Surf City, USA<\/a>.<\/p>\nHow I Cope With the Criticism<\/h3>\n
I tend to deal with the criticism that front end development is not “real” development simply by not worrying about semantics. Honestly, I don’t care what people think my job title is. In some circles, I am seen as the designer. In other circles, I’m seen as the developer (for lack of a better word, I guess). Heck, as I type this, Chris Coyier sees me as the writer. Where does that fit into anything?<\/p>\n
I called myself a web designer at the beginning of this post and that is my default answer for what I do. Some of my work happens to involve designing layouts. Some of it happens to involve coding prototypes. Some of it even requires me to write functions. All those pieces are what work together to develop a website, which is what I’m trying to do at the end of the day regardless of if I am seen as a designer or a developer.<\/p>\n
Where Do We Go From Here?<\/h3>\n
First off, let’s make love and not war. I’m not really a fan of name-calling and snarky online comments because it’s unproductive.<\/p>\n
Secondly, I think the door is wide open to talk honestly about the need for better job descriptions. The point of Lara’s post is not that FizzBuzz is the epitome of evil, but that the job she interviewed for was out of scope from what was written in the job description.<\/p>\n
Lastly, let’s accept that our industry changes rapidly and that includes the scope of the work we do. We need to have an expansive and evolving baseline understanding for what front end development encompasses and that the meaning of *development* may shift from time to time or even project to project.<\/p>\n
OK, time to stop writing and start designing. Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello, my name is Geoff and I am a web designer. At least, that’s what I tell people I do for a living, because it’s what most people understand. The truth is, I am a front end developer. 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