CAREER PATH : `WEBMASTER' RULES IN ON-LINE INDUSTRY.

Byline: Carol Keiman Chicago Tribune 

``Webmaster'' is a recently coined word to describe a knowledge worker who puts an ``electronic face on organizations and individuals'' by designing Web sites for the Internet, said Claudia Allen of the National Association of Colleges and Employers in Bethlehem, Pa.

And, it's ``one of the hottest new jobs in corporate America,'' said Allen, editor of an association's publication on planning job choices.

``Webmasters build and remodel virtual facades - home pages, World Wide Web sites, information showcases - for companies and institutions on the Internet,'' she said.

The job classification is so new that there are no official specifications for Webmasters' prerequisites.

``Some have a computer background; others, degrees in marketing or English,'' Allen said.

Many Webmasters are librarians, artists, graphic designers, photographers, engineers and journalists. Most are self-taught.

But Allen said her research shows that Webmasters all know something about programming and management-information systems.

Job responsibilities, she says, include writing copy and special software to create Web pages and scanning photos and artwork into the computer.

But creating a Web site is just the beginning: Maintenance and updating also are part of the job.

Many Webmasters got their jobs by default, Allen found. ``No one else wanted the job, or the person chosen was the only one around who was computer literate,'' she said.

Entry-level salaries range from $30,000 to $50,000 a year, depending on the size of the company and the amount of work to be done, Allen said. She believes reports of salaries ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 may be exaggerations. The growth potential of the new profession is clear.

``After all the jobs lost in the last 10 years, we have a whole new industry developing,'' said Victor Harrison, executive vice president of Intelligent Management Solutions Inc., in Englewood, Colo. Harrison specializes in providing knowledge workers for telecommunications and cable companies.

``Those who want a site on the Internet will need someone to create it, stay on top of it, update it and develop a strategy to attract an audience,'' said Harrison, who has a bachelor's degree in electronic media and a master's in media communications from the University of Cincinnati. He has 15 years of experience in cable.

Harrison says Webmasters need ``computer savvy and knowledge of Web sites, layout, design, editing, copy writing, audience development, marketing and merchandising.''

Job opportunities are ``tremendous,'' he says. ``The Internet is a medium that's inventing itself every day.''

Greg Neise, owner of G.E. Neise Digital Communications, agrees with Harrison.

``Right now, the World Wide Web is in its infancy, and it's been described as a Wild West - a gold rush kind of situation - and it truly is,'' said Neise, who creates Web sites for corporations and nonprofit groups. ``Today's successful Webmasters were the first ones there.''

Neise is a free-lance photographer who got hooked on computers in 1989 ``because I wanted to digitally edit my photographs. I saw the computer as an artistic funnel, and I taught myself to use it as if my life depended on it.''

Neise charges from $1,000 to several thousand dollars for ``the whole shebang'' - creating and maintaining Web sites.

The self-taught Webmaster never went to college.``You don't have to be a computer engineer, but it doesn't hurt,'' Neise said.

The challenge, the Webmaster says, is to ``keep up with the Joneses - and surpass them.''