I fell like I am some sort of professional purgatory...

I have been designing web sites for about 4 years now. In high school and college I was a photographer and liberal arts major.
I am pretty much expert with HTML and all the graphics programs.

Last year I took the MCSD, and began scripting in ASP and JavaScript. I have not really workied with compiled programs outside of class.

Lately I have been tearing up Flash 5, and have really begun to enjoy the programming. Flash is a wonderful marriage of visuals and code. You get instant gratification for your code, y'know?

However, I really like working on information architecture and database design, too. The concepts and issues are captivating.

However, as I wander through the job market as a freelance Flash/Web guy, I see a disturbing trend in employers: They seem to categorize people by the skills on their resume, and warehouse them accordingly. I have never worked anywhere that had the designers and developers in the same room.

All this mess-of-a-post leads to this question: what gives?

I know I am not the only curious artist guy with a penchant for math. What are your experiences?

By the way, I am in the Mid-Atlantic region, USA.

tim