The death of web development and design, and what to do next.
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Tagged with: Web development is on the move. Ace at CSS, semantic markup, Javascript or server side languages? Great. But it doesn't look like it's gonna help you all that much anymore in the long run. I'm not talking next year, mind you, but I'm pretty sure that in five years from now things are going to be looking a whole lot different than they do right now.
Our craft is becoming a commodity and people in charge don't care about the quality of the markup, CSS or how short our JavaScript is. What matters is how fast you can get it to market, how many people it reaches and how cheaply it can be built.
There's a somewhat disturbing thing going on with people advocating a rebirth of table based web design. Why? Probably because CSS layouts are 'hard'. A similar movement is visible with Javascript. Hello Classic OO! Why? Probably because prototype based OO is 'hard'. Aral pointed out to me in a response on Twitter that a similar thing has happened already in Flash ActionScript. Apparently just about everything is 'too hard' and has to be made easy for the masses. Bottom line: The ability to do a CSS layout from scratch is going to be irrelevant. The ability to do all sorts of voodoo magic in javascript is going to be equally irrelevant. There's just not gonna be anyone who cares about these abilities, unless you want to become a library/SDK developer.
In his article on ThinkVitamin my friend Christian points out several interesting shifts in web development. Web applications are increasingly made out of ready-made building blocks. These blocks may be API's that are used, sophisticated libraries that greatly reduce the amount of programming required or advanced SDK's that generate a lot of the code we used to write with blood, sweat and tears. Granted, it won't be as pretty but... hardly anyone is going to care. Especially not the ones that provide the cash to pay the bills. They just want the product to look pretty, work right and be ready to launch yesterday. In a way you can see the distributed nature of the modern web in action on this very site. A part of my site is updated through my Twitter account, pictures from my photoblog are shown and recently I replaced my 'side salads' with content from my tumblelog.
A month or so ago I wrote on my tumblelog about the same thing. I figured design may be a part of web development to focus on a bit more because design skills never get outdated or obsolete, no matter how fancy the development tools get and no matter how easy it becomes to build a web application. But... there are more skills that won't go old any time soon.
I believe that 'old school' web developers, especially the ones that also have design skills are still going to be able to play a valuable role in web/software development, even though their 'hardcore skills' may not matter all that much anymore. The reason is the fact that fancy tools, libraries and API's don't necessarily make a great end product. It's just like how stealing Lance Armstrong's bike isn't going to make you win the Tour de France, or like how buying the state-of-the-art DSLR isn't gonna get the National Geographic to beg you to come work for them as a photographer.
So now what???
I strongly believe web developers are approaching some kind of crossroads of choice. A choice of direction. The ability to build great websites from scratch is going to be more and more irrelevant. Therefore, in order to not become irrelevant as a skilled professional I think it's time to start thinking about what to do next. There are several options. There's still a whole lot of work to be done when it comes to web accessibility. While development tools, libraries, API's and SDK's have evolved immensely, web accessibility is still lagging behind pathetically. The old school web developer can definitely help here!
Then there's library and SDK development. Since current web developers (still / hopefully) know how to do things right, they can play an important part in making sure the advanced tools of the future aren't going to spit out Microsoft Frontpage quality code. Let's call it 'meta web development', if you wish. Let's make sure the tools of the future that make web development easy aren't going to suck, or at least not too much anyway.
Then there's another direction which interests me personally: product development and conceptualization. Frankly, 99% of the people I have worked with that were dedicated to this discipline gained very little of my respect. Mostly they didn't really use the internet like their target audience does. Often they weren't really passionate about the niche their product was targeting. And most importantly, most of them had very little knowledge about what's going on RIGHT NOW on the internet, what people want, what people hate and most importantly what kind of products their target audience actually likes to use. To get this right there's only one way in my humble opinion: You have to BE the target audience. We can't expect people who don't breathe the internet to do great things on the internet. It's like expecting a sports-hater to write an amazing review of this years' Superbowl match. It's just not gonna happen. Create things you'd use yourself. Come up with concepts you'd be all excited about if you found them on the internet. Combine this with a solid background in design and development and I believe there's a direction for continuous growth. I've tried this approach a few times on a small scale and it worked out amazingly well. Years ago I developed a chat & dating site for mobile phones that became the most popular one of it's kind with the largest mobile operator in the Netherlands. I made it for MYSELF. I built something I wanted to use. And I did. And the product thrived. If it weren't for my shitty marketing / sales skills I'd probably be rich now.
Second example: I found the photoblog software Pixelpost which I absolutely loved but... I thought all available themes sucked. Therefore I created Dark Matter. Again, for myself. The free version is currently the second most downloaded Pixelpost template and I'm confident it's gonna overtake the number one soon. The paid version is still selling well and I haven't heard a single negative comment from anyone who decided to purchase the paid version. Instead I'm getting 'thank you for this' emails. From people who paid me for the product, mind you!
So here's my long-term future plan / exit strategy from web development: Become a conceptual product developer. I think I can do it. And so can many other skilled 'old school' web developers/designers. Possibly YOU! Too many half-assed products are being created by people with absolutely no vision or whatsoever so it's time for a change. I'm sure I won't get there overnight because hey, what do I know. I'm just a web developer! Patience is a virtue I suppose. It will be a while before hardcore web development really becomes irrelevant so there's some time.
Old school web development is dead. Long live old school web development!
Tags: web development,design,programming
At 18 February '09 - 00:45 Kristoffer wrote:
I’ve come to drift further from being just a designer to beeing a Conceptual product developer, and i always build things from my standpoint and from what i’d like to get out of it. It’s to hard to “speak” for some one else, at least when it comes to functionality or core-services.
Again, well put!
At 18 February '09 - 00:49 Daniel Craig Jallits wrote:
BTW, this is the most depressing thing I have read since learning that my esteemed government decided , mind you without asking, to borrow $787 billion from my wallet, and the wallets of my children and grandchildren.
At 18 February '09 - 01:07 Kilian Valkhof wrote:
However, If there is a breach between low quality, high quantity and high quality, low quantity products such as you predict, it’s should already be visible in web design today.
The only place where less and less business opportunity is in the middle. In the long run, to be ‘succesful’ you have to choose between quality and quantity. It’s not the end of the world and it’s neither something that applies to all web developers simultaneously. It’s just how business works.
At 18 February '09 - 01:11 Miles Johnson wrote:
Flash is slowly dwindling besides its use for media (in my opinion, its just there for flare), and ajax/js fall in the category of css/html, its that type of code that isnt a profession in itself, you have to know it along side other code.
Server programming = safe bet. No client will care how it looks, how its written, if it works in browsers, if its tables/css, as long as it works.
At 18 February '09 - 01:28 Marco wrote:
Note that I strongly disagree with your statement that suggests that back end programming matters more than front end development. In fact I believe the opposite is true. I have a back end ‘background’ so to say but gradually moved my interest and specialization to front end. Besides having developed more interest for front end development I also believe there’s an abundance of good back end developers while skilled front end developers are a lot more rare.
That said, whether you’re a front end specialist or a back end specialist, I think web development skills as it stands now are, like Christian wrote, becoming a commodity. It’s moving on. And therefore we have to as well, regardless of which sub-discipline we’ve chosen to specialize in.
At 18 February '09 - 02:59 Ian Pouncey wrote:
In a certain light it is server side development which can be considered less important, provided it isn’t a performance issue. Users don’t care about beautifully written and maintainable code either, and they certainly don’t care if you are using PHP, Ruby, Python or Java. Users are the one who ultimately pay the bills, and the smart customers know this.
As Marco touched on the focus of a good web developer must be usability and accessibility, and a solid understanding of HTML, CSS, browsers, assistive technologies and more is required. Sadly there is a defect of talent in this area, so it is irresponsible to say such skills are not important.
There is still a market for developers with outstanding skills in these areas and little else, but you won’t find many great web developers without at least some server side skills because we tend to be obsessives who want to have an understanding of all aspects of our profession.
That web development is changing is no great revelation. It always has, and those of us who have adapted have done the best. What is happening now is the same as what happened in the dot com crash. Belts are being tightened, and unfortunately the lowest bidder is more likely to win a contract than the bid which offers quality at a higher cost. I, like Marco, worked through that, and I am confident that as things improve (even if it takes 5 – 10 years) those of us who maintain our standards and quality will come out of it in the best condition.
At 18 February '09 - 15:59 Miles Johnson wrote:
Back-end programmers are in a much higher demand than front-end. Doing just front-end work will get you nowhere, will not increase your salary, so on and so forth. Hence why you need to either learn flash, js, or back-end.
The only reason people see defect talent in css/html, is that the clients go with the cheapest person possible, and that person usually doesn’t know much about anything.
At 19 February '09 - 10:08 Ian Pouncey wrote:
If HTML was just grunt work that everyone knows how to do there wouldn’t be so much badly written new markup being written by well paid professionals.
You have made my point for me in a way. By considering it grunt work you are no longer open to improve your abilities. There is a big difference in knowing HTML as a language and knowing how to use is it in an accessible way across multiple user agents.
The majority of developers do not work directly with clients, they work for agencies. Good agencies will see the benefit of specialists, but if the only thing you care about is maximising your salary in the short term by all means go ahead and ignore the part of web development that has the most impact on users.
By following your advice you are just going to be one of many, and when business picks up you will have nothing to differentiate yourself from the crowd. By your own admission no one really cares how good the server side code is, provided it works. I’d rather pick a career path which will allow me to work on the most interesting sites and projects, and make a real difference to the lives of users.
At 22 February '09 - 04:47 Tina wrote:
At 26 February '09 - 02:20 sean green wrote:
Of course. Isn’t that what we’re all trying to acheive?
If you are trying to do anything other than make great things that work right quickly, I think your “skilled ‘old school’” eyes are blinkered.
At 26 February '09 - 08:39 Marco wrote:
The result of this is that products of crap quality will do just fine because less and less people care about the quality. And as a result of THAT, serious web development will get less and less relevant which brings us back to the original point I’m trying to make with this entry.
Hope this clarifies things.
At 26 February '09 - 09:08 sean green wrote:
Outside of producing work in our own time we exist in the commercial arena, driven my those who provide the cash to pay the bills.
I’m happy I get to do something I love for a living, even if I do have to compromise from time to time. As I suspect is the case for every working craftsman.
I look at the future of the web brightly!
At 27 February '09 - 13:18 Adriaan wrote:
Yeah, there is plenty of work. And thinking about something else, after being a die-hard for so long! I can’t imagine me building websites until I am 67…
I don’t think the whole webdeveloper side gets whipped away, because people take it for granted. I think there is still a big market for one man shows. I even think it’s the biggest market. Not one man shows, but medium sized projects where the demand is custom stuff. With all the front
At 04 March '09 - 08:44 @givan2code wrote:
As we get farther in our careers, the old school hand coders need to protect the up and coming developers and foster those same approaches when it comes to proper development.
At 16 March '09 - 02:14 Arturo Fernandez wrote:
I agree more or less with your CSS / design view. I still think that a lot of design is needed in the web which most of it looks crappy or is not easy to use.
But I totally agree with you that if you develop a product you wouldn’t use or you don’t understand the market you are trying to hit, your product will make it nowhere.
At 23 March '09 - 07:14 Sham Bhangal wrote:
‘Smart developers always View Source’
It doesn’t matter how many off-the-shelf components you find on the web – your client will always request changes that require a ‘source code level’ understanding of your component/template to implement.