Undergraduate Program

"Web Development Careers for English Majors"

Dr. Jeffrey Jablonski
April 26, 2006

Desiring a career in “Web design” is no longer workable because Internet technology has become too complicated and Web development teams now consist of several very specialized roles, according to Joe Gillespie.

The Web Development Team

Gillespie divides Web-related careers into the following roles:

Another role not discussed in these articles is Internet marketer, someone who promotes a company’s Web presence, part of which involves making sure people can find a company’s Web site through search engines.

Best Jobs for English Majors

Obviously, you can pick which role to gravitate toward based on your interests and talents. Students in business, management information science, marketing, and computer science are well suited to jobs in web development, systems administration, and web marketing.

If you like creating images and animations in applications like Photoshop and Flash, then maybe you should become a graphic designer. Fine arts majors tend to have the strongest background in graphic design.

English and communication majors have strong critical thinking, organizing, researching, and writing skills. This makes English majors well suited for careers in information architecture, content writing and editing, and usability analysis. The information architect typically fills the critical leadership role on the Web development team, which translates into a higher salary.

How does one break into any of these fields? All of these jobs are relatively new and there aren’t many academic programs focused specifically on Internet-related careers. Ironically, trade schools and community colleges have created Web-related career programs faster than traditional universities. UNLV’s division of Educational Outreach has an excellent program in Internet Design and Technology.

The Department of English offers the Professional Writing Certificate. The program takes non-majors 18 credits to finish but English majors can earn the certificate within their regular degree requirements (i.e., no extra classes). These courses, including ENG 406B, Electronic Documents and Publications, will strengthen your writing and editing skills.

An English major can build a Web-related background through the Professional Writing Certificate, elective courses in other departments (e.g., classes in networking, Internet programming languages, business, and graphic design), and most importantly, an internship. An English major could get a start interning as a content writer or search engine optimization specialist (someone who rewrites content so it will rank higher in search engines), get hired, and eventually work his or her way up information architect.

And remember, you don’t have to work for a dot-com company to be on a Web development team. Nearly every major business, government, and nonprofit entity has a Web development team. In smaller organizations, you might have to wear many hats, which would further enhance your resume. You could also work for a company that offers Web development as its primary service.

If this article has you thinking seriously about Web-related careers, try searching Monster.com for jobs in any of the above areas that interest you. If you have questions about the Professional Writing Certificate or wish to apply to the program, contact Dr. Denise Tillery.

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