Thursday, April 13, 2006

Web Developer vs. Designer...

Okay, I need someone else to tell me what to do here because I no longer trust my own judgement when it comes to this stuff. This all started last night when I decided that I was going to ask my company to pay for me to go to a design conference. After calculating the costs, I figured...with that much $$ they could send me to some classes (which would be better). That thought process then migrated into thinking what classes would I take...design or development? (Not so much 'design' classes but learning the latest design software.)

So, here's my question. Do I...

a) ...request to go to the design conference? This is a 4 day event that has all sorts of classes from design, design software, to freelance networking.
b) ...request to take design classes? I could probably sell this to them best because it's local, therefore less costly, and it relates most to my job.
c) ...request to take web development classes? This would be a tough sell because even though I maintain our website, we really have no need for dynamic/database driven stuff. But at some point I really need to learn this stuff, there seems to always be a need for developers...

Listen to me going on and on. All this and chances are they ain't sending me nowhere! Well, thanks for tuning in to my random babblings anyway...

3 comments:

J-2 said...

The best way to answer your dilemma (in my opinion) is to ask yourself, "which one is probably the best chance that they'll accept?". and, start with that one. if you think one of them is a long shot, then better to make a smaller request first, and then try for the long shot at a later point. the conference could be the way to go here, b/c, during those 4 days, you may find out if you want to pursue the designer courses or not. this way you get an idea in the 4 days without the committment of a full-blown class.

in regards to "designer vs. developer" - that boils down to where you'd prefer to take your career. it sounds like, based on your recent work, you are steering towards developer. but, that's just based on my observation.

so, that's my 2-cents worth.

Unknown said...

Ouch, that hurts. You know what they say...developers can't design. Whatchu tryin' to say, punk?? ;-)

Valid points. I think I'm going to request the design courses. I would attempt the conference (I want to do that more), but being that the conference is in Vegas...I could hardly pitch it as an educational expense!

J-2 said...

ha...i guess my "observations" remark was misconstrued. i meant that my "observations" of your conversations, as opposed to my observations of your websites. and that you seem to talk about the web work your doing focusing more on development. and not to say that your current development lack any design skills :)