What do I do?

In 2006, my first web job was building bespoke Content Management Systems in a government agency and executing Photoshop comps into HTML and CSS. My job title was Web Development Manager so you could say I was a web developer. But as a self-taught geek with my back-end knowledge limited to dirty PHP this never felt particulary comfortable (I got a D in GCSE Computing and object-oriented programming gives me a headache). I have always been happier in the client-side of the web so web developer just doesn’t fit.

My next job was as Web Design Manager for a small digital agency which involved designing websites and increasingly preparing these into front-end code. Due to workflow problems in the agency and the increasing demands of a boss who couldn’t say no to clients, I rapidly went straight into designing in HTML and CSS to speed up our process. You could say I was a web designer but to be honest (guilty secret time) I struggled executing designs in tools like Photoshop and Fireworks, I don’t have the best eye for colour and was utlimately always happiest in code.

In the last year I have been a true jack-of-all trades freelancer carrying out a range of jobs from visual design to interface design to usability consultancy to front-end development to CMS builds. So how now do I describe what do I do? I neither feel like a web designer or a web developer, and find these terms are limiting primarily because of what I can’t do, as much as by what I can. So I am stuck in this liminal space between two definitions, struggling to explain to people what I do within the terminology available.

Designer or Craftsman?

I’m trying to get into words some musings on the relationships between archaeology – a subject I studied for my doctorate – and web design – what I now do for a living. The two fields seem disparate but there are a number of connections that keep arising between my experiences of these two and it is something I have talked about before. One of these connections is the role of the craftsman.

I studied the anthropology of pottery manufacture and decoration. What I found interesting was that very rarely was pottery decoration executed to a preconcieved design. There was a visual grammar to their work – a ‘style’ – but the designs ultimately produced were invariably a response to the medium they were using. Potters were the first responsive designers.

I’ve been excited by recent discussion in web design about the role of craftsmanship. Recently, Simon Collison’s excellent talk at Build and Ben Bodien’s brilliant 24 ways article have encapsulated some of the frustrations I’ve been experiencing lately in describing what I do.

A craftsman for me rarely has a preconceived route – they have an object they want to arrive at, a set of tools, a set of raw materials and a vocabulary to execute their work but that execution is a process of discovery: a journey. They work with their hands rather than their eyes, they test, they push and respond. This is not to say that designers do not have similar voyages of discovery – but with design the product is the deliverable, with craftsmen it is the process.

I’m not a designer. I’m not a developer. I am a craftsman of code. I roll my sleeves up, I get a feel for the medium, I push against the constraints of new technologies, new devices and new processes. I respond.

Anyway, it seems our two-year old son had navigated to the On Demand menu and chose this film – obviously without appreciating that it would cost £6.49 – and then turned it off after ten minutes.

What surprsied me though when double checking our settings on the Virgin Media box was that by default, PG and U-rated On Demand content can be purchased without needing to enter a PIN code.

So in essence Virgin Media acknowledge that – by default – children should be protected from watching rated (ergo inappropriate) content but that – by default – they should not be protected from purchasing age-suitable content without the consent of an adult (who knows the PIN code for the set-top box).

So, if you are a Virgin Media customer (with children) please update your settings so that all On Demand content requires a PIN to purchase.

The one kind of job that I’d say I’ve found the hardest to deliver in the last year is offering a ‘package’ of work – that is a design and build for someone who wants a content-managed website. This was our bread and butter at the agency I previously worked for and something had previously enjoyed. However I’ve really found it hard to deliver this as a one-man team, at least in a way that is profitable.

So as a freelancer can package work be profitable? I’d be interested to hear how other freelancers make packages work for them?

Personally, in 2012 I really want to concentrate on doing more focussed work and working in colaboration with others more.
I’ve got some great projects lined up already that am really excited about. However, if you’re looking for someone to make great things with this year and in need of an interface designer, front-end developer or someone to whip ExpressionEngine into shape then do get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.

Update – to clarify, by ‘package’ I mean being the exclusive deliverer on a project requiring a range of different skills towards delivery. I do not mean offering set-priced products.

Did you know there are a number of costs that you can claim against which can be used to offset your tax contributions?
Neither did I until I read this article on the Freeagent website regarding some of the costs you can claim back for working from home.

With this in mind I set to a handy wee calculator tool for helping folk work out their entitlement based on their home use, available at http://tax-rates.phpfogapp.com/

It’s an early release so keen on feedback but hopefully will be of some use to others as they set to completing their self assesment tax returns.

Disclaimer this tool should not substitute professional advice from an accountant!