I also have an idea for creating my own, simple databaseless CMS, much like the WW forums.

I'd be a little careful with that - processor power and RAM are so cheap now, that I think it's borderline as to whether flatfile or dynamic/DB driven performs better/faster.

Bear in mind that WebmasterWorld was designed at a time when processor power and RAM were not cheap.

Basically, I enjoy the artistic and technical side of things.

Great start for a budding web developer.

First I'd like to know if this is a good career to go for? Is it over saturated, or in demand? Does the future look good or bad?

It's over-saturated. There are still nice jobs to be cherry-picked with larger corporates, although it's getting harder to get into those if you don't know someone, or are not "known" yourself. Entering the market at this stage means you'll be initially cutting your teeth building rubbish for peanuts. But if you're prepared to work through that for a little while, and you're good at what you do, you might be OK. Alternatively pick an already-known and succesful firm and pitch for a job.

Forget the internet as a means of marketing your services, those SERPS are totally saturated and valueless. Go offline for that - a good method at the moment is to pick a niche and advertise in their press (eg : Lawyers or Accountants - advertise in their regulators weekly magazine and specialise in sites for professionals).

The future is hard to predict, but I think it's fair to say that the web will be around for a while yet, and not everyone is happy building pages over at MySpace. If you can combine your technical skills with your creative/cosmetic skills, you probably have a good shot at making a future in this business.

Freelance is a possibility at some point, but I like the security and benefits of working for a company. Is this field largely freelance work, or is there a lot of opportunity in working for, and advancing, in medium to large companies?

The majority are small companies and freelancers. Have you considered working in-house for a larger corporate on their own website?

And finally, if I decide to commit myself to web design as a career, I plan to work towards an Associates Degree at my local community college. After this, I would look for some work experience, while working towards a BS Degree. Does this sound like a good plan?

I'll probably get shot down for saying don't bother with the degree, and I'm even surprising myself a little bit saying this, but no, I wouldn't bother unless you don't see web development/design as an end game. If anything, you'd want to do a degree in a creative field.

Ultimately if you're succesful with the design aspect of web development, you'll almost certainly end up working for yourself. I do not see an academic degree as at all fundamental for this business. Here it's the creative skills that are important.

TJ

Thanks for you comments.

I'd be a little careful with that - processor power and RAM are so cheap now, that I think it's borderline as to whether flatfile or dynamic/DB driven performs better/faster.

The idea originally came about because of the shared host I am using. The shared MySQL server is rather slow, obviously because it's shared, and we are aloud 1 hour of CPU time, per day. So because of that, and the fact that I am currently learning PHP, I thought it would be a good opportunity to create something useful.

I like to learn on the fly. You know, I want my CMS to have feature X, so I look at the PHP manual for something that would allow me to do that.

...a good method at the moment is to pick a niche and advertise in their press (eg : Lawyers or Accountants - advertise in their regulators weekly magazine and specialise in sites for professionals).

Cool, I actually have a small opportunity like this, already. The realty/mortgage businesses have been slow lately. A local mortgage company that specializes in joint ventures with big realty companies, has come up with the idea of creating individual websites for the homes being sold, (As apposed to a listing of homes.) In an attempt to gain more business. I had my doubts, but apparently it's working for them.

The majority are small companies and freelancers....

In that case, I might just pursue my other career option, 3D animation/design. Meanwhile I'll continue to study web development on my free time. In a perfect world, I could find a design job at a great studio, (Zoic would be nice!) where I can pull in a salary, and do some freelance web jobs on the side, for some extra spending cash... Or I can have a job to fall back on.

Thanks again. :)