Website Design in Wales
I recently attended a workshop for web designers based in Wales and was surprised at just how many of us there are in a relatively small area. This got me wondering just what it was that encouraged so many people in Wales to take up website design as a profession and I came up with a few contributory factors:
Economic Reasons
1. Competitive Pricing
For many people living in rural communities within Wales, the cost of living is relatively inexpensive. This coupled with the fact that the capital outlay required to design websites is fairly small means that website designers in Wales can easily compete with website designers from other areas and can often offer more competitive pricing. Obviously certain areas of the world can offer the same services at an even lower price, but Wales seems to offer a happy medium for many UK based clients, where the costs are competitive but the work is being carried out sufficiently close to home for one-to one meetings if necessary.
2. Few Job Opportunities
Most website designers are fairly intelligent individuals often well educated and well qualified. Unfortunately, in the rural communities of Wales there are very few jobs suited to such individuals. This results in a high level of self-employment and small-business start-up entrepreneurs. In recent years starting up an
Social Reasons
3. Isolation, Supply and Demand.
Many of the rural communities of Wales are fairly isolated and have poor services and infrastructure. This means that the people in these communities were early adopters of internet technologies and services. The internet opened up a whole new range of facilities and services in areas where such amenities were otherwise unavailable. This meant that the population was 'switched on' to the World Wide Web and local business owners soon wanted a website of their own. Where there is a demand, a supply will soon appear to meet it. Website Design in Wales was in demand so many people became website designers.
The Landscape
1. Creative Inspiration.
When most people think of Wales they think of the stunning scenery or of creative Welsh personalities, and for good reason. Wales certainly has more than its fair share of beautiful landscapes and its heritage of artists, poets and musicians needs no introduction. Whether they were born in Wales and influenced by its beauty or their creative pesonalities were drawn to Wales the landscape has and continues to inspire the creative side of numerous people. It could be that the creative side of website design in Wales is simply a progression of this artistic heritage.
For me personally, I suppose all of the above apply. I'd like to think that financial and economic factors haven't driven me to where I am and what I am doing now, but I need to pay the mortgage and the bills so they must in some way shape my life. However, if these were the only influences that contributed to my current 'way of life' then I probably wouldn't be a website designer in Wales. In fact, I'd probably be working as a Carbonate Sedimentologist for a large oil company and earning ten times my currently salary. I'd like therefore to think that the creative side of me has won and the reason I chose to settle in Wales and design websites for a living was to allow me to live in a beautiful landscape, take inspiration from it and follow a profession that is both challenging and rewarding and allows me to make the most of my surroundings. I can't speak for other website designers in Wales but I would like to think that I am not alone in this.
One thing is for sure, whatever the contributory factors, Website Design in Wales is alive and well and long may it stay that way.
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