The One Skill Every Web Professional Needs

June 11, 2003 | 1 Comments

As I’ve mentioned before, on the Web there are very few rules and if there are any they are sure to change just as soon as you “get it.” Beware of anyone who tells you they “get the Web.” Well, anyone except for me.

That’s a joke. Okay.

Web professionals often talk about right and wrong ways to do things, what sorts of technologies are essential and what skills will take our work to the next level. We talk (and usually way too much) about semantics, job titles, best practices, you name it. I’m here to tell you (here we go!) that in my mind the one thing every Web professional needs, regardless of their main job function, be that IA, Design, Development, what-have-you is adaptability. You know, the ability to wing it.

Adaptability is defined in Webster’s as: “capable of being adapted.” Adapted is defined as: “to make fit (as for a specific or new use or situation) often by modification.” Kinda makes sense. What I mean by adaptability is the ability to problem solve, to learn to change to fit the needs of a situation and to be able to go with the flow.

I’ve yet, in my 8 years working on the Web, to come across a project where I didn’t have to make up my own rules, at least in some fashion. This may change (doubtful), but each situation I’ve encountered has it’s own particularities and challenges which demand it’s own solutions. This is not to say that experience and knowledge don’t help, they definitely do. They help, among other things, increase adaptability.

We learn guidelines and best practices (remember there are no rules yet) and then we learn how to get around them, or adapt them to suit our needs and meet the goals of the projects we work on. This goes for all Web professionals, like I said, regardless of primary job function.

At times having to be adaptable can be very frustrating, and this is one of the many challenges of working in a medium that is at once so young, yet so quickly being developed.

So, to sum up, to be a successful Web (insert job title here): learn how to wing it!

Agree? Disagree? What do you all think?

Filed under: Web General