When people ask what I do, I say that I am a freelance web developer and consultant.
“Oh, so you build websites?” they ask.
My common response is: “Well, I don’t make them look good — I make them work.”
I really believe that there is a difference, and that you do not have to be an expert in both in order to do work in either. This is especially true nowadays, because there are so many server side applications to build dynamic sites.
The fact that I am weaker in the intricacies of CSS than I am with the innards of PHP, MySQL and Apache does not make me a “poser” when calling myself a professional. I believe that being a good technologist is not knowing all the answers, but know where to find the answer after clarifying the question.
If it sounds like I am defensive, it is because I am. PassingNotes.com, drive-thru now open ’til 2 a.m. is the reason.
Wilmeea writes:
Good grief.
Fixing stuff for people who have a pro working for them pisses me off.
This thread is regarding a client I have had for the past two months. He makes it sound as if I represented myself as a professional designer and someone asked this guy to rush in and fix the work that I should have done.
Umm, excuse me? Isn’t the opensource movement all about collaboration? Isn’t participation in a threaded discussion helping more than one person?
If you don’t want to contribute, don’t. There is no need to put other people down to strengthen your own skills.
on Aug 11th, 2004 at 8:33 pm
i more than agree…in fact, if you follow the original thread on WP, you can see the entire discussion was put up to solicit general feedback on the site (layout, colors, features, user experience)…it quickly got into this granular discussion of css components on the design side…design and development are two entirely different things…though i should mention that dave was still able to figure out the entire core of the css for a rewrite to make front end work
on Aug 11th, 2004 at 8:41 pm
David, I’m with you but you can’t let every a-hole get you down. You’re gonna get flack and it’s a normal part of being in the public eye. I get it all the time in the alphasmart community and I’ve learned to let it roll. You need to put some serious energy into finding a way to compartmentalize this stuff. Your online personae is not who you are and to think that is really limiting yourself. It is one, small part of you. Think of it that way and idiots like this will remain as noise in the background.
Yes, easier said than done and I’m no expert but I know for sure that you need to work on this. There are two sides to this issue; I agree with you on the side you wrote about but the other side, your side, I know you need to work on.