While I was working on a client’s website today I noticed that the web industry’s many professions are not recognised by the Australian government when it comes to their Skilled Occupations List used to determine the eligibility of immigrants to settle in Australia. This got me thinking, is the web industry the forgotten industry?

We all know the web industry is new in comparison to most, but is it still so new that the Government doesn’t know it exists? I find this hard to believe, having worked in the industry for 10 years now. It seems to me to be more a case of misunderstanding or even a lack of understanding of what the web industry actually is from a government point of view.

Reading through the list, it appears the only options for a web professional, be they a web designer, web developer, User Experience Consultant, Information Architect or whatever -is to mould themselves into one of the existing categories such as Graphic Designer or Computer Professional, and this is where the problem lies. If you’re like me, a self-taught Web Developer with 10 years professional experience, you aren’t a Graphic Designer because you write code. You aren’t a Computer Professional because you don’t work on or in computers, you use one, just like an Accountant or a Salesperson. You’re not a Software Engineer because you don’t write software.

This isn’t just a theoretical problem either as I discovered on Twitter after posting my thoughts. One of my followers in the process of applying for residency in Australia found themselves having to “wing it as a graphic designer”, despite that not really being their trade at all.

So, where does that leave you? And more importantly what can you do about it? Is this something that the Australian Web Industry Association needs to be looking at - lobbying the government to recognise the professions in our industry as separate to those of traditional information technology?

The other question is, has the industry matured enough to stand on its own two feet? I think that’s a question for another blog post though.