Webmaster: now a vague title

[Angel Portillo]

Ten years ago, a webmaster really didn't require a 2-4 year degree (because there weren't any degrees or certifications for a webmaster), and he/she could earn up to $60k/year. I can remember back after graduating high school (1998) how it seemed like a great move to study HTML. And as the years went by, it seemed that 14 year olds were now able to create web pages just as good as any "webmaster" with a few clicks on Dreamweaver or Frontpage.

Just ten years and the web has exploded into various branches that have sprouted not only more webmasters, but now there are titles such as:

- Web Developer
- Web Architect
- Web Programmer
- Web Producer
- Web Manager
- and of course, the Web Designer
(there may be more titles...)

All those titles were expected to be held by the webmaster, but is the "webmaster" dead?

As I'm currently searching for employment, it seems that employers say they want a just Web Designer, but for some, one also requires to know ASP, XML, PHP, database, AJAX, Ruby on Rails, and countless other programming languages. Isn't that treading more towardsprogramming? Is the employer wanting a *gasp*... webmaster? Or do employers simply don't know the distinctions?

Is it enough for a Web Designer to just design websites, or must we begin to learn Web Programming to become more "employable"?