Life Behind The Curve @ Second Wednesday

The slides for the first full 30 minute presentation of Life Behind The Curve for the wonderful and friendly people who came to Second Wednesday in Nottingham on 14th August 2013

Transcript

1. Life Behind The Curve Or how to keep up-to-date with all things web Westley Knight - @meteoracle Second Wednesday - August 2013
2. A little bit about me Building websites for over 12 years Married with 3 kids Always worked in an agency I love doing my job This makes me feel old I should probably act a little more maturely The security of a 9 to 5 Proves I’m a proper geek
3. I used to do it all Web Design DNS Servers Email Servers Hosting Configuration Database Design Database Integration Flash ASP VBScript Server Upgrades Software Support Dial Up Accounts Domain Registration
4. I found my path Web Developer Front End Development Project Management Back End Development Database Design Server Management CMS Deployment
5. Now I have more focus Front End Developer Information Architecture User Interface Design User Experience Typography Responsive Web Design Content Strategy This is the big one for me
6. How things have changed Social Media Manager SEO Expert UX Analyst Mobile / App Developer Information Architect Community Manager Professional Blogger Online Advertising Manager Big Data Analyst
7. What will I be banging on about? How quickly things change The amount we have to learn How to keep up in your own way
8. This isn’t what I started out with Workflows & Processes Responsive Deliverables Repurposing Your Tools
9. Workflows & Processes http://responsiveconf.com/
10. Responsive Deliverables http://daverupert.com/2013/04/responsive-deliverables/
11. Repurposing Your Tools http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/04/22/repurposing-photoshop/
12. How do you keep up to date? http://uptodate.frontendrescue.org
13. Who to follow on Twitter A list of news sites, blogs & podcasts Conferences to attend Advice on finding your own sources 78 people to follow 41 in total 46 of them! This is the really useful one What this site tells us
14. 660+ Articles 90 Podcast Episodes ~55 Hours ~67 Hours July 2013 And in practice?
15. 6 Months! And in practice?
16. Typography Boilerplates & Frameworks CSS Pre-processors What about the tools?
17. Typography
18. Boilerplates & Frameworks
19. Boilerplates & Frameworks
20. CSS Pre-processors
21. That’s a LOT of stuff So how do you keep up?
22. The short answer You Can’t
23. Threatened by the knowledge of others Put myself under pressure to learn Been judged for not being ‘up-to-date’ I’ve doubted my own abilities The depressing part
24. You don’t have to feel this way Good news everyone!
25. A learning cycle 1. You want to get good 2. You want some success 3. You move into another area 4. Rinse and repeat
26. The young guns There’s always somebody younger There’s always somebody hungrier These are the guys who do amazing things with stuff you’ve never even heard of
27. You have two choices You compete by trying to learn everything you can or You can realise that it’s time for someone else to do that stuff
28. It’s all about acceptance – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain.”
29. One Brain Vs. Many Me Vs. Everyone I follow on Twitter
30. Learn only what you need A different approach
31. Keep it relevant A different approach
32. Build an archive A different approach
33. Some advice on advice A different approach
34. Learn only what you need Apply new techniques if relevant Save articles for future reference Don’t be a sheep! So that’s how it’s done
35. Don’t worry, be happy “The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.” – Voltaire
36. Thanks http://meteoracle.co.uk @meteoracle hello@meteoracle.co.uk Let me know how you keep up to date.