The Dinnick Room: Here's to friends in strange places

This month, I have been thinking about these dark storm clouds and looking for the silver lining. And I believe that I have found two - one obvious, one not so.

Just a few short months ago, one of the major problems facing the web development sector was a lack of well-trained and experienced staff. Agencies were employing almost anyone with HTML experience and paying through the nose for the privilege.

Now there is a surplus of highly skilled coders, designers and programmers on the market, this will not be a problem. Those agencies that survive will snap them up and be the better for it. And what's more, they won't have to pay as high a salary for them as they might those same few months ago.

Secondly, there will also be a benefit for the industry as a whole. One of the major up hill struggles agencies faced was educating the client as to what the Web and internet technologies could do for them. That's why at Reading Room we were happy to have someone with an MA in Science Communication as a project manager.

Obviously not all those forced to leave their jobs will go back into the dotcom or web development industries. There's a vast array of jobs out there in every conceivable sector for people with internet experience.

This means that soon there will be people in the very companies we had to educate who won't need educating. They will know the benefits (and the pitfalls) of the Net and as such will make the job of web developers that much easier. We will no longer have to deal with so many “basic” questions or battle against the people in charge of internet projects because they fear the technology.

Industries such as publishing, advertising and TV will gain a much better understanding of the web and this will hopefully bury the negative image the internet has suffered from in the past. The government and civil service - who are already coming along in leaps and bounds - will be far better placed with genuine Net experts behind the desks of Whitehall. Hell, even the Management Consultants and the City might finally get people who know what they're talking about.

Does this herald a golden future for the Net, its reputation and those who work in its related sectors? I think so. In about a year's time the Net will be far better understood and represented, laying the groundwork for a resurgence in its popularity and a better understanding of its potential.

So cheer up! You may soon find allies in the most bizarre of places…

Feedback: rdinnick@netimperative.com

Richard Dinnick is new media director of interactive agency Reading Room.