> I was, ironically, just thinking about this earlier today. Are there any
> organizations, guilds, etc. that anyone would consider vital for a web
> developer to be a member of? I'm looking at this from two perspectives:
>
> - Organizations which carry some measure of national/regional
> credibility and prestige
> - Organizations that actually provide real benefits to members
Hey why stop at national -- this is the World Wide Web after all! :-)
I've look at the AIP site and thought (briefly) about whether it's
worth joining, but as a professional based outside the US, it's not
that valuable a resource to me (like many overseas-based
organisations I have considered membership in).
I guess that, despite the internationalisation of the Web and of
Web business, these sorts of groups tend to work best at regional
level as it is ultimately the contacts and networking through them
that provide their best benefits to members.
Groups like this one are great, in that they provide good contact
and info sources and a general meeting ground, but I would
imagine it would be very difficult to organise a professionally based,
semi-accredited organisation on these grounds.
I suspect that it would be difficult in many respects to gain any
form of sensible accreditation for a national grouping, let alone an
international one.
We've got an informal group Web Design New Zealand here which
was sort-of aimed at trying to develop a professional body and
standards. They've been very quiet of late (mostly I think because
we've all been so darned busy). In some respects it would be
valuable to join something like this as it reassures the punters who
pick you from a listing to see membership of some group (often
regardless of what it does -- and doesn't -- promise!).
We have another organisation here which purports to be
Web/communications oriented. I had thought of joining until seeing
a Web design competition they sponsored -- their Web site, when
visited with images off, consisted of a blank yellow page. And
these were people who were presenting themselves as competent
to judge what is professional in Web design??!! I didn't join and, as
a professional, have a low opinion of their credibility....
Cheers,
Vicki Hyde
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