As with any young industry we tend to endlessly debate the labels we should be placing on the User Experience based roles that we are conducting.

Along with this debate on the labels, we seem to be now in a blame game on who really is responsible as an industry (which I had no idea we where) for the on going career development of  junior,  mid level and senior UX people. Maybe better to just fix it folks.

As these elements of navel gazing have been going on quietly in the background the game has been changing.   Maybe For the better.

With any new discipline, well new to the main stream, it will influence other roles as elements of its workflow and techniques become widely known.

Over the last three or so years I have been noticing that there has been a  dramatic tendency to move away from the UX professional to favouring o role more like that of a senior developer or sometimes a BA with UX skills. Not that BA′s doing UX is that new, we all moonlight as BA′s when we can’t find UX work.

Let′s call them a UX developer.

It is not all that bad.

Now I know a lot of you will be a gast at this.  But just think for a moment.

To often as UX professionals we are asked to do the impossible, to be the super UX hero and save the day.

You know the scenario well.  You get a phone call asking for help with a project that is in its final stages.  All they need is a little UX magic to make the project shine.  Familiar?

Now you know it’s way to late in the project for you to have any major influence on any of the underlying flaws in the UX. But you take the gig anyway.

You do it in the  vain hope that you can at least make a little difference and hopefully the project management will learn that the time to get the UX professional involved is at day one, not before launch.

You do the best you can, but you know it’s not going to be good enough.

The watching, learning, mentoring.

Now the senior developer or BA watches and learns from you, maybe you inspire them to go and do a little professional development on UX.  Overall they pick up a few core UX skills.   Which is good.

On the next project these forward thinking devs or BA start to apply these learnt skills early in the process, so at least in part there is some element of UCD with a UX component considered.  Which again is good.

After all they are already a part of team framework – project manager, BA, dev. With someone in this team championing the UX component there is no need to inject a UX consultant into the mix, who is just going to disrupt things anyway.

Now from a project management view the injection of the UX professional just didn’t work out that well anyway. At least now the team internally now has the UX skills to move forward.

Developers control the game anyway.

Yes the UX developer does have at Cooper puts it “skin in the game”.  Yes they are concerned with optionisation of the system, to focus on the best business outcome.

However the UX consultant isn’t the only one that can deliver a non biased view that supports the user cases.   A good BA or UX developer can wear this hat as well. They can be objective they can change hats mid stream.

I have seen this more and more with recent projects.

Afterall we as UX professionals don’t control the projects, the devs do.   Now maybe we should be training and mentoring developers in the UX cause not designers. Which is opposed somewhat to what Nat Boehm has to say.

So overtime maybe the UX consultant will be as dead as the webmaster, a thing of the past.

In the future maybe consideration of the UX will be just a mainstream inclusive activity of the development team.

It’s an interesting point is the ability to code in CSS, HTML and JavaScript a skill that is relevant to the User Experience practitioner.  Or should that be left to the developers and designers.

Why ask?  Well I’m at a crossroads.

You see the nature of the local industry here is such that there just isn’t a constant stream of User Experience work at commercially viable rates.  So a I have been supplementing my UX work with a little front end design and development from time to time.

Not a bad thing really I enjoy the work. Especially when I get designed into a corner and have to try and make it all work with css/html, the challenge can be very rewarding.

Times a Changing

However recently I have noticed things are starting to change locally.  I also seem to be making a few changes around here of late, maybe I’ll just getting bored, or it’s a mid life crisis (nah, too old for that beastie).

Maybe it’s time to drop the frontend development work and finally do what I have been trying to do for the last 4-5 years, focus on UX and IA type work and nothing else. Afterall UX isn’t about the implementation, it’s about the planning and initial design only.

Mind you on the other side of the coin.   Frontend development and design skills are very handy with prototyping in html and the like.   It’s just something as you don’t have to sub contract out.   You can just do it yourself.   Even better for doing the odd hack or patch between user testing sessions on a prototype.

Also, I’m told, that people with both UX skills and frontend development are rare these days.  Now I don’t really have any idea on this one. To me they don’t seem to be that rare.   Maybe it’s just different in the US or something.

Would be nice to retain the skills, seeing as I have come so far with them, and invested a lot of time and money developing them.  But again its another skill set to keep upto date, another pile of reading to do.   Hard choice.

Guess I’m being a little conservative here, but when you have a family it’s not just you that is going to suffer if you make the wrong choice.

It’s UX or Nothing

No matter what I decide, I’m no longer taking on any more new clients for  front end development work.  It’s all going to be UX and IA and the like. Lets see how this all goes. Brave move in a way, as I’ll be turning away paying work I can very easily do.

So if you are have work in the User Experience, Information Architecture, Usability or  Accessibility areas, then we need to chat.

Still I ask you, do you think it is time to drop the front end skills and move on, or are they at least a handy prototyping skill?  What do you think?

So the year has been and gone. A decade down. 2009 was a mixed year for me personally and business wise. It was an interesting year overall now I look back on it with hindsight. It was a year for discovering what I really wanted and achieving a few professional goals. However it wasn’t without frustration and disappointment.  Time to reflect on it all.

The Professional View

Despite all the doom and gloom with the 2009 global financial crisis, from the business perspective I did manage to keep things moving forward and the dollars rolling in. Which is very important for a freelancer with a family. However I’ll be honest I did find for the first time in 15 years, that I had no work in the pipeline for a few weeks. This was a bit of a shock from a business view point. But I took solace in the fact that others in the web industry where in a similar or worse situation.

Wrong Directions

One major thing last year frustrated me was my business. The market seemed to be pushing me into a direction that I was frankly not happy with. I have been designing and developing websites now on various levels since 1995, yes I was a generalist.

I have in reality lost count of the number of sites I have designed and developed over this time. I was finding the industry and market as a whole was pushing me into operated the business as a standard web design shop for a while now.  Still I get the impression there is no place for a designer/developer combo anymore.

However since 2005 I have been trying to move away from just the standard web design business and into the more specialised User Experience consultancy / design market. Problem is I don’t really think the local market is ready for this. Seems a lot of education is going to be needed in 2010.

So I see 2010 as being  the year when I take out all road blocks and focus on moving the business into this direction, away from the rest of the market.

The Personal View

One thing that 2009 did teach me – life is just too short. Way to short to be spent doing things you have grown tired of or even hate doing. It has made me refocus on ensuring both my family and professional life are more enjoyable. Sadly to achieve this I had to let a number of personal projects go – being on the Australian Web Industry Committee was one of them.

The importance of ones health was also re-enforced during the year. This I have always consider this to be of an extreme importance, however I have been a little slack of late.   Tis is now changing, which will be reflected in my coming changes in my business direction. No amount of money or anything is worth that much if you can’t enjoy it.

So the previous and upcoming year in review:

Major Events for 2009

• Speaking at several conferences and to professional groups throughout the year; I just love public speaking and educating people about the web.
• Starting up rock climbing (after a very long absence) lots has changed, for the better. Issues are still in finding climbing partners.
• Overcoming long term injuries allowing an increase in my training routines.
• Resigning from the AWIA committee, this was a personal low, but it was for the best.
• Writing more consistently with longer articles. Also writing more business focused articles.  This is something again I enjoy.
• Attending 5 major web events during the year; despite the economic downturn.  Played around with sketchnotes at these events too.
• Assisting AWIA in the organisation of several web events.  I will miss doing this.
• Running Freelance Coffee and attending UXBookclub (Perth) and the UPA Chapter

The Wish List for 2010

• To professionally read more, I really need to put aside several evenings a week to do this.
• Network more and socialise less. Sometimes networking meetings just become social meetups and have no long term benefit.
• Get into a consistent training routine. Main issue here is that I don’t yet have a training goal. Time will see on this one.
• Change the business direction away from the industry norm, as discussed above. Maybe I need to get back into longer term contracting to achieve this.
• Write at least one article a week. Considered doing Project52.  This should be easy, but reality will see.
• Take more photos. I have been really slack, need to take more photographs and just improve my skills. Especially considering the equipment I brought last year.
• Enjoy the simple things. Enjoy the quiet moments.
• Get more sleep!  Drink less coffee.
• Speak at more events, even outside of the web industry – I just get too much of a buzz out of this to let it go.

Yeah I know another year in review article, but in a way it’s good to reflect on what you have done or not done for the year.

What about you, what did you achieve?

Previously I have talked at length about burnout and knowing when you are working too much and how to step aside.  Friend Derek Featherstone has also written about burnout and finding some white space in our lives.

Kelly Goto at Web Directions South 2009,  last week, also spoke on finding more time between moments (YoYu).  Ben Buchanan explains YoYu really well too.   Everything these good people and I have said is true.

We all need to slow down, take stock of out lives.  Work out what is really most important.  What is the core things we value most.   Now don’t fog me off,  STOP now for a minute! Slow down!   If you were given six months to live would what you are doing now be important?…

No I didn’t think so.

It always comes back to family, friends and health.  Sometimes we need to remember this.   Everything else is really just window dressing.

It’s just no good churning out average work or not giving your best in  a zombie like haze of too much caffeine and lack of sleep.  We need to do what we do well.  As  we are building the future, as has been pointed out numerous times – corny I know, but very true.

Slowing Down

Now it’s been a busy few years for me personally.  I will admit publicly that it has not been easy.   Especially balancing family, health, business and community obligations.

The pressure to keep the money flowing for your family isn’t easy, it can be extremely stressful at times.  This is something that I know people without dependants will not understand.   I can try and explain it, but honestly, unless you  have experienced it you will not really understand the true nature of what it is like.  Now given that the web industry is mostly made up of people under 35 this makes people like me a minority.  Mind you that isn’t the issue at hand is it.

Now I’m a perfectionist, I’ll not be happy unless I can do something well.  I don’t work at anything half hearty, it’s 100% or nothing.   I apply this to every aspect of my life, it’s the way I am.

However of late I just haven’t been able to give 100% to all the aspect of my life.  So something to change, something in my lifestyle had to go.

This means that I too have been running this race towards burnout, like we are all doing.   When you do this something has to suffer.  In my case it was my health.   Recently I have been dealt a number of health setbacks, some of which I have recently overcome.   Others I’m still working on.  Something has to change and give.

Decision Time

Now I’m a great supporter of the web community, you all know that.  I really believe we can bring the web industry in Australia together as one group that can have a remarkable influence.  How so you ask.  Well it’s simple, we control the communications medium.   But I’m digressing.    My support for the global web community and it’s goals of best practice is not going to change now or in the longer term.  Just want to clarify that.

Sadly this week I have stepped down mid-term from the Australian  Web Industry Association (AWIA) Committee.

This decision wasn’t an easy one to make, I have been mulling over it for months.  There is a lot angst and guilt in making this decision.

However, I believe I have help shape, if only in a minor way, AWIA over the last three years into the professional organisation it is today, leaving behind a stable platform for the future.

Still at the end of the day, I wasn’t happy not being able to give 100% to the community.   So I have stepped aside for someone with more time and resources to take my place on the AWIA committee of highly professional web industry representatives and volunteers.

Don’t worry I’m not becoming a recluse or some such, I’ll be around.

Maybe Derek is right we should all be taking stock of our lives and slowing down a little.   Think about it.

I have volunteered and helped out a good number of professional, sporting and community groups over the years;  up till now I have never really questioned why I do it. I guess it’s just the drive to make a difference.  Now with my 2 year stint as the Treasurer of the Australian Web Industry Association coming to a close maybe it’s time to reflect on why I nominate myself for such things and what the benefits of volunteering for your community are:

1. Workplace Experience

   You know volunteering can give you a lot of valuable varied workplace experience and in some cases open doors for potential employment or alternative career paths your wouldn’t have otherwise have thought of.

2. Increase your Network

   Also you get to work with other people outside your usual sphere of contacts, this in turn allows you to expand your network of contacts, locally and around the world.

3. Personal Satisfaction

   I wouldn’t be honest with myself if I did say that volunteering can be extremely rewarding.  In some cases you can find yourself leading or  involved with projects that you wouldn’t normally ever get the opportunity to do.   On completion, you get an immense feeling of  satisfaction, usually from producing or contributing to something that a lot of people have got a benefit from.  Yeah, it’s a little ego centric. But you do get a buzz –  for example knowing  that you helped get a lot of people to come to an event, in which they all learnt about the latest techniques.   So in a small way you pushed your local community forward.

4. Pay Your Dues

   You get a real sense of giving something back.   I really can’t explain this, but it’s like a personal justification, well it is for me anyway.   It’s like you have to pay your dues or something like that.  Volunteering to a local not-for-profit, and a professional association in a way for me for fills that requirement.

5. Build Confidence

   We all have those areas in which we aren’t that confident, if you don’t you’re lying to yourself.   Well, I have found with volunteering you often get to work in situations that can help boost your confidence, all while being supported by the organisation of fellow volunteers around you.

6. Stay on the Edge

   You get to ensure that your skills and techniques are on the leading edge of your professional community as you are often associating with like people on the top of their professional careers.

7. Contribute, stare them down.

   No one can look you in the eye at any event or gathering and say “well what have you contributed? Bet it’s nothing, much.”  Bit of ego here. Hell yeah.   But often you have earned it.   This did happen recently to me.   It was interesting to see the look on this person’s face when I told them the number of community groups I was activity involved in.   In this case I think I may have inadvertently  shamed them into rethinking their own contribution to society.

8. Make a Difference

   This may seem silly, but you really do get to make a difference.  Often the things that you personally do can make a major difference; even if it’s just to spring board ideas for others to take up and move forward with.  Often in professional associations and  not-for-profit the resources and opinions of each volunteer are highly valued.

9. Grow and be Challenged

   Working with a group of different people, that you wouldn’t otherwise choose to work with can be challenging.  This is frustrating at times, but it’s also fantastic as it makes you learn and grow as a person and not remain just a mindless zombie churning out the 9 to 5. Anything that challenges me is good in my book.

10. Build Community

    You get to build community and bring people together, especially in some professional communities around Australia that have become fractured over the years.  Not looking at you Melbourne.  The sense of personal achievement with this is just fantastic.

11. Hone Disused Skills

    Sometimes you have a skill set that just isn’t getting used at work, so why not put it to use with a community or professional association.   Say you are good at marketing, but just don’t get to practice the ground roots marketing anymore as you are now in management driving a balance sheet. Well volunteer for a marketing position with a not-for-profit organisation may help keep those skills from going rustly.

12. Have Fun

    Finally you know with the hard work comes a lot of fun, good times, laugher, and often a real sense of comradeship, their isn’t any cliqueness that people often speak of.   Just a gratefulness that you are willing to help, and donate your time.

Well that’s my personal list of reasons that I contribute to the my community, be it on a professional or general interest level.   I’m a great believer that what you give to the community it will in turn give back to you three fold.

Volunteering doesn’t take much, sometimes its just a few hours a week, if that, and frankly the benefits outweigh any downsides.

So what are you contributing to your community?

Rating:

4

Being a freelancer is the new black.  It’s just a crazy fun loving world where nothing can go wrong. Well as a crusty old freelancer I can tell you that’s far from the truth.

Well Miles Burke in his new book The Principles of Successful Freelancing discusses just that.  Miles is no stranger to making the leap into world of freelancing having done it three times.

When I first picked up this book, I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical.   But I found this is a good book. It’s well written with an entertaining layback style all it’s own.  I can just imagine Miles sitting back in a cafe or coffee shop chatting about freelancing.  You could easily read this book on 4-5 hour plane flight.

This book is squarely aimed at the person who is considering getting into freelancing or has just started. It covers off all aspects of the freelancers life cycle, such as:

• From starting out and a hard look at oneself, are you cut out to be a freelancer.
• Preparing for the transition from regular work to freelancing, and all the things you really need to think about (but don’t).
• Finances, making sure you really do stay in business and keep a positive cash flow.
• Productivity, time tracking, getting into that productivity zone and not being distracted.
• Selling, winning work and understanding how to sell. Something all freelances fear at some stage.
• Customer service, or keeping the client, project management made simple, and dealing with difficult clients.
• Lifestyle, work habits, life balance are discussed, this is huge area that I know freelancers cut corners on.
• Expansion, life beyond freelancing, the final stepping stone on the way for a freelancer, be that back into employment, or expansion using outsourcing or your own staff.

You know what’s really good and annoying too (well for me) with this book; it is just full of all those tips and tricks that I  just wish some freelancing mentor had told me all those years ago in the previous century when I started freelancing.

I enjoyed this book to the point that I found myself nodding and smiling as Miles waxed on with another aspect of freelancing, pointing out the pitfalls along the way.  And sometimes I was wincing as I realised that after 14 years in the game I’ve still got a few things even I can improve on.

The one thing I didn’t like, and this was just me, is it was it had a few too many lists in places. It made me think I was checking off my freelancing skills all the time. But really that was a very minor point.

Overall, highly recommended, if you are a new freelancer,  or old one, or maybe just considering freelancing, get this book, read it.   Act on it, it’s a great reference source, then later on, reread it.

As Miles says:

Freelance life is hard. It can be very hard. Juggling projects with the rest of your life, as well as keeping the finances flowing so you can support yourself and any dependants, is a tricky skill to perfect, and not something everyone can handle.

But you know with this book, it’s now a little bit easier.

I was having a discussion the other day with some fellow web designer friends on the skills that you required to be stay in this field long term.

Sure we all agreed you need to at least have the core design skills, understanding of layout, colour theory, typography and the usual tricks of the trade. The platform that you used to deliver your designs was immaterial, be that Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks or the like it didn’t really matter, the end result was what was important. That’s a given.

To succeed really well in this field, we also agreed you really need to be able to code in HTML and CSS, and I don’t mean a little bit, but really well and understand the rendering issues with the different browsers on the market at the time, or at least be able to do this.

Something More

Now that was all very well and good for the situation where you are working in a organisation where you only have one role in the production of a web site, that being the design of the user interface visuals.

But what happens if you are working for a smaller firm or are a freelancer. Suddenly you may from time to time take on roles or be asked questions on topics that are frankly totally outside of your abilities. After all you just do the “design” right. Do you just wing it and hope for the best?

If you look at the progression of the web industry until recently it has focused on people with specialised skills. But it has also had a wave effect of supplementary skill flow on over the years.

In the old specialisation days you would be just doing the photoshop files, the design. However slowly over time you are suddenly doing the HTML and CSS. Then issues such as usability and accessibility are being brought up, and the finger is being pointing at you as it is your “design”. Now the wave is moving again, as Cameron Adams points out in his interview with Miles Burke, Designers are being asked to just add a little ajaxian type features to sites. Suddenly you need to know JavaScript as well. But you scream thats a developer thing. Sorry no, not anymore.

Things are Changing

If you haven’t noticed it’s a trend, that has been happening for while, people are saying, and rightly too, that designers with just design skills in a few years, no matter how kick arse their designs are going to be a dinosaur of the past in the web industry.

Now I’m not talking about becoming a gun with all these skills and moving away from your love of design. Far from it, but from a career view it does pay to stretch one’s self a little, especially in areas you are not familiar with such as:

1. Information Architecture


   Sure if the site is simple you can get away with not doing this, but if there is a good deal of content, you really are going to have to consider the findability of the information. The field of Information Architecture has number of very easy to use techniques that any designer can apply. 


2. General User Experience 


   I’m often surprised the number of designers that don’t consider a few simple things in the area of user experience. There are again a few basic skills and techniques you can learn in this area that will make your designs a little more user focused, which is a good thing.


3. User Testing


   Now I don’t expect every designer to become a professional in this area. However even just conducting a few user tests with real users will again change the way you do things and think about design forever. Now be warned this really is a skill you need to sit down and learn. It’s really not something you can just pick up run with. 


4. Javascript 



   We all know that we are being asked to add just a few “tricks” to the web site interfaces we build to make them easier to use, Most of the time this involves the use of Javascipt. Maybe it’s time you learn this language and the correct way to use it, or at least one of the many frameworks, like jQuery.


5. Interactive Interface Design

   Sure I know this, you say. But do you really. Are you totally across all the best interface design methods and techniques in an ajaxian, RIA environment. Or are you just churning out the same old stuff. Be honest, we all get stuck in a rut on this one from time to time. Maybe time to have a look at this area.


6. Accessibility

   Are your designs that accessible. Do you think about accessibility when you are designing. Are you really ready for WCAG 2 or ARIA. 


7. Usability



   So you can design fantastic web sites, but how usable are they. Sure you and your team can use them, but can the public, can the target audience. Do you really have a handle on usability throughout the design process or is just something you kind of tack on the end of the design process or leave for the developers. 


8. Backend Coding

   I’m not suggesting you become a guru on Ruby on Rails or Cold Fusion or even PHP, but maybe you should at least understand a little what those blocks of code in those files on the server are doing. I personally went down this road for about 5 years doing part-time coding in Cold Fusion and a little PHP. Can’t say I’m a gun at them. But at least I can read it and understand it.


9. Mobile Device Design



   Stop ignoring it. It’s not going to go away, you have to start looking at mobile phone design today. Yes right now. If you don’t the wave of opportunity of these cheap web communication devices will be gone. And you will be the design dinosaur.

Harsh reality check, maybe. I know it would be cool to just be able to just do design forever, that would be sweet, eh; but frankly thats not going to happen. Time to refresh those skills I think.

Now once you have gained some new skills, please remember you are still not going to be as good as the specialist doing it day in day out. But hey then they aren’t going to be a gun designer like you either. So if in doubt ask a colleague who is focused on that aspect, don’t try and wing it, that’s for cowboys, you may even learn something new.

During last week I trotted off to give a talk on career directions in the local web industry to a group of high school students.

This got me thinking about the best fit for career directions in the web industry. Seems I’m not alone, Alex Graham also has the same concerns.

It basically comes down to:

• Study at University or TAFE and then trying to get a job with limited experience.
• Doing an apprenticeship, studying part time while getting real hands on experience.
• Doing an internship in your final year.
• Setting up your own business.

The one aspect that most graduating students don’t take into account is that they’re not immediately 100% productive. This means that someone has to closely supervise them (at best). This means effectively the business is down 1.5 people. For small business, that makes up most of the web industry, this can be a major cost burden, and if not managed right terminal.

So you can see why many web firms are preferring to merge or take on experienced practitioners over inexperienced graduates.

This would point towards the use of the apprenticeship model, but the low value of the apprentices wages n Australia makes it difficult to hold an apprentice in a high skill demand industry.

Again the internship with reduced pay rates, doesn’t work either. A graduate, with no experience, is just as likely to go off with a few mates and start their own web design firm.

Now, I don’t have any problem with people banding together to form their own business. However let’s please consider that those few years experience while working for someone else will allow a graduate to learn business skills, client communication skills, and the reality of how the web industry really works. These skills are extremely critical and are usually what makes to business fail or succeed in the first few years.

So what’s the solution. Does anyone have one?

Have to go off and compulsory vote today in our federal election. Not that our vote (in Western Australia) counts for much (that’s another issue). Anyway this entire cycle of voting every four and bit years for the federal government has got me thinking of the various cycles that life presents us with.

Browser Cycle 2-5 years

In the web industry it’s no different. We have the desktop web browser production cycle. About 2 years between various vendors (excluding Microsoft) bringing out the different version of there products. However we all know that realistically Safari, Opera and FireFox are all small players in the real day to day market place. Now it is Microsoft that is the big player. It is the browser that we have to design site for. It is the one that is the sticking point for every web designer with CSS implementation; mainly with version 6. Now it was a long long time between releases for the Microsoft from version 6 to version 7 of Internet Explorer. Five plus years is a long time. I know Microsoft have promised to do better at that rate does that mean IE 8 will be with us in Beta next year. Can any of you really see that happening, personally I can’t. Well I just have to hope it’s not going to be five years, eh.

Now Andrew Tetlaw discusses the issues of the complacency with the CSS design community and the abundance of misinformation on the web via The Great Specificity Swindle!. So we all produced a lot of information on how to fix IE5 and IE6 CSS layout bugs, and a lot of this information is no longer relevant. Fine. This is more an information cycle that responds to the community needs. More problems, more solutions. It’s linked to the development platforms, the browsers.

Career Cycle 5 years

Lets for a moment consider the life span of a newly employed graduate CSS designer. I’m not talking about the top 10% of our field, I’m talking the 90%,the great unwashed. These people tend to be employed, they aren’t running their own business, aren’t freelancing. Often aren’t reading this blog.

After a few years you would expect that they would be working at full capacity with a slant towards a senior role. In this time they would have seen one minor browser version change for a few products.

Fast forward a three years, they are now a project leader, or at least senior designer, they are still a little hands on with the CSS, but over time period it has been getting less and less. Their skill set has in fact peeked, and they are now on the way down or at least cruising at a status quo. They may even be migrating their skill set to different aspect of the web design process. So in this time they have seen 2 minor browser upgrades and 1 major browser. They have seen the standards they are working with at the W3C change how many times. Zero. Huh? how many – Zero. So the standards are a constant, the major browser, if you come in on the end of an upgrade cycle a constant to. See the problem.

W3C Cycle 7+ years

I put this to you does a CSS web designer really need to learn or care about anything but the standards compliance for current major browser version and a few minors at the time of their career. Considering that they have about 5 year hands on, and that it can take up to 3 to 5 years to get anything through the W3C as Kevin Lawver discusses, and then you have browser vendor implementation time.

So is there really any motivation to assist the W3C, as Kevin states, you are not likely to see the outcome with in short time frame and that we need to “reboot our perceptions of web development”.

So why aren’t the usual 5 percent of people, who are proactive, stepping up to help the W3C (the HTML Working group is a good example).

The Fast Cycle

Why do we have this problem at all. Well I believe it’s one of life style and expectations with the industry.

• We are used to short software product cycle (besides Internet Explorer).
• We develop with programming languages that have short life cycles.
• We use and play with gadgets that have short life cycles.
• Our mobile phones are the latest, hands up those with a five year old mobile, not many I bet.
• Our computer equipment isn’t old, 3 years on average or less.
• Our entertainment is running on a short life cycle.
• We are constantly told develop design faster and with frameworks and libraries it is all possible.

What do you think. Do we have short attention span. Do we embrace speed and rapid development cycle. Can we no longer see long term goals. Do we just learn, retain get the job done, move on. Is the web industry’s short life cycle stalling it’s further development?

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So do the the young people on the block have all the ideas and all the skills? Are we (over 40′s) just dried up has-been’s stuck in a mold of doing things a certain way? I can certainly see how you could get like that (even in the web industry). But in reality I think it’s based on to narrow a view point. Let’s consider:

• My peers and I are using the Internet to its fullest extend. We are on the edge, trying the latest idea, investigating the new craze of the day (often). Using the technology. We are immerse in it. Do we understand it…oh sometimes all too well we understand it.
• Do I spend my days deep in newspapers, TV and radio (old media). Well no, the only old media I access is books, and then they are all technical books (very geeky I know)
• When you are very young and still at school you have, large amounts of free time, no overheads, no social or financial responsibility, and no one to say just no. Perfect you think, but you have no experience, you waste lots of time. Remember for every bright “genius” there will be another 100 people that just don’t make it (bit like music eh).
• On the flip side when you are 20-25 you can easily take a year at low wages, take a risk, but try that at 45, with a family, mortgage and community responsibilities. Then it becomes not so easy. However at 45 your list of contacts will be quite large, and it’s often these contacts that help you leverage success.
• Don’t forget many of great inventors were well into middle age before they found success or their landmark invention.
• One or Two Facebook applications does not a entrepreneur make. Usually just as quickly these applications are developed so there are surpassed by a similar yet more stable competitors application.

So maybe we should not be just writing off the older people in the web industry yet, hmm Fred. Sure some are set in their careers, just as there are young people too. But there are others young and old that are out there living the dream and having a go to build their dreams. Age is no barrier to ideas. Me thinks that Fred isn’t that close to the edge maybe to notice?

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