Education
Bachelor’s and master’s and salaries, oh my!
Leading text from 2008 survey used here as a placeholder.
The overall distribution of educational attainment among the survey respondents is as follows:
Education levels
| Grade/primary school | 1.1% |
|---|---|
| High/secondary school | 9.4% |
| Some college or university | 21.6% |
| College diploma, associate’s, bachelor’s, or other degree | 52.9% |
| Master’s degree | 13.4% |
| Doctorate | 1.0% |
| No response | 0.6% |
Salary range by education level
| Less than $10,000 | $10,000- $19,999 | $20,000- $39,999 | $40,000- $59,999 | $60,000- $79,999 | $80,000- $99,999 | $100,000- $119,999 | $120,000- $149,999 | More than $150,000 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade/primary school | 56.5% | 9.4% | 10.7% | 8.4% | 5.4% | 3.0% | 3.3% | 1.3% | 2.0% | 100.0% |
| High/secondary school | 36.7% | 12.6% | 17.5% | 13.2% | 9.3% | 5.5% | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1.1% | 100.0% |
| Some college or university | 18.3% | 12.0% | 19.1% | 20.0% | 14.8% | 7.7% | 4.2% | 2.2% | 1.6% | 100.0% |
| College diploma, associate’s, bachelor’s, or other degree | 8.7% | 6.3% | 17.7% | 28.8% | 19.9% | 9.7% | 4.5% | 2.6% | 1.9% | 100.0% |
| Master’s degree | 7.8% | 6.5% | 14.7% | 24.1% | 21.0% | 12.7% | 6.6% | 3.9% | 2.8% | 100.0% |
| Doctorate | 5.4% | 5.7% | 14.9% | 17.9% | 14.5% | 16.9% | 10.1% | 6.8% | 7.8% | 100.0% |
| Overall | 13.7% | 8.2% | 17.5% | 24.5% | 17.7% | 9.3% | 4.5% | 2.7% | 1.9% | 100.0% |
As last year, the general pattern holds: the more formal education you have, the more money you tend to make.
Perceived relevance of education
| A lot | 16.3% |
|---|---|
| Some | 35.0% |
| A little | 29.1% |
| Not at all | 19.0% |
| No response | 0.6% |
Perceived relevance of education by salary range
| Less than $10,000 | 41.9% |
58.1% |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000-$19,999 | 46.5% |
53.5% |
| $20,000-$39,999 | 51.5% |
48.5% |
| $40,000-$59,999 | 56.2% |
43.8% |
| $60,000-$79,999 | 55.3% |
44.7% |
| $80,000-$99,999 | 53.0% |
47.0% |
| $100,000-$119,999 | 50.3% |
49.7% |
| $120,000-$149,999 | 53.4% |
46.6% |
| More than $150,000 | 48.7% |
51.3% |
| Overall | 51.7% |
48.3% |
| Relevant | Not relevant |
Except for the lowest income categories, the percentage of respondents who believe their studies are relevant to their web design work (by indicating either “some” or “a lot”) is fairly consistent for all income categories, at approximately half, although it is highest for people making between $40,000 and $80,000. (By contrast, in the 2007 survey, the highest were between $20,000 and $60,000.) Among those who make over $150,000, the perception of relevance of education to design work drops off.
Perceived relevance of education by age group
| 18 and under | 25.0% |
75.0% |
|---|---|---|
| 19-29 | 51.8% |
48.2% |
| 30-44 | 52.7% |
47.3% |
| 45-64 | 50.3% |
49.7% |
| 65 and over | 51.9% |
48.1% |
| Overall | 51.6% |
48.4% |
| Relevant | Not relevant |
Except for those 18 and under, the percentage of respondents who believe their studies are relevant to their web design work is consistent for all age groups, at approximately half. There was much more variation in 2007, where the various age groups ranged from 67.2% to 23.6%.
Perceived relevance of education by job title
| Usability Expert/Consultant/Lead | 60.4% |
39.6% |
|---|---|---|
| Art Director | 59.8% |
40.2% |
| Interface Designer, UI Designer | 56.1% |
43.9% |
| Educator | 55.9% |
44.1% |
| Designer | 55.9% |
44.1% |
| Information Architect | 55.9% |
44.1% |
| Creative Director | 55.3% |
44.7% |
| Project Manager | 54.3% |
45.7% |
| Accessibility Expert/Consultant/Lead | 51.4% |
48.6% |
| Developer | 50.6% |
49.4% |
| Web Designer | 50.5% |
49.5% |
| Web Producer | 49.3% |
50.7% |
| Writer, Editor | 48.1% |
51.9% |
| Web Director | 48.0% |
52.0% |
| Webmaster, Web Master | 44.3% |
55.7% |
| Marketer | 44.0% |
56.0% |
| Other | 51.2% |
48.8% |
| Overall | 51.6% |
48.4% |
| Relevant | Not relevant |
Although the range is much less in 2008 than in 2007, there are some noteworthy differences in the degree to which respondents felt their education was relevant to their web design work by job title, as follows:
- Art Directors and Usability Experts believed their education was relevant significantly more than the sample as a whole.
- Marketers and Webmasters believed their education was relevant significantly less than the sample as a whole.
Education and job title
| Grade/primary school | High/secondary school | Some college or university | College diploma, associate’s, bachelor’s, or other degree | Master’s degree | Doctorate | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accessibility Expert/Consultant/Lead | 0.65% | 0.18% | 0.22% | 0.17% | 0.48% | 0.65% | 0.23% |
| Art Director | 1.94% | 1.33% | 1.83% | 2.19% | 1.18% | 0.97% | 1.88% |
| Creative Director | 1.94% | 2.12% | 3.14% | 3.39% | 2.19% | 1.61% | 3.02% |
| Designer | 6.80% | 8.05% | 8.75% | 9.36% | 4.80% | 1.29% | 8.38% |
| Developer | 31.07% | 33.12% | 30.28% | 27.26% | 22.22% | 21.94% | 27.78% |
| Educator | 0.00% | 0.11% | 0.08% | 0.36% | 1.41% | 7.42% | 0.48% |
| Information Architect | 0.65% | 1.15% | 1.27% | 1.43% | 3.47% | 2.58% | 1.65% |
| Interface Designer, UI Designer | 1.29% | 3.02% | 3.04% | 3.37% | 3.54% | 1.29% | 3.25% |
| Marketer | 0.00% | 0.68% | 0.70% | 0.97% | 1.28% | 1.29% | 0.92% |
| Project Manager | 0.32% | 2.48% | 3.14% | 3.58% | 6.39% | 1.94% | 3.71% |
| Usability Expert/Consultant/Lead | 0.65% | 0.50% | 0.79% | 0.82% | 2.16% | 1.94% | 0.97% |
| Web Designer | 21.04% | 18.18% | 14.12% | 12.23% | 8.25% | 7.42% | 12.71% |
| Web Director | 0.97% | 1.40% | 1.57% | 1.39% | 2.34% | 1.94% | 1.56% |
| Web Producer | 0.97% | 2.08% | 1.75% | 1.84% | 1.71% | 0.97% | 1.81% |
| Webmaster, Web Master | 7.12% | 5.93% | 5.29% | 3.65% | 4.73% | 6.77% | 4.44% |
| Writer, Editor | 0.97% | 0.75% | 0.73% | 1.21% | 1.89% | 3.55% | 1.17% |
| Other | 23.62% | 18.93% | 23.30% | 26.77% | 31.98% | 36.45% | 26.04% |
| Total | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
This table is new in 2008. Some interesting patterns include:
- Respondents with college degrees are Art Directors in a significantly higher percentage than they are represented in the sample as a whole, but are Accessibility Experts in a significantly lower percentage than they are in the sample as a whole.
- Accessibility Experts, Educators, Information Architects, Project Managers, Usability Experts, Web Directors, and Writer/Editors reported holding a master’s degree more often than the sample as a whole.
- Accessibility Experts, Educators, Usability Experts, and Writer/Editors reported holding a doctorate more often than the sample as a whole.