What I like about Website Development!

Another Friday night spent in front of a screen

[wolfadeus]

I like about website development...

...that you can spend a 30 minute break from work in an efficient way (at least that's what you think until you realise it was actually close to an hour).

...that you watch something grow.

...that you can track your product more than in any other branch.

...?

[seanpecor]

I enjoy being able to hack on code that solves a problem for my vendors or automates a web site process. I love automation, and the web is perhaps the only commercial medium where nearly everything mundane can be automated. I love developing smart and sensible automation that doesn't frustrate customers. I love taking a shower at 6am, having a great idea rise to the surface of my mind while I'm washing my hair, and developing code to support that idea by the end of the day, and having it published to my web sites the next morning. I love the web because I can make mistakes on Tuesday yet have them rectified by Wednesday, and have learned something important in the process. I love website development because in 6 years it's taken me from living in a little trailer in rural Vermont to a position where my family will be financially secure for generations.

Wolfadeus, I know how those half hours can turn into hours, and morph into days, and weeks and years. It's a fun journey :) You just have to make sure you get out and enjoy the sunshine and get some dirt under your fingernails too :)

Sean

[wolfadeus]

...I like to learn new things and the www develops fast enough to keep me entertained.

...I like to take on generalist's tasks - graphics, writing, coding, marketing

PS: nice garden, sean! i always wanted to go to vermont, but never managed to.

[Broadway]

I run my websites as a "second" career. Today I had the day off and could spend the whole day on my sites. I love the fact that around 2PM I was getting really hungry, I had been hungry since noon, and realized I enjoy this work so much that I simply hadn't taken the time to eat.

[seanpecor]

Thanks Wolfadeus :) We're in west central Virginia now though. We left Vermont behind in 2004, although we still visit regularly. Here in Virginia we're right alongside the Blue Ridge mountain range so I feel at home but the winter is half as long and half as cold. The best time to visit Vermont is the first week of October, when the autumn colors are everywhere and the daytime weather is pleasant. Unless of course if you ski or snowboard, then the best time to visit Vermont is any day winter day whatsoever ;)

Sean

[wolfadeus]

...that you have more direct contact to your audience than in any other publishing medium.

...that you can focus all responsibility on an individual.

...that you can always hope to become a millionaire without doing actual work, and you never need to admit that this is an illusion because you know this guy that...

Sean: I'm the one Austrian that doesn't ski, so I think I'd rather go for hiking and some photography in fall.

[ganderla]

This might sound really crazy, but my servers were down about 30% of the day and I was glad as I had a chance to work on other projects.

Before I was thrown into working on the web, I worked for a government contractor. Once a year the VP flew in on the jet and made a speech. The absolute only thing that I took away that has made a difference in my life was "Folks, our pipeline is always full of new projects." I have at least 25 projects that I am working on at any one time. When one is done, two more are in development.

For example, two and a half years ago I bought a domain that has sat ever since. Recently an opportunity came up and that domain was absolutely perfect. I never regret a purchase or project.

[seanpecor]

Ganderla, I can relate totally with you on the matter of multiple projects. For me it began as a teenager, and I'd get some software half finished, but learn so much during the process that I would iterate back to the beginning and re-factor the entire tree of source code. Back then the top priority was self education with the support of mentors; learning was more important than completing a project. I think the really great web developers never lose that sense of wonderment, although with age and discipline one does manage to finish more projects than are left my the wayside :)

For me I've learned to work on multiple projects that are, at their root, interconnected with a singular project. I find that I'm better able to push forward, innovate and monetize my projects more efficiently.

Sean

[Essex_boy]

I like websites development as it means I t dont have to talk to anyone while Im working..

[ganderla]

seanpecor,

I absolutely love being busy, I thrive on it and if I only had one thing to do, I would be homeless.

I also told myself when I started my online business that I was going to do whatever it takes to NEVER work for anyone else again.

I have built what I have from the ground up and worked in the trenches to get it where it is today.

I have several revenue streams and they are all diversified. I have the time and money to do what I please, when I please. As long as I have my laptop, of course.

I am the person who would rather have 100 sites making $10 a day instead of the type that has one making $1000 a day.

I performed a wedding for a former colleague about a month ago and everyone I used to work with was there. I have to say it was so gratifying to hear and see the jealousy. That might sound shallow, but I deserve what I have.

[wolfadeus]

Interesting line, essex_boy; I don't like the non-socialness of website development and always felt that the face-to-face exchange with other webmasters was among my most fruitful and efficiently spent hours.