It’s an attitude that can be practiced in most trades and it’s a statement that always runs true.  With a pending UK election in a few weeks time, it’s something that all the parties will no doubt practice.  Remember, whichever party gets in this term, they’ll make all their mistakes and tax hikes in the first couple of years, hoping that people will have forgotten it in the latter 2 or 3 years so that they can be reelected.  It’s true also that we won’t be able to do anything about these changes; but enough of the election talk!

In development terms, a high quality finish is something that users will always appreciate and remember.  It often takes a long time to polish a newly developed site, usually because the UI that has been scoped out in the planning phase is often different to what a regular user would actually go and do or behave like when using the site.

We like to create wireframe models of our new developments to help clients get a sense of how their site will work and operate, and to also see how semi-technical people would use the site (from the wireframes).  We believe that this approach saves thousands of pounds in the long term.

Upon finishing the last aspects of the site, it’s always important to liaise with the senior designer and UI expert to get their final take on things.  You may notice something glaringly obvious that is wrong in the user journey at the end that’s best sorted out before going live.  Remember, if people visit a half finished site they may never return to see the corrected version.

I’ve worked with both a number of academically taught developers and designers over the years, as well as self taught ones like myself.  I often see recruitment agents specifying “must have a computer science degree of 2:1 or better”, and then I think why?  Surely a candidate with 2/3 years experience is better placed than an academic rookie.

When I left my university course to take up a full time development job in 1998, my tutor wished me good luck but also conceeded that education wasn’t the only route to success.  I believe a willingness, a desire and most importantly an interest in what you are doing will take you much further than a graduate that is only in the industry because it can pay well.

On the flip side, academically taught developers seem to have a better initial understanding over a wider range of issues such as security, re-usable code and OOP.  These skills are gained much later by a self taught individual.  Academics, however, often have little appreciation of the pressures of a real business and the concept of deadlines to turn a profit in the business.  For some this comes as a bit of a shock to them, especially when they’re asked to write some code by Friday having never done so before (and making sure it works!).  This is their real learning curve.

I guess in summary there is no wrong route to Internet development.  There are pro’s and con’s for each, however you must always have an interest in what you are doing and without that your ability will suffer.

You will find that this is quite a common finding when either picking up your existing code or another persons code.  Whilst each developer has different ideas on how to acheive the goals set by the client, understanding how other developers meet these needs is often the hardest part of the job.  In the real world of Internet development, not much code is commented so its often down to your own logical mindset in calculating how things work (or are suppose to work).

Over my IT career I have picked up many developers code and continued to work on top of this.  The first thing that I ask myself is ‘will it be quicker to redevelop this?’.  In some cases, it is, and thus the client gets a more efficient code base in less time (and consequently less money).  However sometimes spending a bit more time to understand how other developers have worked a situation really pays off.  The ability to consider other people’s ideas and think outside your own logical mindset is a great asset for a developer to have.  We’re not right every time, so understanding ideas that other people have put forward in my opinion really pushes your skills forwards and allows you to easily adapt to future situations better.

Like any developer, I’m proud of the code that I have developed at the end of the project, but if you do have time (even after the project is fully paid up and complete), it’s definitely worth stepping over what you have done to better your own abilities.