When I started as a web developer, I was lucky. I was in school, studying computer science, and at the same time, started to work as a developer, under a team of open minded people, willing to spend the time to guide me so we can all grow (and grow the customer’s business).
I was proud. As an early developer, there was no web framework, no content management system to be used. We have had the luck to be building it from scratch, using methodologies our teachers were giving us directly.
Any developer lucky to be able to build from scratch, is a happy developer. Ask anyone.
A few years later, I was given the opportunity to show off my skills as the backend qualified developer. I wasn’t familiar with the CMS I was meant to be using and there was nobody around to bounce ideas off (or so I thought). I started building and building, based on what I knew, based on all my knowledge from so many years of experience. And I did it. We launched.
I custom built everything I could think of and built the client something that went live. I must say, it was a proud moment. Something I built, was there, live, and end-customers, were using it everyday. Not for their work, like my previous projects, but for their entertainment.
Then it came. The sit-down. My account director, a smart and very insightful guy, came wanting to discuss with me. He sat me down, logged into the CMS, and started to show me what the CMS can do, and what he can or cannot do with what I built. As he started, I realised what he was getting at. Expectations, client expectations, as the owners of this content management system they choose and I customized, not considering any of the features or the capabilities of this platform I knew nothing about. I didn’t even bother to try to look into it, because I have built systems before. I didn’t start from looking on what platform I was given. And why it has been chosen. Why it exists and what it brings to the table, in terms of user experience, features, capabilities and how it was meant to be enhanced and added on top on.
That was my lesson. The technology has caught on with me. I didn’t have to invent my wheel, I was supposed to spin the existing one and add on. I was meant to embrace it, and grow it further. Every day, technology grows and we, as enablers, are meant to help it grow more.
Take this lesson, if you are new to development or not so new. Take the time to study, grow yourself and each new project you are part of.