas, etc.

You claimed earlier to not be able to call yourself a designer, so I'm going
to assume you do not have the experience outside of the code medium to see the
overlap, but that doesn't mean it is not there.

------
sologoub
A Product Manager is absolutely not similar to a Project Manager. These are
two completely different jobs and skill sets.

While a common misconception, Product managers are charged with knowing the
market/users/competition and driving the product to commercial success, as
much as a development success.

Project/program managers focus on specific delivery.

~~~
ssharp
Like most other job titles involving the web, I think "Product Manager" can
mean different things to different companies.

Coming from the traditional marketing definition of the role, a product
manager is typically the "CEO" of the product and is in charge of aligning the
product with the market.

In tech, particularly with smaller companies and startups, the need to wear
many hats, and the unique issues with project management in relation to
software development, has often times seen the product manager also take on
project management duties. This may be a mistake or may be a requirement,
depending on the resources of the company, but I largely agree with the
structure of having both a product manager and a program manager and not
blending the two.

~~~
sologoub
Achieving commercial success often means managing delivery as well, but saying
the two roles are equivalent is a mistake.

Someone who is a true product manager, can usually pickup project management
duties. The inverse is not true. I have seen many times someone with a project
management background trying to get into product management without shifting
the attitude or thinking the two are one and the same, only to drive
developers nuts and fail to deliver good products.

------
mijustin
This is a pretty good list!

It does, of course, exclude titles that are not specific to the web industry:
\- CEO \- salesperson \- HR person \- accounting

There is an argument for adding "customer support" to this list, as a person
doing customer support for web-based products/services generally need a
specific skill-set.

------
untog
Just wait until you try to get a visa using these titles. The government is
pretty humourless about "ninjas" and the like, and I've even been questioned
about my transition from "Software Engineer" to "Web Developer" before (doing
the exact same thing in both).

------
drdaeman
Missing "full stack code monkey" and "jack of all trades (master of
{none,all,missing deadlines,you decide})" titles.

I use those from time to time, when I'm totally positive the irony be
understood correctly.

------
emillerm
I know a lot of people who would get offended if you said UI designer is a
synonym for Visual designer. Is it really common to interchange the two?

------
mathattack
Good list!

Do we put ____ guru in the same bin as the ninjas?

It would be worth adding data analyst or data scientist, as this is a growing
aspect of managing a platform.

------
cruise02
> Dev Ops: I wish this had a more job-title-y feeling to it. As it stands it
> sounds like what you would call the whole team of people with this job.

That is what we call a whole team of people at my company. Most of the people
on the team have the title Build Engineer or Automation Engineer, along with a
few System Administrators.

------
orenbarzilai
Forgot to mention "growth hacker"

~~~
will118
They didn't, it was the first one I looked for:

_______ Hacker - Cheesy for anything with the possible exception of a job with
the specific responsibility of finding security exploits.

------
patrickread
Why is "Mobile _____" overly specific, but something like "JavaScript
Developer" or "SEO Specialist" isn't? Responsive design/developing could
definitely fall under "Front End Developer", but I feel like it's as focused a
title as some of the other ones.

------
PhrosTT
Do any job titles these days warrant the 'Web' prefix? So much software
touches the web it's kind of pointless.

I think you can tack on 'Front End' if you're good with JS, MV*, HTML/CSS....
and 'Back End' if you understand DB concepts & scalability or architecture
stuff.

~~~
ryanSrich
> 'Front End' if you're good with JS, MV*, HTML/CSS.... and 'Back End' if you
> understand DB concepts & scalability or architecture stuff

It's been my experience as a front-end developer that you need to understand
the entire stack. From the wireframes to the database. Perhaps this is a
"full-stack" developer to some, but there's been an increase in the amount of
"front-end developer" job postings that require you understand every aspect of
the application.

If the user will eventually see that data, then it's the responsibility of the
front-end developer, this includes all information stored in the database and
the ability to store, manipulate, and create that data.

------
nnq
> Software Engineer / Programmer - This has come to mean "programming, but not
> for the web."

...whaaat?!

------
Prufrock1
What about Web master, from the web 1.0 days?

~~~
Andrenid
A Web Master is still a real role. More among smaller businesses who don't
have a web team, or bigger businesses that outsource most the technical
aspects of their web presence.

A Web Master generally does upkeep/maintenance of the website, minor
modifications/customisations, content updates, maybe some social media stuff.
"A little bit of everything but not a lot of any thing".

People sometimes give it a different title these days but I don't see why Web
Master isn't still valid.

~~~
PavlovsCat
I wouldn't call it a job, but I'm the webmaster of my personal sites. I
haven't heard of a different title for the same thing either... ?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webmaster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webmaster)

 _" A little bit of everything but not a lot of any thing"._

I don't think wearing many hats has to mean you're subpar with a specific hat;
just like having hobbies doesn't make you less of a front end developer,
neither does having an eye for design or people skills or knowing backend
stuff. It's not like everybody who wears just one hat always and automatically
masters that subject, that's just a fallacy. To the contrary, we all know that
having expertise in wildly varying fields can inform and enhance the creative
and analytical processes a great deal. Too little focus is bad, but so is too
much focus (or, "specialization is for insects").

------
ChrisAntaki
What if you actually are a Ninja?

------
rakesharora86
Also noticed some people using - ____ wizard

------
arxpoetica
Missing: UI Engineer

~~~
arxpoetica
Also, there is a growing cadre of people who specialize in data
visualizations. What title suits someone who does primarily data
visualizations? I also, for example, consider myself a storyteller—though I
spend my time coding stories—on the web. Is there such a thing as web
storyteller? What's the correct title here?

