January 20th, 2010|3:14pm.
So this week started off with an email from a client who's site we recently launched. It contained a lot of "minor adjustments" that felt very uninformed and many of which were detrimental to the site. After a while, you just get tired and frustrated of explaining to clients why you know your job better than they do. People, I know it's your business, but I have a degree in computer science, I (almost) have my master's degree in human computer interaction, I have launched a TON of websites. I know what I'm doing! You tell an architect what you want the house to look like, you don't tell him where to put every wall and support beam. If you did the house would fall over. A website is not much different. It has really made this hit all too close to home.
In the midst of abandoning all faith in humanity I stopped to remind myself that building websites really is fun. It's really cool to see something come out of nothing, just by means of your ingenuity and code. It's fun to try new things, play with new technologies, and put things out there for other people to see/use. I think it's really important for all developers/designers to take time to work on pet projects. Build something that you want to see exist and set your own rules for it. If you want it to just be functional and not worry about style (at all yet...) build that! Enjoy the code! If you want to make something pretty, but not worry about getting it to work in IE, set your own browser requirements! If you do nothing but take change requests from clients, you'll go nuts and loose your love for your craft.
While I don't have much free time now (school + work + grading + random leftover freelance > available time), I will in the future and I really want to wrap up my PHP library, a central feed generation service, and maybe a Facebook application for GIGS, actually get some code down for Dull Roar (which I might work into a class project this term!), and find something to code in Python! It's things like these that stop me from murdering people when I hear suggestions like "I want a site that, you know, pops more. Something with edge!".
I just wanted to tell you how cool I think the GIGS project is. If/When I get a website built for The Van Goghs, I'll totally use it (and your php parser if you've built it yet!). Keep in mind you're the reason I got into web development in the first place.
Hey Dave, thanks for writing this. I haven't kept tabs on your work in a while, but I really appreciate this. I'm much much more of a novice, but I also do print design work and let me tell you......nothing is more obnoxious than having people hover over your shoulder telling you what fonts to use or how to align something or what colors to use. It sucks even worse having to "stop the presses" when clients make last-minute choices.
I've been emo for the past few months always worrying if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm not cut out for this, but I'm slowly regaining my confidence working on a few personal things and I'm thinking I should even go to school again to be professionally trained in design/web. So it's just good to hear another perspective on this, and that it's ok to assert myself as a professional and even take it a bit further.
Thanks! I hope you're doing well, and hang in there. :D