Top 6 Internet based jobs

A study quotes that the five out of 10 most preferred jobs today, didn’t even exist five years back. Although, it did not mention what those job titles were but I am not at all surprised. So, how is this information relevant to us?

Well it means that it is time that we think of career options beyond engineering, doctors, MBAs and other traditional choices. In this post we will see if there are any career choices available on the web itself or by using that web.

When I say Internet career, it does not only mean designing a website, placing some ads and waiting for someone to click on those ads. If you are interested in working in Internet industry, here are some career options to consider.

Writers and editors

We all know what is expected of writers and editors. Over Internet it is no different. There are websites for companies, small and big and all of these want their content to be written in a professional manner. If writing is your forte then it is the career for you. You can work from the comfort of your home, choose your own projects and get paid for what you love or there are employers who will hire you for the same, so that you don’t have to go looking for jobs.

There is a option of technical writers as well. They specialize in producing materials such as instruction manuals and software documentation. Although the job itself does not demand any degrees but many employers prefer candidates with a college degree. If you are good at it, you can do free-lancing as well. Obviously an affinity for writing goes without saying.

Advertising sales agents (ASA)

If you own a website than you can go to Google or there are independent ASA who will sell space on your website for advertisement. In that respect it can be said that Google is the big daddy of ASA. Thus ASA is one of the career options. It is not about only selling space on websites but you also need to convince others how advertising on a particular website is going to help them. Provide the cost estimates, process all correspondence & paperwork; deliver advertisement to customers for approval and other related stuff.

So these job demands a good networking skills and some bit of entrepreneurial zing in you.

Webmasters/ Web designer/ Web developer

These three job titles are not exactly similar, but at the base level they require similar kind of skill sets and interests a similar kind of target group.

Webmaster will be someone who maintains the web server and keep it running. Skills set required: server administration like IIS, Apache, or Netscape, NT, Unix

Skill set required for web developer are: HTML, CGI programming, writing ability, database knowledge, client side programming such as JavaScript, flash, server side programming such as SSI, ASP, PHP and graphics arts ability

Graphics Designer

A graphic designer is responsible for arranging and using elements on different types of media (such as a poster, a package or a website), most likely with the use of a graphics software program such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or InDesign.

The work for graphic designer includes designing logos, websites, business cards, book designs, posters, magazines and billboards. But these is only an indicative list and the opportunities are basically unlimited if designing is your forte.

Information system manager

They basically are responsible for any computer related activities of their firms. Additionally they also plan, coordinate and direct research for computer related activities.

Internet Marketing

It is really a very large topic to be covered here alone, so I will restrict myself to just the introduction part. Internet marketing entails planning an online campaign for a company or brands, vis-à-vis what options to follow, how much budget to allocate, share of social media and other such related factors. Unlike other Internet career options it requires more of marketing skills and less of technical and programming skills. In fact one can have no programming knowledge and still can be the best in online marketing.

Before my current job I was working as a brand development manager and I focused my total attention towards online marketing. And I had no programming knowledge!

Home based jobs

Most of the above said career options are basically full-time jobs. But what if you are not the one who likes to work for someone else. If you are in a developing country like India then you have a definite edge in terms of providing cheaper services that many people are looking for over Internet. Some examples of such opportunities are writing, editing, paid SMS services, online surveys, data entry, data processing, data conversion, and many more.

Then there is a surge in demands for virtual assistants, online teaching assistants and online publishing careers.

The point is now in the age of broadband you don’t need to limit yourself and get stuck in a job that you don’t like. Follow your passion and do what you love.