cat slave diary

Pretty is not necessarily secure

Written by

Andrew van der Stock

in

,

I feel sorry for folks trying their hardest to be something they’re not.

It’s time for me to put something down I’ve been saying at conferences for years. If you’re not a programmer or developer by trade, please don’t write software or web apps. Dreamweaver does not maketh you a programmer. Ajax is not a magic path to studly geekiness.

You’re simply unqualified. Get someone who can do it right, the first time. Sadly of course, lots of developers are in the same boat, but at least they know what the tools of our trade look like.

I wouldn’t dream of doing marketing, cooking a meal for 300 Z-listers, ripping out a squidgy bit from inside someone else, arguing a case in front of judge (although I do play a lawyer in the lunchroom), or doing a corporation’s taxes in a zillion years.

Why does the opposite seemingly rarely apply?

Comments

3 responses to “Pretty is not necessarily secure”

  1. MDB Avatar
    MDB

    If you tried removing a squidgy bit from inside someone else, the results would be immediatelly obvious. Unffortunately the same cannot be said of ‘5-minute’ developers, especially when the audience of the final product is someone who oohs and aahs at flashy graphics and little spinning ‘wait’ icons. Rarely do I get crankier than when trying to work around the tangled non-sensical code of someone who would classify themselves as having the same job as me.

    BTW, I would have struck up more of a conversation with you on the way back from the conference dinner (other than a blurry “hey, how’s it going”) had I been slightly less drunk and sleepy. It’s amazing how much wine one will drink to drown out a heinous Bonny and Clyde act 🙂

  2. vanderaj Avatar
    vanderaj

    Sorry for being a bit quiet on the bus as well, but honestly, I was a little under the weather and my cold was kicking in. It was everything I could do to avoid being a little but motion sick. Small talk (or serious talk) was most definitely off the menu.

    Don’t worry – Corinne Grant and the Umbilical Brothers more than made up for the farcical Bonny and Clyde act. An American sitting with me found it to be a bit distasteful as they shot a fair few innocents in real life, and thus not really dinner entertainment fare. Something you might want to pass on to the Warner Bros folks for next year.

  3. MDB Avatar
    MDB

    I’ll actually pass that on to the higher ups here too – that entire act was a bit of a surprise for most of us. If you run into those guys again suggest to them to make an official complaint to us – a paying customer being offended will get things changed. Once again, you have to threaten the money for anything to happen 🙁

    Corinne and the Umbilical Brothers definitely did a good job though. I’ve never laughed so much at an angry pig puppet before 😀

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