Changing Roles

Somehow at sometime, I stopped being a web designer. It dawned on me over the holiday break.

You visit extended family and are inevitably asked what you’re doing for work these days. My go-to answer is always the same: I’m a web designer. That may or may not be the best answer. Do I design websites? Is Figma open on my machine more than it is closed? Do I prototype and test my work in CodePen? The answer has traditionally been yes, even if I also dabble in other web-adjacent activities, like development, writing, and teaching.

But “yes” doesn’t capture the essence of what I do anymore. I haven’t launched a website in more than a year. I haven’t even mocked up or prototyped one in as long. Sure, I maintain sites, ship a few features here and there, and sweat some of the aesthetics along the way…

…yet that is not how the bulk of my time is spent. The hierarchy of my work has inverted to the point that what I used to dabble in now overshadows what I used to call my primary work.

The seeds of change were probably sowed way back when I joined CSS-Tricks in 2015. It was a contract gig giving me the chance to share the things I learned and found interesting in my everyday work. That’s not the tipping point, however.

I became an independent web designer back in 2013 after eight years of in-house web design and development. That’s what allowed me the freedom to take on CSS-Tricks. It’s also what allowed me to take different roles for different clients, from technical support to product development, to management, to name a few. Looking back, I can see how I was slowly expanding my skillset with roles that complemented my web design work. I never thought it was moving me away from it.

I continued contributing to CSS-Tricks, ultimately taking on an editing role.

Fast-forward to 2020, when I became an adjunct instructor at a local college.

Fast-foward to 2022, when I joined CSS-Tricks full-time.

Fast-foward to 2023, when I added Smashing Magazine to my workload.

Fast-forward a few months later, when I earned my master’s degree in Education, recognizing that a lot of what I was doing at that time was indeed educational.

Fast-forward to 2024, when I launched an online course for HTML and CSS.

Fast-forward to 2025, when I decided to record and release an album of cover songs.

Fast-forward to 2026, today. What the heck have I become? It’s easy to continue saying I’m a web designer, as a lot of what I do and think about is related to the discipline. Yet, it’s perhaps more accurate to say I’m a technical editor and educator. That is, after all, how I spend at least 90% of my work day at CSS-Tricks, Smashing Magazine, and colleges. Heck, I just hopped off a call where I was onboarding to be a technical mentor for other college instructors setting up their online courses.

I’ll admit that reflecting on all this and recognizing how my career has evolved leaves me with a heavy dose of Imposter Syndrome. Who am I to teach anything about web design or front-end development if that’s not how I spend the bulk of my professional time? It cuts to my core and makes me question who I am and what I do for a living.

At the same time, the realization is freeing. I like encouraging others. I like helping others become better practitioners. I like learning, writing about, and sharing all the awesome things happening in front-end web development. And someone has to help pass the torch to the next wave of talent, right?

I never intended for that to happen, but here we are, and I’m better for it. The web is a huge place, and “design” is just one piece of it. The web needs help in plenty of other ways, and yes, that includes education. In fact, I’m fairly confident that what I do is a reflection of wanting personal connection on the web. AI is — justifiably or not — consuming a chunk of web design and development. Whether that continues to be true or not heading into the future, I don’t know. I almost don’t even care, if I’m being honest, because it still takes humans to wrangle the machines and those humans have to at least understand the basics to harness the power of whatever tools and technology they use.

So, yeah. I’m Geoff Graham, the web educator. Nice to meet you.

I hope your web career evolves in wonderful, curious, and exciting ways just like this. Whatever it is you do in this field is important and helps move the web forward.