   Future of the internet, aspirations to be a webmaster. Discuss?
  I have been trudging through college. Mostly for the degree. While here I have partaken in "finding myself" and discovering what I want to do for the rest of my life. In this time, I've realized that college is not the gateway to large paychecks and success. Having a college degree just tells an employer that if they give you instructions on how to do something, that you can understand and complete the task. People who know what they want and are unique in doing something are the ones who are successful. My ultimate goal in life is to have the freedom to move where I want, live where I want, when I want. The ideal setup would be to be a webmaster... meaning all I need is internet access and my laptop. (this is oversimplification, but you get the point)Now, Im not asking for anyone to drop the idea of the next Digg, Flickr, or facebook into my hand... but rather share your knowledge on this subject with me. i am assuming webmaster is the easiest job for this... makes the most money, best flexability(if you have other professions to consider, feel free to educate me)i have considered this because it is something i am good at, its something i enjoy. its something i desire to know more about. its one of my largest hobbies that i can reasonably make a living off of. (modifying cars and playing video games aren't promising)i've come here to ask because i know the average IQ is probably triple that of any other forum i lurk... and there are probably 100's of you in the field. the real questions;does anyone have predictions where the web is going? what fields are going to be big? what you think i need to learn,? what advice can you offer? etc.  i really just want to hear your thoughts on the subject. ideas, predictions, experiences, etc.    
  Being a webmaster can be very easy or very hard.  I am in High School and I am the webmaster of our school website.  It is extremely low-key and I only have to update it every week.I would also be interested in hearing about anyone who really works full-time as a webmaster.   ;Quote:Original post by j figureIn this time, I've realized that college is not the gateway to large paychecks and success. Having a college degree just tells an employer that if they give you instructions on how to do something, that you can understand and complete the task. People who know what they want and are unique in doing something are the ones who are successful.To me, a college degree indicates at least a decent level of intelligence, the ability to learn and the dedication (but not nessesarily the enthousiasm) to bring a long term commitment to a succesful end. Succes is a term you have to define for yourself: for some it means having lots of money, to others it could mean having lots of children, and some people will be perfectly happy to sit on a couch all day eating potato chips while playing video games. To achieve the traditional Western idea of succes where money is one of the key ingredients, you don't have to have a unique idea, although it could help. The majority of businesses aren't driven by innovation, but by the founder's ability to sell whatever they're producing: goods, knowledge or even money itself.Quote:My ultimate goal in life is to have the freedom to move where I want, live where I want, when I want.The ideal setup would be to be a webmaster... meaning all I need is internet access and my laptop.(this is oversimplification, but you get the point)Freelancing will probably give you the most freedom. As long as you're able to find clients, you can decide where and how much you want to work. This isn't easy however: you need to go out and find potential customers and convince them of your qualities and reliability. Starting a larger business will, if succesful, probably generate more money in the long run, but it brings much more responsibilities with it, and takes up much more time and requires much more effort than working as an employee.Quote:i am assuming webmaster is the easiest job for this... makes the most money, best flexabilityWhat do you mean by webmaster? Starting your own online service? Monitoring and maintaining web based activities for a company? Or did you spell my nick wrong and you really want to be me? ;)Quote:(if you have other professions to consider, feel free to educate me)i have considered this because it is something i am good at, its something i enjoy. its something i desire to know more about.You really have to find that out for yourself. Like you said, ideally you want to do something you're good at and you'll enjoy. But I have no idea who you are, what you can do or what you like (besides 'webmaster'). So the only lesson I can give is: think about it some more, and try to come up with ideas that are realistic, but still exciting enough for you to pursue.;  wanmaster- when i say webmaster, i mean my income comes directly from a website that i run/own/operate. not sure what yet, haven't gotten that far... thats what i was looking for ideas in. where to start, what is popular, etc. ;Quote:Original post by j figurewanmaster- when i say webmaster, i mean my income comes directly from a website that i run/own/operate. not sure what yet, haven't gotten that far... thats what i was looking for ideas in. where to start, what is popular, etc.I think it should be fairly obvious that none of us know the answer to that. If we did then we surely would have capitalized on it already (or at least I would have).You're trying to come up with a unique idea to make you money from the Internet. To do this you need to think of something that people need fulfilled which isnt adequately fulfilled yet. The idea is to figure out what that need is, put it on a website, and get lots of people to go to that site thereby generating advertising revenue for yourself (unless you have paid memberships - this is rare).What's big on the web? Social networking and sharing information. If you can exploit some spin on this that no one has touched on then you have the potential to create a site that a lot of people will come to.;Quote:Original post by j figurewanmaster- when i say webmaster, i mean my income comes directly from a website that i run/own/operate. not sure what yet, haven't gotten that far... thats what i was looking for ideas in. where to start, what is popular, etc.I suggest you check out the www.sitepoint.com forums for information on how to make successful websites.It's not an easy thing to do -- people jump on the webmaster bandwagon thinking that it's an easy way to make the money.  It used to be, long ago.  Before all the competition came along.  But nowadays, you're going to need either a REALLY good idea or you're going to have to run multiple profitable websites.The main things you need to think about:1.) What are you going to offer your surfers?  Services?  Or do you plan on just running a content site with ads for revenue?2.) If it's a content site, what's your niche?  You're going to need to find something that isn't already saturated, something that you'll actually have a chance at competing in.3.) Most of your leads are going to come with search engines, so you're going to need to write your content with Google in mind.  Keyword research is vital if you want to properly expose your site.4.) Don't jump in until you have a solid business plan.  Without a business plan, you will fail.  No way around it.I highly recommend you visit sitepoint.  Visit the forums, read the site blog, read all the articles you can get your hand on.  Lots of knowledgeable people there that have been doing this for years, and they can help you get on the right track.Hope this helps!   ;Quote:In this time, I've realized that college is not the gateway to large paychecks and success.The real measure of intelligence is precisely how long it takes a person to figure that out!- The general nature of the web is shifting towards "Applications As A Service". Google Docs is a great example. MS is moving in the same direction, as well as - many other startups offering basic office apps. Assuming this continues, you are best positioned by getting experience in general application development and AJAX, et al. Most &#106avascript is rolled up into nice libraries these days and you'll just be using it like any other software library, so knowing all the specifics of &#106avascript and whatnot isn't even that necessary unless you actually work FOR google.- There's a whole gol dang lot more to webdev than just HTML. Don't assume that you'll just pick up some skill and live off of it for the rest of your years on some tropical island. It's also a quickly changing field. If you don't invest time to keep current, you'll be a dinosaur in no time.- Software development often happens in a team environment. Expect to be part of a team at some point, not be Mr. Lone Geek. Also expect to work with non-technical people to whom you will need to translate all your 1337ness. ALSO expect to work with idiot end users who will try your patience and surprise you with their profound ignorance, if not stupidity.- Unrelated: there's more to freedom than your choice of job. Consider: aging parents, immediate family and|or marriage partner - present of future, place of residence, health or future lack thereof, money, owning a house (if you can't sell it, you can't move), etc. - Webdev Things Lev Thinks You Should Know:Required:- XHTML- CSS- Basic &#106avascript- Database design, construction, and maintenance (everything uses some kind of data storage)- Your choice of: PHP, JSP, ASP, Java- Solid application or project development experience - prove you can work on something more than a 1000 lines long.- Nice to Have:- Perl or other geeky scripting language- Flash- *NIX fundamentals (it runs most of the web)- AJAX implementation - not hard if you use a lib!- graphics skills- XML / XSLT - and even more so in the futureRealistically Needed:- personal skills- flexibility- honesty- can-do attitude- willing to learn other approaches or technologies- 1337-to-English translation skills- willingness to make compromises with non-technical business requirements.;Quote:Original post by j figurewanmaster- when i say webmaster, i mean my income comes directly from a website that i run/own/operate.That's not being a webmaster. That's being an internet entrepreneur. A webmaster is just the administrator for a website.Quote:Original post by j figurethe real questions;does anyone have predictions where the web is going? what fields are going to be big? what you think i need to learn,? what advice can you offer? etc.  i really just want to hear your thoughts on the subject. ideas, predictions, experiences, etc.You need to learn the basics of how the technology works, but you don't really need to be an expert. You'll hire experts. What you need to focus on, above all, is what people want to do and find difficult or impossible, both on the internet and off. You then want to see if you can come up with a way to make that easier/possible online.Let's examine some highly successful web applications/services:Google made it easier to find stuff on the internet. Before Google, you had Yahoo not as a search engine, but as a giant list/directory of "interesting stuff."Facebook and MySpace made it easier to find and keep in touch with your friends and acquaintances, and to find interesting stuff (by looking at what your contacts share). MySpace also created value to marketers because they could guage the popularity of media products like music and movies. Hell, Dane Cook basically owes his career to MySpace, as it built his audience.Photobucket and imagehost are ancillary services; they emerged to provide a quick and easy means of transferring or storing image files online for other primary purposes - like posting to forums, sharing on IRC, etc. This is interesting because these are services that attempt to piggyback off the success of other services, and then sell advertising or premium services to generate revenue.Your job is to figure out something like them.   ;  I'd say that the best job with the least amount of "work" is an investor. You put lots of money into a growing investment and then let it to grow.Unfortunately, knowing WHAT stocks are good and WHEN to buy/sell is the key to success and 98% of investors don't know how to time the market.So you want to be a web master, huh? I am in college for a computer science degree. I am going to college because I want to be educated, not because I want a high paying job. I had my chance to get an IT job earning six figures but turned it down because my degree wasn't completed. Those jobs will always be out there but my education may go on the wayside once I get into a career. So anyways, for fun I freelance as a web programmer using PHP and MySQL. I don't really care about projects which are not interesting or challenging in some way, so I'm probably a poor role-model or example.Like someone said earlier, the web is becoming more of an "application as a service" then just static/dynamic web pages thrown online. Email was the first service offered way back in the day. These days we've got sites like wikipedia, google, myspace/facebook, blogs, which store information on a bunch of databases (external repository) and give it to you when you ask for it. Some of the applications which would usually be programmed for the desktop are becoming more and more connected with the internet, and even moving entirely online. So, expect to see somewhat of a stagnant/declining employment market for applications developers and a growing market demand for web applications developers.Being a proficient web-master isn't exactly easy if you want to be professional about it. It has some of the highest technical and diverse requirements I know of for any job. You have to know HTML like the back of your hand. You have to know how to manage a web server (Apache or IIS), you have to know a bit about networking and DNS, you need to know basics of linux, know how to FTP (client or command line), know how to use adobe photoshop, know CSS, XML and maybe XSLT. Then you also need to know a server-side scripting language (PHP, JSP, ASP, Ruby, ColdFusion, etc) and the client-side scripting language (&#106avascript) and how different browsers display stuff. You'll also have to know about SQL databases (MySQL, MSSQL or Oracle) and work with one (creating databases, tables, queries, etc). If you're going to be serious about developing a robust, enterprise level site, you'll have to have both a business plan AND a solid air-tight design document. Oh, and it helps to be a creative genius to rise above the rest.I hear that web masters hosting porn sites make a lot of money. If you have no moral/ethical qualms about that, you could get a few extra thousand bucks a month.   ;  this is exactly the information i was looking for. to be honest, i am not sure really where to reply. at this point, i think shutting up and listening is the best idea.i know 90% of what you guys say i NEED to know, so i feel good about the "idea" of all this. someone mentioned porn sites. good idea, but not for me. I DO like the idea of a different profession than the initial idea. 