I have volunteered and helped out a good number of professional, sporting and community groups over the years; up till now I have never really questioned why I do it. I guess it’s just the drive to make a difference. Now with my 2 year stint as the Treasurer of the Australian Web Industry Association coming to a close maybe it’s time to reflect on why I nominate myself for such things and what the benefits of volunteering for your community are:
Being a freelancer is the new black. It’s just a crazy fun loving world where nothing can go wrong. Well as a crusty old freelancer I can tell you that’s far from the truth.
Well Miles Burke in his new book The Principles of Successful Freelancing discusses just that. Miles is no stranger to making the leap into world of freelancing having done it three times.
I was having a discussion the other day with some fellow web designer friends on the skills that you required to be stay in this field long term.
Sure we all agreed you need to at least have the core design skills, understanding of layout, colour theory, typography and the usual tricks of the trade. The platform that you used to deliver your designs was immaterial, be that Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks or the like it didn’t really matter, the end result was what was important. That’s a given.
During last week I trotted off to give a talk on career directions in the local web industry to a group of high school students.
This got me thinking about the best fit for career directions in the web industry. Seems I’m not alone, Alex Graham also has the same concerns.
It basically comes down to:
Gary Barber
I’m an independent User Experience Consultant.
I design interfaces, build information architectures, prototypes, do UX research and conducting usability & accessibility tests and audits.
I can work within your existing team or as an external consultant on a contract or adhoc basis.
You can contact me via my company, radharc.
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