InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
September 28, 1998
Players On A Next-Generation Web Team
ho do you need to put together a next-generation Web site? No two squads are alike, but for any major Web push, you're likely to need at least the following.BUSINESS MANAGER. For electronic-commerce sites that affect an entire organization, you need to have someone who understands your business' innermost workings. Your project will be lost if you don't have a team member who grasps how your company fulfills orders, serves customers, stores its inventory, and ships its products. Look for someone with experience running a business' functional department. Salary: $75,000 to $150,000+.
PROJECT MANAGER/PRODUCER. This person translates for management and for techies what the other side is doing. The project manager must have a crystal-clear picture of the site's business goals and be able to make assignments and keep work moving in a way that meets these objectives. Backgrounds vary, but look for a project manager who has supervised complex activities in the past, such as a magazine, a big software effort, or a business unit. Salary: $65,000 to $125,000+.
DATABASE/LEGACY SYSTEM SPECIALIST. With so many electronic-commerce applications relying on back-end databases, you've got to have an expert in database design and connectivity on board. Knowledge of your business' order-processing, inventory-management, and financial-reporting systems is often needed. So, too, is experience with Visual Basic programming, electronic data interchange, and enterprise resource planning applications. Salary: $60,000 to $80,000.
SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR. This is the person who keeps the network infrastructure--especially the servers--up and running and, for small to midlevel sites, also handles security. This position requires thorough knowledge of Windows NT and/or Unix and IP networking design. Salary: $60,000 to $85,000.
PROGRAMMER/APPLICATION DEVELOPER. From Perl scripts to RealVideo, this person can add real sizzle and functionality to your site. Basic relational database knowledge is essential. A computer-science background is nice, but philosophy majors with programming experience will do just as well. Salary: $40,000 to $60,000.
GRAPHIC DESIGNER. For publishing and media sites, where look and feel are important, the graphic specialist is crucial. But for more functional, corporate sites, the job is not as critical. While having a digital Picasso is nice, what's really required for the job is someone who demonstrates an understanding of commercial principles and bandwidth requirements to make the site easy to navigate. Salary: $45,000 to $55,000.
HTML CODER/PRODUCTION SPECIALIST. You'll need someone who knows HTML inside and out, not just how to insert a blink tag. Chief among this person's responsibilities is to make sure your site looks right in every browser. Although databases power the site, all the information eventually has to be translated into HTML. The language keeps evolving, so you've got to have one person dedicated to knowing HTML cold. Salary: $30,000 to $45,000.
--Noah Shachtman
Back to This Week's Issue
Send Us Your Feedback
Top of the Page
