I'm getting ideas. Literally.
It has been a long, and wonderful day for me at "An Event Apart" in New Orleans, and it is far from over. My day started out with breakfast and a terrific conversation with Jeffrey Zeldman. How fortunate was I that he chose to sit down beside me?
About thirty minutes later, I listened to his presentation that brought to mind the conversation Kevin Morooney had with Web developers at the last Web lunch. I'll give my interpretation of what he said that reminded me of Kevin's talk.
One topic his presentation touched on was how we as Web developers are not valued as much as we ought to be valued. He suggests that part of the problem may be created by the lack of standardized job or position titles for our field. Also, the Web community has many and varied ways to approach site development, which can effect the quality of each site. The qualifications to become a Web developer are not clear cut or prescribed in any way. A recent survey of Web developers indicated that about half had no training in their college careers that was related to Web development. Additionally, the image of a Web developer seems to have been harmed by the crash of the DotComs. As a result of these factors, among others, we are not valued as highly as say, an architect.
Kevin had some practical ideas of how we can go about changing how the Web is valued in our units. You can view a recording of his talk by visiting https://breeze.psu.edu/p78235580/.
After Jeffrey Zeldman's presentation, I happened to be standing in the coffee line with Jason Santa Maria. We had a nice conversation about Pennsylvania since he is originally from the Philadelphia area, and his brother went to Penn State. Jason's presentation on "The Design of Communication" was about an hour later, and I hope we will be lucky enough to talk him into visiting his home state in the future so that he can share his insights at the Web Conference.
Ok, so I'm having fun name dropping...I told you that I was having a wonderful day. I feel fortunate that in my position, I am able to travel to this conference. I'm listening to a number of potential keynote speakers and having a good time seeing how the conference is run.
I'll be back in State College next week...energized and ready for the final push for our Web Conference.
P