Does Your Web Developer Have These Essential Traits?
Web Developer Traits
Posted by Adam Hayes
Here are some essential traits that all web developers should have.
I recently read an article at seomoz that discussed the traits that most good web developers have (although I've modified the order a bit to fit my tastes).
- Are as accurate as possible. As we mentioned before, good programmers can see and understand the "whole picture ". If you don't understand the project, the required inputs and outputs, and deliverables, you will not succeed.
- Think ahead. Nearly every single website created will at some point in the future be modified, updated, and more than likely grown. If you do not plan for future changes you have planned to fail (or at least planned to spend a lot more on the project than you should have.) You must have thought about, if not understood, the direction the site will go and the possible roadblocks you might encounter if you design the site for the current specifications and not the "next set" of specs.
- Have improved their skill set lately. The technology sector is an area where if you don't keep studying, you will be left behind. Just think of all the programming languages that have come and gone in the past 10 years. You must stay informed of where the industry is going, what the latest and greatest is, and what is now obsolete and ineffective.
- Build for 20 instead of 1. If you program like you were going to use this same code on the next 20 sites you design, your code will be much better than if you build for 1 and adapt for 20. This will make it easier on yourself and the guy that has to maintain your code. However, don't get caught in the trap of building a Ferrari for a doorstop. Keep your code succinct but versatile enough to scale easily.
- Always look for ways they could have made their last project better. After every project you should determine what worked and what you could have done better to make the project easier to maintain, easier to scale, and easier to update. This will help you create even better code down the road.