As a former web developer (well I still program) I have first-hand experience looking for an alternative to web development as a job. The ideal career might be staring you in the face as it was for me.
In the last few years web development has started to move away from the lone guy in the dark room programming away. Web development is now just as much about user experience as it is about good code, dare I say the user experience is even more important.
My web development career was always led by what the user wanted so I often found myself surrounded by marketers. You know the sort that always smile but are planning how to take credit for the great products and cover their ass in case it isn’t that great!
I never had any love for marketers but without them my products would have never have found their way to the customers who wanted and needed them. So I admired that part of their job but not much else.
I wasn’t happy as a web developer, don’t get me wrong I loved the work but didn’t feel I could ever get a high enough position to earn what I wanted and even if I did it’d be a stressed job with big hours and I wanted that less than anything.
My search for another career started but it wasn’t long before I realised that I love what I do but I just lacked the skills to make money from my talents. I spent my life making others rich!
So I needed to learn how to make money from my products but I didn’t want to be a marketer like those air heads I’ve dealt with in the past who love the sound of their own voice more than anything.
I’ve discovered that those stereotypical hype marketers belong to the corporate world and it is possible to do marketing that isn’t hype and gets results. I see it as just running my own business rather than being a marketer as marketing is just one small part of what I do.
So what do I do? Rather than be a marketer and try mask what I do in mystery and hype all I do is send targeted traffic to a product and reap the rewards. It’s so basic but by cutting out all the middle men that are in most businesses I’m now working when and where I want with my eye set on early retirement. I left my job six months ago so I could focus on my business full time.
I decided that rather than spend ages developing my own product I needed to learn how to get sales and sharpen my teeth on an existing product. A year on I’m still marketing this product alone because it’s better than anything I could make on my own without investing more time and money than would be wise. I will make my own products in the future but at the moment what I have is too good to spend time at anything else.
So if you’re looking for an alternative to web development I highly recommend this as it provides the training, tools and products all in one.
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