Death of the MEGA dude

I wrote in my last post about the MEGA dude, a crossed breed between a Web Designer and a Web Developer. I thought I was witnessing the birth of a new multipurpose profession out of a demand from the Computer Industry.

I found out recently that the wind is blowing in the opposite direction. I am talking the U.S. Department of Education looking to graduate professionals with single specialized knowledge, the result of a broad plan by it. Bad news if the MEGA dude is to become reality.

This fact is very interesting. On one side the U.S. Department of Education realizing it has to modify the curriculum in order to stay competitive internationally and, on the other hand, the Computer Industry looking to save money in the short term by merging two professions into one. Far sight goals against short sighted interests.

I have twins stepchildren, age nine. Recently, I attended an Open House at their school, for the first time after moving to a new neighborhood.

The meeting that got my attention, and my wife’s too, was that of the Math teacher. The Math teacher said this year was particularly difficult for kids, due to Florida – together with some other state – is participating on a pilot project to change how Math is taught at schools nationwide. Then he provided some statistics I corroborated at the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Lynch School Of Education, Boston College (timss.bc.edu).

The study by TIMSS is made every four years, the last results released in 2007. In this report, US ranks 11th behind countries such as Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, England, Latvia, Netherlands and Lithuania. Who could have imagine? Kazakhstan? Singapore?

The Math teacher continued saying that some big shots in the U.S. Department of Education went to and studied Singapore’s educational system to find out about the success of their students. They came back with some interesting findings.

Traditionally in US, Math is taught as building blocks where the student depends in knowledge acquired on previous years to advance to the next level. This method, the teacher said, has an intrinsic flaw: student’s memory. Students do not remember well after summer vacation. The material they have to cover every year is too broad and it is superficially learnt. When the student moves to the next grade, most of the time spent in the classroom is refreshing old material and not learning the new stuff. This ill circle of skimming new material repeats itself every year, graduating students with a shallow knowledge in Math.

The new teaching strategy learnt from watching Asian students is different, as it is being tested on my children right now. The idea is to rely less in student’s memory and more in hard knowledge. Less is more. For example, tables of multiplication. Because they are a fundamental piece of knowledge on many algorithm (fractions, divisions, multiplications, etc.) they have to be known like you own them.

I cannot help myself mentioning here that it seems a great discovery today – learning from Asian students about memorizing tables of multiplications. But, when I was in Elementary school in Chile many years ago, I had to memorize these multiplication tables and apply them routinely. I have not forgotten them since. They are imprinted in my brain like computer circuits.

Anyway. Now my kids are memorizing tables of multiplications. In addition, they are learning how to write very large numbers two different ways: 253434263 as (253000000 + 434000 + 263) and (two hundred fifty three millions four hundred thirty four thousand two hundred sixty three). All very new to them, and hard, as they don’t have any background like students now in first grade will have when they get to be fourth grader. Too bad. By the time my kids become adults, personal checks might be nonexistent for them to practice their new acquired skills; or they might not have enough money in the bank to write off such large sums. Oh, well.

On our way back to the car, and talking about these changes in Math, my wife said, why don’t you write this conversation we are having on your blog? I looked at her and said, what this has to do with my article about the MEGA dude? She smiled back and didn’t say a word. It suddenly dawned on me. I had my epiphany then (I am a little slow sometimes). Of course these two events are related. The MEGA dude is progeny of adults educated in the old, traditional, system. Wide and shallow. The MEGA dude is the archetypal representation of knowing little of everything and nothing of anything in depth.

If the U.S. Department of Education implements this new plan in Math learning at schools nationwide, my MEGA dude is doomed. How will the Computer Industry react to this shift?

© Tito Victoriano
September, 2010

A multipurpose machine and a superior breed

I have been trying to make sense of the evolving profession of Web Designer/Developer in today’s marketplace, and this is my analysis.

I am one of them with years of experience, so I am bias. But, let me say off the bat that I would love to know the kind of response employers are getting when placing ads like the one below:

“Sr. Web Designer needed for 30 hours per week. $13.50 to $15.00 per hour based on experience.
2+ years work experience. Skills: PHP, ASP, .NET, JAVA, CMS, Dreamweaver.
Portfolio and references required. Computer Networking backgrounds a plus.”

Allow me to dissect it. The ad begins asking for a ‘Senior Web Designer.’ Obviously 2+ years of experience qualifies you as such so any recently graduated student in Computer Science is a likely candidate.

I say Computer Science graduate because you are supposed to know three computer languages: PHP, ASP and .NET (I place ASP and .NET in the same package. I guess it could be VB or C#), and JAVA. Not an easy task.

Of course, the aforementioned knowledge doesn’t make you worth $15.00 per hour, no sir. In addition, you must have extensive experience with some CMS (I am guessing it could be Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, SharePoint, etc. The ad doesn’t specify which one, being none of them a piece of cake) and Dreamweaver to top it off.

Lo and behold, let’s not forget the word ‘designer’ in the job description. We are not talking writing code here but working with the other side of the brain, no less, at still $15.00 per hour.

You cannot apply to this job if you don’t have some training (2+ years, perhaps?) in graphic design or visual arts plus, knowledge of the tools of the trade such as Photoshop and Illustrator at the very least, right?

If all of the above were not enough, it would be nice if you knew about network cards, USB wireless adapters, CAT-7 patch cables, 802.11b, 802.11n protocols, Hubs, Switches and Routers, troubleshoot printers and very likely MAC, PC, and Linux on a network.

If you are smart enough – following the ad assumption – you should have all this experience and knowledge within the first 2+ years in the workforce with references and a portfolio to prove it. Of course, you should be excited at making $15.00 per hour. (There is no mention of benefits in the ad, health plan or otherwise. You’ll have to find that out when going to the interview.)

My understanding of a Web Designer, Web Developer and Network Administrator is of a very different nature as it applies to using a computer for different purposes.

Setting aside networking for the sake of this discussion I am going to focus on Web Design and Web Development.

I know by experience how difficult it is for a programmer to visualize a web page in terms of color, aesthetic and old plain visual impact. On the other hand, I know how clueless designers can be when it comes to understanding i.e. AJAX, or how to make a database connection.

It takes more than 2+ years to become a proficient programmer or web designer. Programmers, like designers, are continuously lamenting the fact that they are always playing catch, learning a new scripting language, library, API, or the last Object Oriented Language on the block. Remember C# when you were learning Java or vice versa? jQuery or MooTools frameworks? PHP is the de facto server side language in the Open Source community today so, what gives?

Graphic designers have issues of their own. It used to be Photoshop and Illustrator or QuarkXPres. Then the Web and multimedia came along; you had to learn video and sound editing. Designing for the printing industry was not enough either, so you learned HTML and Dreamweaver. Flash showed up in the table and you had to learn it too but, ActionScript? You had to draw the line somewhere; you were not hired as a programmer. O.K. your job description changed to Web Designer, cool. But, out of curiosity, did you get a pay raise along with these changes?

The above ad reminds me of a woodworking, multipurpose, do it all, machine. This contraption has a table saw, disc sander, stand-up drill, horizontal drill and even a lathe, sometimes even more tools, all integrated into one piece of equipment. It does all that advertise to do – after some lengthy setup for each tool and strict performance limits. If you are a field contractor, you can even take it with you, as some of them fold and have wheels.

The fact is, the computer industry is a very complex environment and will continue to be so: new gadgets, new applications, new ideas, new ways of doing things.

It is a fact that a new, superior and smart, mutt is needed out of the mix of a designer and a programmer.

In my opinion, with the recognition that carries being of a superior breed the computer industry will have to compensate accordingly, not $15.00 per hour like the ad above shows. As a point of comparison, $15.00 used to be the starting salary for a junior cabinetmaker in 1985, in Florida.

I don’t want to tell employers what to ask for when advertising for a job position – they can ask for the moon if they wish. But, what percolates from the ad above, and many others I have seen lately, is a trend from employers toward merging two distinctive individuals – designer and programmer – into one mega dude.

Demand for this mega dude originates from economic junctures and circumstances we are living in. The fact is, and I am going back to my analogy of a multipurpose machine, the employer will not get the depth and capabilities a specialized designer or programmer brings to the job today. But, mind you, you’ll get an original.

With enough time, a new Bachelor Degree will emerge out of a demand for it. It will be taught in colleges with a curriculum dictated by the industry itself. And we’ll know what kind of performance and duties to expect from this person graduating from it, when she or he joins the workforce.

In the meantime, the search for the mega dude will continue.

But, with the kind of money offered for it today, chances are, we’ll run into Bigfoot first when picnicking in the park.

Tito Victoriano
titovictoriano.com
© August, 2010

TitoVictoriano.com

Tito Victoriano – Freelance web designer for hire

Just my opinion…

The making of multimedia websites.

Web design is something that I think of, and work on, pretty much every day. One thing I can assure you; building multimedia websites is a rewarding task. There are so many layers to it that’s never boring.

Over the years I have seen lots of software being created.

Software to manipulate sound and graphics; HTML, CSS, and video editors; different IDEs, databases and operating systems; Adobe Flash evolving into a complex environment for web development, etc.

Nowadays is not for a lack of tools that we crave for but simplification in content delivery. There is so much ‘noise’ out there that trying to convey a message in a forest of ads and banners is becoming a daunting task.

For example, a big site such as CNN.com, overhauls its website with a single goal in mind: “The reader has to find what she or he is looking for with minimal effort and as quickly as possible.” The end result is a website with strong multimedia content.

Much has being said about what constitutes the best web design.

Most of what I see under this title is sites visually compelling; sites that catch your attention immediately with their first page for its color, linear design, and engaging message; these are sites made in collage format or applying narrative in the form of rolling images, interactive images, fading images, etc.

It seems most people agree with the above. A good website has to be visually engaging.

The other side of the website duality is the visitor, which has being identified as having short attention span, always in the run and in a rush to get someplace else. Just look at the bounce rate of Google Analytics.

So, for the web developer, the question is: what tool or tools are the most efficient to push information faster and with the lesser amount of effort from the visitor’s part? The answer is multimedia; not exactly utilizing an abundance of words, mind you, but delivering information he or she can scan out of a web page quickly.

Fortunately, website developers have tools no other media can offer.

This fact has many implications. In a multimedia environment where different disciplines converge, team work is of essence.

Today, a successful multimedia website is the effort of a talented group of graphic, video and sound editors, programmers and writers all stewarded by knowledgeable leadership.

Let us not forget web copywriters and search engines strategists.

Tito Victoriano
titovictoriano.com