"Web Certified"

One of the things I love about being a web developer is the fact that you can never really stop learning new things. Our industry is always in flux. From a technical standpoint, we web developers are constantly encountering new tools, frameworks, programming languages and methodologies. This has especially been the case in the last year, with the emergence of HTML5 and the start of the mobile web revolution. And not only do we need to be aware of what's new, but also what has changed. The way web sites are built today is so different from how they were built just a few years ago. Some techniques which were considered best-practice before are now frowned upon (e.g. table-based HTML layouts). While it's impossible to be an expert on everything out there, we definitely need to keep up to date with what's going on in our trade in order to be able to build the best possible solutions for our businesses and/or our clients. But that's fine with me because this is what keeps things fresh and exciting as a developer.

While I believe most of my colleagues feel the same way I do, I have unfortunately seen evidence that not all do. In my freelancing days, there were several instances where I was brought in to "rehabilitate" half-finished sites left behind someone they had previously hired. Most of the time it was better to just start from scratch. The problem is that pretty much anyone can call themselves a web designer or a web developer. And sometimes, technically-naive clients will shell out big bucks to a contractor who either doesn't know what he's doing or hasn't brushed up on his skills in a few years (which is a very long time in this field). There are some professions in which one is required to complete a certain amount of ongoing training in order to maintain their status in the profession. The most notable example is the CME (continuing medical education) requirements that physicians must satisfy to keep their medical licenses. I sometimes wish that web professionals were also subjected to a similar kind of requirement to keep us "web certified". If you don't keep up, you become obsolete -- it's as simple as that.

At ten24 we put our money where our mouth is when it comes to being "web certified". In the past year, we have sponsored 3 technical conferences: MuraCon, RIAUnleashed, and the upcoming cfObjective. We believe that contributing to the developer community by supporting these events can only be positive for our industry. And who knows -- a conference attendee from one of these events might be a future superstar at ten24! Conferences are also an excellent way to learn from and network with other attendees. I find it interesting that this networking aspect is the thing that makes some managers wary about sending their people to conferences. I think about the story I heard (don't know if it's true) about the CFO of a company who asked the CEO, "what if we spend all this money to send our people to these conferences and then they end up leaving the company?" To which the CEO replied "what if we don't and they stay?"

We'll see you at cfObjective.