Students Use Web Skills For Extra Income

By Akhila Kolisetty Contributing Writer

With the advent of high-speed Internet access and personal computers, creating personal Web pages has become an increasingly popular hobby. And with free, user-friendly sites such as Blogger, LiveJournal.com and Xanga.com, it is now simple to make a small space for yourself on the Internet.

But many Northwestern students have been taking this pastime to a higher level, learning coding languages and using publishing tools to craft professional Web sites and online businesses.

"Web designing is interesting as it only requires a computer and is instantaneous," said McCormick sophomore SooMin Lee. "You can see the results of your coding right away by uploading it online … You only need a computer and some basic knowledge of a few softwares. Having an artistic mind and being able to create documents that appeal to the eye (are) the basics for Web design."

Lee works as the technical chair of the Residence Hall Association and also as webmaster of Minorities in Pursuit of Careers in Law and Business, a satellite group of For Members Only, the black student alliance. He said he enjoys designing as a hobby but hasn't started an online business.

Weinberg sophomore Kyle Jacobson designed "twelve8|creative," an Web and graphic design agency. He also launched "The Armchair Novelist," an independent project in which visitors can contribute a sentence to an ongoing work of fiction.

Maintaining the site is a lot of work, but Jacobson said he doesn't mind.

"I enjoy it, so I guess you could say I do it for fun, but it is a business," he said. "My main concern isn't getting rich now, but feeling out the industry. Essentially, I'm answering a question: Can I do this for a living once I'm out of school? So far, it looks like I have a good chance.

"I'd like to consider it as a career option, but the fact that I can put some extra cash in my pocket is great."

Ben Stewart also said he likes the opportunity to make extra money by designing. The Medill junior designs Web sites powered by databases and provides content management systems, which allow sites to be updated without having to alter the coding every time. He also has his own business, SpeechWire Tournament Services.

"It is an online application that high schools around Illinois have used (and will use again this year) to schedule and tabulate results at speech tournaments. This year, they'll also be able to quickly post those results on a public Web site.

"While I still think my primary interest is in broadcast journalism, I hope the continuing trend of convergence in media will provide me opportunities to work both in reporting and in Web design. I guess I'm interested in it both as a hobby and as a career/business possibility," Stewart said.

To create these functional, yet aesthetically pleasing Web sites, it has become necessary to use not only HTML, but also many other programming languages and technologies such as JavaScript, Photoshop, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks, and Flash.

While some students are more deeply involved in Web design, there are a multitude of others who simply dabble in it for fun.

"I'm interested in Web design mostly as a hobby, and possibly as a way to get some supplementary income while I'm in grad school," said Weinberg junior Karen Muth.

Reach Akhila Kolisetty at a-kolisetty@northwestern.edu.