The rise of the internet into a dominant force in the media and marketing world has meant a sudden boom in new fields of work and jobs in the digital space. In fact, so rapid has been the change of the landscape that there are many parents or people of a slightly older generation who have no idea what work their children do. Generally, they will tell their friends that, ‘it has something to do with computers’ but that is about as broad and nebulous as it gets. With that in mind, here is a look at some of those digitally based roles, as we unpack some jobs and professions to try and help the older generation make sense of their children’s lives.
Search Engine Experts
Search engines are essentially giant indexes that comb through the internet to help users find the results that are best suited to what it is that they are looking for. In many ways they are like a giant encyclopedia and a global phone book. And the business of search employs a lot of people. From the people who code and maintain platforms like Google and Bing to people who come up with the strategies and plans to ensure that the search engines rank their clients’ pages highest, search is big business. It goes without saying that if you have a digital platform, you want your site to come up on the first page of a Google search if somebody is looking for a service or article in your field. There are many companies that specialise in this type of optimization. A quick search for something like SEO company Sydney might surprise you when you realise how many specialists there are in this area.
Coders
A coder is a person who writes the technical stuff behind digital platforms. They are not men trained to transmit Morse messages! Website and content management systems, databases and ad servers, and all other similar technology, are all built by teams of coders. This code is written and maintained to ensure that the platforms it underpins stay operational. Coders, or programmers as they are also called, will write in a language. Examples of coding languages are Java, NodeJS, Ruby on Rails, PHP or Python. And many, many others.
Community Managers
To be successful online as a brand or platform you need to build audiences and engage with them. And for this to happen you need community managers to run the show. These are very important people as they are the daily interface between your product and the people who use it. Some might describe them as editors, but this is quite an old-school description. An editor is responsible for one-way communication. A community manager is a facilitator of a conversation rather than a curator of information.
Social Media Strategists
Social media reaches almost every corner of the earth with platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and others enjoying huge critical mass around the planet. Social media can make content go viral and it can reach an audience wherever they are—as opposed to waiting for them to come to you. Getting the strategy right on this front is very important, and believe it or not, there are people who are employed to make sure that these strategies and interactions are done right.
