the cursed job

I'm starting to believe that trying to be a web designer in a small town was a mistake. It is turning into one of those jobs that an individual only accepts if he is inclined to minor fits of masochism. If I lived in Colorado, I wouldn't pursue a job as a weather man; it can be warm and sunny one day and freezing cold the next - in May. When it comes to delivery truck drivers and movers New York would not be my ideal location. If the taxi cab drivers don't kill you, the bike messengers will. And I wouldn't service Volvo's in Detroit.

Being a graphic designer in a small town is the same way. The environment just isn't optimal. For one thing, our industry revolves around cutting edge developments - the latest design and usability techniques, internet fads like Web 2.0 and social networking, and lots of hours of programming. Here, most of the websites look like they're stuck in 1996. Gray backgrounds, standard black "Times" text, grainy GIFs from really old MS Office clipart discs - you get the idea. Initially, you might see this as a good thing. After all, what an opportunity to enrich the internet presence of these businesses, right? Unfortunately, that type of optimism falls flat when you realize that they don't want to pay more than $10 to $15 an hour for your work. Or, even worse, they want you to do it gratis and they'll pay you when the site brings in more profit for them. If only my utility, mortgage and credit card companies accepted IOU's, I might be down with that idea. Others want to barter services, but I need tourism-based amenities about as much as I need tourists.

Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just not a good enough salesman. After all, isn't it my job to convince them that the new website that I will create for them will be the bee's knees? Perhaps, but it won't last. It will be good for two or three years - tops - and then I'll be knocking on their door once more to try and explain why their site needs to be updated yet again. Plus, I have to convince them to go with me, rather than so-and-so's teenage son, who knows a thing or two about Myspace, World of Warcraft, and Macs.

So maybe I need to find a new line of work. I've been feeling disillusioned by the web design industry for some time now, anyways. I could always try to concentrate my efforts on non-local design jobs, but then I'm competing with big names in cities like Los Angeles or New York. Plus, that might feel like sacrilege for me since I moved to a small town to get away from that type of big city corporate competition in the first place. So let this be a tidbit of advice for all the hopeful home-in-the-country-while-designing-the-web types out there: Don't. Unless you can live on IOU's.