My development journey has been somewhat tumultuous so far. I started out getting marketing websites to work, via a whole suite of no-code web-builders like Webflow, WordPress, Bubble. At the start, these web builders truly abstracted away the hard, technical parts of web development. I didn’t have to understand the basics and the abstractions of building up to a machine that is able to display and manipulate data in a way that is a joy to develop and to maintain. I only had to work within the interfaces of the no-code builder. While this is a godsend to business owners, as a service provider I quickly found myself scratching my head and bumping into a lot of obstacles whilst trying to develop solutions for clients. This resulted in subpar services and a bruising to my ego.
As i worked to identify the issues and trying out a whole host of solutions, such as the immensely popular Next.js framework. I began to realise that I had a flawed approach. I was starting out development at a level that was too abstracted for me to be able to control the outcomes of complex use cases. I realised that what I needed was to dive deep into the foundations behind these abstractions, see the patterns, learn which rules are important and which can be bent, to have a fuller understanding and control of how to build these complex systems that are able to work.
I have decided that as a service provider, and someone whose craft is building these applications, that I need to truly understand these nuances to be able to truly build something of great quality.
Web Development to Me
Developing for the web has been the most interesting experience of my life so far. I never knew that building the roads that connect people digitally has so many nuances that would become such a source of growth.
The process of thinking about data, how to convey meaning by manipulation of data, how to structure it in a way that it becomes a complete, living system, has exposed me to concepts that are incredible. Making bits in a disk firing, turning on and off, in service of something that means something to humans is a a truly insane feat, but via the emergence of ideas upon ideas upon ideas, allowing us to achieve what we achieve today.
To me it is a long journey, but a worthwhile one. For there is always something new, unexplored, something that emerges, some beautiful, some not so much, but never a dull moment.