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If you had to choose the one skill that would help you be a
success on the INTERNET which would it be? The ability to program
or the ability to do marketing. Knowing that if you choose one
you probably could hire others to do the remaining one.
Your thoughts please.
I must be one of the very few then? ;)...LOL!
>If you had to choose the one skill that would help you be a success on the INTERNET which would it be? The ability to program or the ability to do marketing.
Marketing 101% choice.
Programming is a task that many people can learn fully, and is the way I started out on my career path (30 years ago).
Marketing is a natural gift, that can only be learnt to an extent.
You can learn to be a great programmer, but, you can only learn to be an average/good marketeer.
There is a "Magic" element in marketing.....like there is magic in being a great Pianist. You can't learn it, you are either born with it, or you are not!
I disagree with the assertion that programming can be taught to anyone... yes anyone can learn the syntax of C#, PHP, HTML, Javascript, Regular Expressions, Xpath and XSL etc. But when you're planning a new application and need a clear vision of data relationships, useability and solving a problem with elegance and scalability - I've noticed some people "have it" naturally, and others struggle and come up with convoluted spaghetti code and awkward solutions.
In programming at a higher level there is a creativity that also requires a fomulaic/logical mind that I believe is akin to "talent" not "skill". While anyone can (try to) learn the skills, those with the talent grasp the skills easily and execute them with greater adeptness.
If I was a blank slate and had to choose talent in one or the other, I would choose "programming", because my personality is shaped around the talents I have, and if I had to go back in time (and genetics?) to choose a path I would choose the same one. Which is a backward argument laden with bias, because if I was gifted at Marketing I'd probably enjoy it and would choose that path instead.
But rather? Professional fisherman. :-P
Very few people have both skills of programing and marketing.
Quite. Some of us are rubbish at both. >;->
Programming is something I've aspired to learn since I was a kid but never really got past Dragon Basic at about the age of 10. I suppose I should sit down some time and really learn some C++ or Visual Basic or something.
I've been meaning to learn Javascript since February 2000: same problem. I can hack scripts about a bit but it's still a bit above my level.
PHP and ASP? Not a clue.
Marketing, no idea. I am not commercially minded and I hate consumerism on principle.
I certainly don't "market" the products on my site. I'm just as likely to rip them to pieces as to recommend them.
All in all it's a good thing (for my site) that I see the web primarily as a written medium rather than a programmatic or marketing environment (though I concede it can probably be whichever of these you want it to be).
So, there you have it. Some of us are neither programmers nor marketeers. Some of us are... journalists.
