That’s what a group of website developers asked each other as they convened – contemporaries who hadn’t seen each other in some time. They asked each other what code sources/web sites/free software/etc. each was playing around with. They took notes. Most of the developers were in their late 20s, except for one self-employed web master in his 80s. Only one had a bachelor degree; the rest had high school diplomas, yet with annual incomes into six figures.
The website developers were assembled to serve as a focus group on the curriculum topic of the skills needed by website developers. According to research findings by the Soft Technical Skills Institute (STSI), the following items were generated and rank-ordered.
1. Unleash your curiosity and creativity
To a person, they declared that an intense curiosity as to how things work is vital for a successful website developer. This contributed to creative solutions for the final product.
2. Learn on the job
All agreed that they learned something everyday. The technology advances quickly; books and manuals were dismissed as being obsolete before published. All had favorite web sources to search for clues to solutions, such as GitHub.com. All attended web-development boot camps on emerging topics. The elder web master declared, I never turn down a job. I accept it, then figure out how to do it. I do the full stack (everything from development forward to design). My job is to make it work!
3. Communicate
> Communicate in writing and verbally with clients
> Communicate internally with staff, such as interpreting the function of a website and clarifying the web elements needed, including navigation bars, buttons, shopping cart, etc. This is accomplished by competing in daily stand-up internal scrum meetings lasting from 15 to 90 minutes to keep informed, coordinated, and on course.
4. Imagine/sequence/assemble the flow of functions
> Establish, review, and maintain "legacy” or original code.
> Review and revise to ensure "elegant” code, which is simple, clean, effective, and efficient code leaving little chance for bugs
5. Manage the project
Use either "waterfall” (linear development design) or "agile” (cross-team developpment design). Both techniques get a team to the same product. The difference is that waterfall tests, de-buggs, and troubleshoots the project as a whole at the end, while agile teams make code and structure correlations "along the way" by multi-testing, de-bugging, and troubleshooting events.
6. Take brain breaks
Developing a website is a thought-filled process. Thinking is required. Concentration is mandatory. As one developer declared, "There’s nothing worse than having the entire program finally outlined in my mind’s eye, only to have that disintegrate by someone asking, Whasup? As a result, we have instituted an internal messaging procedure which queries, When you’re available to talk, please let me know."
What are you playing with? As the late Frank Lloyd Wright always asked other architects, What are you working on?
