WebDevConf 2014 – Three things

WDC BannerThis post is really just a placeholder for some bigger thoughts that are to come…maybe.

I’ve been at the WebDevConf in Bristol today. I confess that I didn’t learn a whole lot, but I have been pretty inspired. And it reinforced some ideas that have been bouncing around on my head for a while already.

Three main things stood out and, bizarrely, they’re all kinda related.

Job descriptions

Everyone’s talking about them in my work sector at the moment. What is a web developer? Does anyone know any more? Does anyone care? How much can developers and designers overlap and become ‘designgineers’ (or ‘devigners’ – that one cracks me up!). Can you truly be full-stack? This is worthy of a short post of its own.

Do what you’re good at!

I’ve been learning recently to focus on my strengths. Working hard doing something you’re not good at badly and slowly is frustrating. Drop it. Do the thing you’re good at. But…

do_action()!

(That’s a WordPress joke by the way)

Don’t be afraid to try new things! Maybe to find out exactly what you’re good at. Maybe to focus your work. I have umpteen ideas for side projects. I’m starting to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks because if I don’t I’ll never do any of them. We shouldn’t be afraid to just try. Especially on the Internet where you can fail really fast and move on to the next thing.

That’s me. I won’t promise to actually follow up with further posts on those things. But I might. We’ll see.

Any of these things resonating with you right now?