Webmaster Title

Is there a better industry-wide title than "Webmaster"?

[pingryweb]

"Webmaster" seems terribly outdated ... is there another industry term to describe the duties of managing/maintaining the website without implying a management-level salary? "Director of Web Services" or "Manager of Web Services" both would not work for me.

Some background: I'm not a tech industry person, I'm a graphic designer expanding my capabilities to produce websites, and I do not have the luxury of a web team, I am the sole person responsible for my employer's website, I am organized under the Communications branch of the organization but I work with a small Technology team that handles the integrity of the servers and network connections.

Any suggestions for a better title than Webmaster?

[MaliciousDan]

Um, the best arguement against web developer I've seen here is a web developer might have to talk to executives, and a lowly web developer can't do that, but a senior web developer could without causing the universe as we know it to crumble.

The other option is take the same route tall troll mentioned, pick a 3 (or more) word title, using the biggest words you can, preferably in the english dictionary and preferably each being 3 syllables or more, so that it sounds 'smart', and no matter what make sure that the title you come up with sounds a lot like CEO (cause anything that sounds like CEO might cause people to think they are talking to someone important), and be extra careful to make sure that the literal translation from jargon to english does not describe your job.

[Hazza]

GoV, I wouldn't recommend using MD, as in some circles it stands for a rather sarcastic "might do" - this can imply various things, all negative!

[Brad]

In my robe, squinty eyed, and before my first cup of coffee in the morning, I'm the Web Dude.

After getting ready for the day, coffeed up, and in my office I am - The Webmaster. :)

[KodeKrash]

The term "webmaster" is completely misused these days. It USED to mean "server admin" AND "web developer" AND "content manager" AND "general computer guru". Now, you only have to be able to use Dreamweaver or FrontPage or Flash, be able to throw it on some free site host, and you can call yourself a "webmaster" - without any knowledge of how the web, internet, servers, etc even work.

The question still remains: "If not webmaster, then what?" Well, now days, most professional are specialists of some sort, so their title can come from that specialty, as many people have pointed out already.

I myself am a "Knowledge Intelligence Consultant" - meaning that my specialty is using AI and fuzzy logic to handle complex issues and create usable solutions to knowledge, metadata, and data related projects. This includes server administration, database administration, web development, application development, project management, and content management. So, my (rhetorical) question to you is: I have a specialist's title, but does it really mean anything, since it basically means the same thing as "webmaster"?

[Xoc]

How about Web Design Engineer?

[KodeKrash]

LOL, I don't do design in any form, thank the gods. :)

[isarrealwb]

I agree Webmaster is outdated. Furthermore, the image if a Webmaster does not convey the right image for our profession. We need a new title that represents our professional and creative skillset.

(edited by: Marcia at 5:07 am (utc) on Feb. 8, 2002)

[chaash]

i would like to know , what title a person should be given who does the optimisation for the search engine, iam confused.

[Marcia]

Being very plain vanilla, I'm not fond of Web Designer. Those Google research papers represent good design for my taste.

>"Web God"
Web_Goddess and Grand Exalted Poobah have a nice ring to them.

I'm a non-entity. I call myself whatever I feel like putting into the link text that particular week.

[pingryweb]

>Knowledge Intelligence Consultant

I am employed by a company, so I'm not a consultant. The company--its a school, really--has a librarian, so knowledge intelligence might imply I'm part of the library department, and I'm not.

>Web Design Engineer

This may imply that I'm a scientist or programmer, and I'm not. I have a B.A. in Fine Arts, not a B.S. in Engineering. Creative people would never use 'engineer' in their titles.

I think I'm leaning towards Director of Web Services or Manager of Web Services, even thouugh my salary level is non-management ...

[Brad]

Why use two or three words for a title when one suffices?

Titles are largely meaningless. I remember 30 years ago when they started calling janitors "custodial engineers". Why? What purpose does the longer title serve? :)

[pingryweb]

>Titles are largely meaningless.

Don't forget about politcal correctness nowadays. Many 'administrative assistants' would be insulted if you addressed them as 'secretaries'. Likewise, I feel 'webmaster' is just plain silly and inappropriate for the professional services I provide.

Plus, as I mentioned earlier, as the internet grows as a professional industry, new responsibilities and shifting/changing positions will create a need for appropriate job titles to accurately identify each staff member's role in an organization.

So job titles do matter.

[rogerd]

Send me one of your "Web Goddess" business cards when you get 'em printed, mivox. :) I'm seeing "architect" used more for senior design positions. Often it's in the form of "web architect", "information architect", etc. It sounds higher level than "designer" or developer, although usually that individual should have overall site responsibility - top level design, selection of technologies to be used, responsibility for integration with external databases, etc. - even if some or many of the details are carried out by others.

[gethan]

> So job titles do matter.

Yep, they sure do - I used to work at a company that employed 30 people - 15 of them had "president" in their title. It went bust.

I think the problem for us web professionals occurs when our role is so diverse that no one title really adaquately describes what we do.

I've had official job titles of;

Internet Developer,
Web Developer,
Webmaster, (Briefly)
Web Designer,
Senior Developer.

The best one so far is "Director of Design and Technology". But thats for a company of 4 ;)

But when I try to sum up all aspects of my skill set in one go I don't think there is a better word than webmaster. To me it brings up everything from TCP/IP, DB's Perl, through HTML on to Usabilty, Content/Copywriting, Graphics and SEO.

Everyone here has some subset of those skills, some will be more specialized than others. But we're all united by the term "webmaster". (If I were a girl I'd use "webgoddess" - "webmistress" sounds seedy ;))

Webmaster - outdated? nah - it's retro.

[electro]

WISE - Web Itergrated Site Engineer
INTENSE - INTErnet related nonseNSE
iDAD - Internet Design And Development

[trebor]

Webslave

There are no WebMasters.

I have also been referred to as a Short Order HTML Cook.

[diddlydazz]

Here are some that might be useful :)

Google Watcher

Link Suggester

Insomniac

Caffeine Addict

Spam Target

hope this helps :)

Dazz

[4eyes]

I am the International Internet Information Imperator

thats I.I.I.I

4eyes