i agree with the point of the article (i.e., web developers are not stupid)
i'd say that the real issue is that there are lots of good web developers, and they are all are under wraps by big companies, doing the things that they like for a big salary. the bad ones need work, so they're very prolific with their presence and marketing.
If no web developer is happy with garbage, why do the majority of sites resemblance a dumpster fire?
I'll fully back the claim the rank and file web developers are idiots. But primarily because the smart ones would never consider themselves just 'web developers'.
And a lot of times, these are the people writing confidently on the internet about web development. Problem with programming is most of the people in the community are amateurs and they communicate via the internet. And on the internet, no one knows you are dumb.
Eh, “web dev” hate is overplayed. Most devs are “higher level” devs, be that web, Java, .NET, whatever. The professional incentive isn’t there to become a lower level programmer for many. Doesn’t mean they’re dumb, they’re just heading where the work is.
There are people who suck at their jobs in every industry. My wider point is that the skills required for a good web developer is vastly different than, say, a compiler dev. The latter is not a “webdev who is a better developer”, they need much more business-knowledge, understanding what the client meant, predicting future requirements, etc.
This is an entirely new business domain, it’s not really trying to be the same.
i would argue your point a different way. i think it is one of two things:
1) web development is where the jobs are, right now. below average and average developers will (or have to) follow the jobs and the money.
superior developers are already making top dollar and/or are already in a job they enjoy, so they don't really need to move. my company is hiring like crazy right now for web developers and we can't seem to find intelligent/qualified employees anywhere, though we know they're out there.
2) some jobs are just straight up difficult to do. and i don't just mean difficult as in "it takes intelligence to do this job". there are mentally "easier" jobs that some people just do not want to take because of the demands of the job. being smart perhaps makes them easier to do, and being so difficult these jobs tend to command higher salaries. so the smart people tend to filter into these positions.
that is typically why you'll see extremely smart people making a ton of money in niche industries, in my opinion.
in large industries, the smart people usually get promoted out of hands-on coding positions, or they're tougher to spot from the outside looking in because of various other reasons.
> I don't doubt that there are junior web developers who don't know much better.
I just think it's very... puritanical the way that people bemoan the state of websites as a personal failing of web developers as a profession rather than the a result of what kind of deliverables their employers care about and are willing to pay for.
You can become a web developer without pretty much any knowledge(how computer is built, how it all works etc.), so it's not a big suprise here that there are many badly designed and/or coded websites.
Flash websites or one page JavaScript clusterf*#ks come from developers, who want to achieve cheap cool looking effect in order to cover the lack of real value in their product. They also want to have limited amount of technologies in their stack: Backend -> Server app -> JSON -> Web app, because it gives them false feeling of coding their projects faster.
Web development is like playing football or any other sport for the masses, everyone can do that, but only few can achieve good results.
This makes the article sound like a bullshit linkbait from Captain Obvious.
Most web sites suck - or at least implement one of the flaws described in the article.
But by the standard laid out in the article most smartphones suck, most desktop apps suck, etc.
But web sites, like smartphones and apps, aren't built by a single amorphous group of people called "developers". No, no, no, the development process is defined by executives, marketers, IT, designers and yes developers. Saying "Do Web Developers Ever Learn?" is misleading. It's like placing the blame on the engineering staff at Nokia for creating sub-par phones - when there's plenty of blame to place on Nokia's executive management.
A broken and stupid product is evidence of a broken and stupid company culture. Bad developers can be replaced. But a broken culture can force good developers to do bad things.
The problem with web development isn't that there is a resurgence of bad development practices. It's that the average web developer isn't as skilled as what they need to be.
The average U.S. worker spends 4.6 years in a given career, and yet it takes ~5 years to master a framework. The average computer science grad earns much more than a web developer, so the skill set required for proper development is often lacking. Add into the mix cheap offshore labour, poorly made "out of the box" web packages aimed at medium-small business, and inexperienced "geeks" who build poor websites on the cheap.
Given the skill set required for professional level web development is on par with software development, it's no surprise the role isn't getting the skilled people the career requires.
i'd say that the real issue is that there are lots of good web developers, and they are all are under wraps by big companies, doing the things that they like for a big salary. the bad ones need work, so they're very prolific with their presence and marketing.
the most visible web developers are stupid.
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