There is a difference between criticism and constructive criticism.
I’m disappointed when I come across developers laughing and making fun of a code block or website design they happen to come across. I see this sort of mentality time and time again. I suppose it is easy to forget about the long path we all had to take to get to where we are. Forget about all the mistakes we made along the way and will continue to make in the future.
This is the equivalent of a bully making fun of a geek in third grade. The only difference is that in this case, the geek is the bully and should be a bit more educated and mature by now.
I know that no one’s perfect. I’m sure not. However, the next time you come across work you deem is terrible or laughable, consider the possibility that the person you are laughing about may be newer to the whole wide world of design or programming than you. They might be younger than you and just getting started. They might not have had the opportunity to go to college like you but they still want to do whatever it is they are doing. Consider the possibility that someone might be trying to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps with limited knowledge and resources.
If you still feel like laughing, keep it to yourself and go to a comedy show.
Vince Collins
July 8, 2008 at 11:45 am
Well put Vincent.
July 8, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Good entry and great advice. I find, generally, I can learn something from almost anyone’s code.
July 8, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Great Points Vincent.
July 13, 2008 at 1:06 pm
…instead turn your mockery to the company that paid the developer thinking they were going to get a half decent website.
Very fair points, Vincent, like you said we all started somewhere. (Actually, I learnt HTML and graphic design in the womb!) Seriously, you’ve got to wonder about the companies that get their brother’s son’s friend to build a site for them just because their dad recommended them, or other small companies who don’t have much of a clue about websites and are convinced by a confident newbie that they can do a good job… but it turns out they’re pretty lame.
July 14, 2008 at 10:41 am
I can totally understand how a small or local company could end up with a website that looks outdated. There are so many scenarios.
1) The company had it built in the late 90’s by their uncle or nephew (which was perfectly acceptable at the time) and they now can’t afford to make changes and haven’t really seen the benefit of having a website in the first place.
2) The person that built the website is gone and the company doesn’t have the username/password/ISP login information or better yet, the original developer registered the domain name in their account and he/she isn’t reachable anymore. If any of you have experience with going through this mess, you know EXACTLY how difficult it is to jump through the ISP/Registrar hoops. I have a client right now that is going through this one. This happens all the time.
There are too many other scenarios here to list. In the end, a developer in my opinion should just look at these issues as opportunities to fix the troubles of your client. It’s work for you so there is no sense in bashing another person’s work.