What does the developer’s job involve?
I conceive and develop websites and applications through various languages. In more practical terms, I make sure that mock-ups become interactive so that the user can see a web page on his computer or smartphone.
What training did you have? How did you become one?
I did the “Multimedia – Design and Development” course just like Linda. However languages, frameworks and other things change every day and because of this you learn more if you are passionate and self-taught.
What do you like most about your job?
I would say that what I enjoy most is being able to be in contact with other professions on a daily basis.
What is the biggest difficulty in this job?
The client XD
How does a project unfold?
The process can become a bit long because I am present from the beginning to validate the feasibility of the project and to choose the technologies that will be used. Then, once everything is validated with the designs and workflows, I develop the site or application to make the mock-ups interactive.
How do you manage several projects at the same time?
At the end of the day, for me it’s always the same start and same finish – mockups (or graphic indications) to website. To add to that, it’s always the same trio of languages: HTML, CSS and JS. From time to time, there are back office developments (with other server oriented languages) but with a little logic and the right keywords you always find a solution.
What do you think is the most important step in a development project?
The beginning and the flow of information. It is much more complicated to create something that meets the needs and is in line with what the team has imagined if there is no information and no dialogue with the designer or the client.
What are the projects you are most proud of?
Being fairly lucid, I don’t really have a good memory of what the sites required in terms of involvement on our part to recall the good side of having developed them. And to say that I’m proud of one would not really be fair to the others. All of them make me proud, but beyond the pride I can feel, I’m more driven by the possibility of giving the client a site or application that will become a real tool that meets their needs, whether it’s marketing or sales.
How do you see this job in a few years?
From a web development point of view, I honestly think that the profession will not exist anymore. The trio of languages always being the same and not very complex, people are beginning to be able to generate most of the code via software and graphic interfaces. With a little more time, they will be able to generate 90% of interfaces. This means we’ll have 10% of sites that can’t be done by generators (like product presentation websites or event websites). After that, we’ll continue to do support through bug resolution or even development of modules for code generation software.
What advice would you give to future developers?
Be passionate, without passion it’s complicated to spend hours developing sites, trying to solve problems and not neglect the basic logic of working on a machine that interprets lines of code.
Stay informed about what others are doing and don’t get complacent. Ideally, I would advise to have a first experience with a web agency that makes a lot of websites and that already has a lot of websites to do maintenance and support on. In the beginning, one can minimize the importance of seeing multiple applications of the various languages, of correcting bugs on full sites that have had many developers previously working on them etc. For me there is no better first experience to understand what the job involves, and especially to become “better”.