Web Professional Education-Interview with Molly Holzschlag, Author, Web Professional and Speaker

Greetings WOW members and Web professionals everywhere. Bill Cullifer here with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and the WOW Technology Minute.

For today?’s podcast, I have the pleasure to be interviewing Molly Holzschlag, notable author, Web professional and speaker. The topic is Web professional education. I asked Molly to share her viewpoints on what we need to do as a profession and as a professional organization to influence education in the Web profession and for students at the primary, secondary and the post secondary level.

Molly is a true inspiration for many us working in the Web profession. In addition she also is very well versed on this topic. For the three minute interview check out the three minute interview on today’s WOW Technology Minute website.

Today’s podcast is sponsored by the Webmaster Survival Guide. Check out all of the great resources and links on the Webmaster Survival Guide website.

Transcript of Molly Holzschlag Interview:

BILL CULLIFER: Greetings WOW members and Web professionals everywhere. Bill Cullifer here with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and The WOW Technology Minute. I have the pleasure to be interviewing Molly Holzschlag, notable author, Web professional and sought-after speaker. Today?’s topic is Web professional education. Molly, thanks for agreeing to this interview. Can you share with the subscribers of this podcast your thoughts on what we need to do as a profession and as a professional organization to influence education within the Web profession?

MOLLY HOLZSCHLAG: That?’s a great question and it?’s one thing that?’s been very much on my mind of late because I do so many trainings for adults and work so much to help companies really get their people up to speed. It?’s very fascinating to me that a lot of folks come out of a two-year program or graphic design program, or a computer science program, and have no idea of really how to do things to the best practices every day. Of course it?’s a constant target. One of the things I think is very critical is starting early. We, the Web design development field, is a field that we?’re a hybrid. In other words, you have to have enough math, science, logic and technology, and that has to compliment the general studies, language skills. So you really need both sides of the brain, if you will.

And what happens in education, especially in the United States, and other parts of the world as well, is that we tend to be educated on our strengths, rather than our weaknesses. So in other words, if we show an aptitude for math or we show an aptitude for verbal language skills, or art, we?’re encouraged by that by teachers as opposed to where our weakness is. And I would like to see that shift there. A shift in order to bring a balance about, not just for Web developers, I think this would empower everybody in terms of education.

So really emphasizing finding new ways to express how these things are integrated and not actually separated. We talk about the divide between science and art, and there is really no divide – technology and design and design and technology, they?’re the same thing. And no where do we see that more than currently in the Web development and design industry, because clearly that is where people who succeed and really push forward come from.

So what would happen is, you would have to identify those things early on. Encourage a better motion forward as a student comes from primary school up to secondary and tertiary student in their education, that the pathway is supportive of that. And we have to get away from this sort of thinking. And that?’s what I really think the core problem is, that you?’re either going to be a computer scientist or you?’re going to be a designer. And that doesn?’t work as well. We need a hybrid.

On my end, certainly that education begins, but we?’re open-minded about this and we‘ll see how we can facilitate that, particularly in early education in Web development.

BILL: Excellent. Well said Molly. Thank you so much. Bill Cullifer here with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and The WOW Technology Minute. Thanks for your time today Molly.

MOLLY: Thanks Bill.