Let's look back to the initial growth of the web, from 1994 until 1999 or so. Most people didn't know anything about the Internet, and if they did, they were probably just learning. Many sites didn't have a defined purpose, they were just experiments and hobbies. Businesses were trying to use the web to their advantage, and, in many cases starting to succeed.
The people who were building the sites were learning as they went. There were no degrees, certifications, or formal educational curricula. Careful study of online HTML tutorials and the purchase of a Visual Quickstart guide was the typical description of a web designer's skills and experience.
Needs were fewer, both on the business side and the employee side. Not many people knew how to make web pages, and businesses were competing to hire any viable candidate. In many cases, knowing how to make a CGI form work and lay out pages in Illustrator made you a hot prospect.
Businesses started realizing that "this Internet thing" might be more than just forwarded jokes and dancing cartoon characters. Companies that specialized in web design were started, and existing companies that specialized on everything from marketing research to annual report design started augmenting their services with web design and development. "Old economy" businesses were infiltrated by "rogue" intranet sites or supplemented with extranets to assist with partner relations. The Internet was becoming so big that it wasn't just part of business--it was its own industry.
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