I’m 35 this year, I know, I know, I look so much younger but this year has made me realise that I’m not getting any younger and I’ve been thinking a lot about what I see myself doing in a few years.
Recently I’ve taken an interest in how things are planned. Workflow has become a big thing for me. It already should have been I guess but now, I’m starting to see major flaws in how we do things overall on the web and would like to get involved in sorting it, at least for where I work anyway. I’ve also taken an interest in talking to people about what I do and I’m due to do another talk to hopefully a wider audience in June and then maybe if I feel it’s right, I will take it to events and what not. I’ve also ramped up the writing which I enjoy a lot.
I’m also keen to teach / mentor. I like the idea of developing youth at an early age and bringing them through into the workplace. Certainly makes sense for an agency to be working with the local community.
So have you given up on front-end development?
No chance whatsoever, infact I’m enjoy that more than ever of late as I try new things. I’d say talking about workflow and processes has actually helped me develop better too which is good.
So where do I see myself in a few years?
I’m not sure I fancy being that older dev in a team of youngsters. Nothing wrong with that at all, for some, it is all about the developing but I’m not sure it’s for me, at least not just developing. I like ranting a lot. I also like troubleshooting so if I can combine the two, maybe some sort of technical role / project leader type.
I honestly don’t know but I think it’s good to plan for the future. Footballers take their coaching badges so I see this as kind of doing that in a web sense.
It is quite an exciting time right now and I like the fact I’m in a scene that is still emerging and new, even 13 years on from when I first started.
What do you think? Do you have a plan for the future?