Certification Magazine - November 2007 - (Page 26)

JOB ROLES The Webmaster: Online Everyman DANIEL MARGOLIS As the name immediately implies, the webmaster is master of all things Web-related within a given organization. But the reality of a webmaster’s daily existence can vary widely from person to person and project to project. At first glance, the term “webmaster” might seem like an ill-conceived Spider-Man antagonist or maybe a position of great influence in “Dungeons & Dragons.” In reality, however, it’s one of the most challenging and varied IT jobs roles a person can tackle. A webmaster is responsible for designing, developing, marketing or maintaining a Web site. As such, he or she (the position is known as “webmistress” in its feminine form) will likely have to master a wide variety of technologies, often without much in the way of time to surmount learning curves. Because webmasters will end up being a company’s online point man, they are required to be all things to all people. Webmasters heed the call whenever anyone has any interaction or problem with that company’s online processes. Not surprisingly, long hours come with the territory. “I work ridiculous hours, to be honest,” said Joel Tosi, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) webmaster. The CME is an American financial exchange that trades equities, currencies, commodities and interest rates, as well as real estate and weather derivatives. Publications and institutions around the world rely on the financial data its Web site generates, which increases the pressure on a CME webmaster. “The biggest thing with the Web site is, although we don’t publicize any service-level agreements, if something’s not available within a minute of people expecting it to be there, I get in a whole world of hurt pretty quick,” Tosi said. “That’s another reason for the long hours because I get calls at 4 a.m. from London saying, ‘Why isn’t this file there?’” Recently, Tosi and his team were uploading a large volume of data to the site, and they hit a snag. “We had a process in place that creates a report and puts it on the Web site, and that process was delayed because of the large volume, I think by about a half hour or so,” Tosi said. “So, I got a call from The Wall Street Journal. They needed to process something on their side to publish the paper and were held up because they needed our report to go live.” Another reason Tosi and his team are working exceptionally long hours is that they’re substantially updating their Web site, gutting its back-end architec- 26 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE November 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification Magazine - November 2007

Certification Magazine - November 2007 Contents Editor's Letter Data Stream Tech Careers Academic Connection Dear Techie Virtual Village Certification Outside Technology Inside Certification The Webmaster: Online Everyman Interface Time Tips: How to Fit Certification into Your Schedule Ad Index Endtag

Certification Magazine - November 2007

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