A multimedia developer works with today’s newest advances in desktop computer technology. A developer draws on the skills of the computer programmer and the visual artist to integrate graphics, text, and digital audio and video to make them interactive. This multimedia content can be delivered on CD-ROM, over the World Wide Web, or on floppy disk.

With the growth of the World Wide Web and the interactive software industry, the field of multimedia development should be in a period of healthy growth.

Multimedia developers should be creative, artistic, and imaginative. They need a strong sense of color and form and an ability to visualize and conceptualize. In addition, they must have technical aptitude, project management capacity, and an ability to prioritize and meet deadlines. Written and verbal communication skills are needed to interact with clients, and patience is often needed to revise projects until clients are satisfied.

Today, most multimedia developers probably started as something else--a graphic designer, software engineer, writer, publisher, educator, or in one of the many other fields that contribute to what we think of collectively as multimedia.

Since the field of multimedia is relatively new, it is filled with self-educated people. Colleges and universities do offer multimedia courses, but they may be listed in a variety of departments, such as communications, visual studies, education, or computer science.

A bachelor’s degree in new media can be helpful, but ability is as important as formal training.

Many multimedia developers are self-employed and frequently work on a freelance basis. The nature of this employment situation provides an opportunity to work on a variety of projects, such as designing a web site, authoring a commercial CD-ROM title, creating an interactive promotional demo, building a user interface prototype, integrating networking technology into an interactive kiosk, or animating an educational presentation.

In addition to freelancing, multimedia designers may also work for Web development companies, interactive software publishers, and media production companies that design marketing presentations and trade show interactives for corporations.