Web Design as hobby

warrenaldo

Folks,

I work in web design. And have done up some basic websites for friends - (free of charge) as a hobby.
The websites have been pretty cool and i really enjoy it. I was just wondering is there anyone out there that has extended their "hobby" to make some money?

What are your experiences?

zardette

Doing something as a hobby and and making money are very different !

There is lot more to a webiste that just pictures ..

Once you get a client that wants to derive revenue from the website( so they can afford to pay you! ) there is alot more to consider.

The site at the very least must function correctly which involves serious testing which should be very extensive. (this can be very tiring but is a must !)

The marketing of the website should be considered and usage tracing should be a part of that.

The culture of the users of the website should be considered and the website style and content tailored appropriately.

All user input to the website (eg searches orders feedback) need to be fully and correctly validated.

server side error handling need to bullet proof eg. divide by zero , connection problems , undelivered emails , database errors ..

there is so much more ....... and I am sure others will comment on this ... this is just the tip of the iceberg


going into certain aspect maybe more suited as I found out ... I like to program I will do that for a hobby but to do a whole website correctly is a very serious task and a team effort and you are really doing your friends no favors if you are doing it for free and its not doing right !

Can be done but its a hobby with a lot of hard work so I found out :rolleyes:
Z

Goodshape

Yeah, sure. I still consider web design a hobby of mine. When I'm not doing it for someone else that's paying me a wage, I'm usually more than happy to sit and tinker with my own sites or try and do something cool for a friend.

It's a bit like playing a guitar, I suppose. You can practice in your room for free.. hours and days on end.. build up your skill and get to an acceptable level with it and eventually you can start asking for paying gigs. Or join a band ( / web development company).

I think the crux of it is building your skill set up to a point where you would be comfortable charging people for your time and effort, and if you enjoy doing it then that shouldn't be a problem. Family, friends, friends of friends and family.... word of mouth among these people will probably get you your first jobs.

Then start networking with like minded people, and getting more jobs past along that way.

I think increasingly in recent years we're seeing some very skilled people come straight out of design courses in college and heading into the web design scene... which is upping the game a little (no bad thing!). But certainly I think there's still plenty of precedent for someone progressing from hobbyist to pro.

Good luck with it.

Goodshape

I didn't see zardette reply before I posted mine, so in response to that...

I don't disagree, but I think s/he paints a fairly stark picture

You mentioned 'web design', which I take to mean the look, feel and functional lay-out of a web page or site, but zardette is right that this alone isn't going to be enough for a fully functional money-making web site. Just like (going back to my guitar analogy) knowing a few catchy riffs isn't enough in itself to record, release and market a successful album.

But that's not to say your won't get a few gigs. And maybe you'll meet the right people along the way to help you with the rest of it.