When you are known as the “techie guy” and you have little patience for complaining, you end up getting volunteered to do stuff that you really aren’t qualified for. Case-in-point, the web-based community calendar I am developing for NGOs at the United Nations. Not something I would have ever imagined coming across my desk, and yet here I am building it.
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Oh I know few things, from basic HTML, CSS, and graphic editing to Zope and Plone CMS management. But these are just things I have picked up along the way.
Having a little knowledge leads folks, from NGO colleagues to my dad, asking me about building a “simple website” for hosting files or a wiki or a photo gallery. It’s all simple enough, until you actually start doing it.
Being the guy who knows something about web development is like being the guy with the pick-up truck. Suddenly friends and friends-of-friends are calling you and asking for help with some “little job” that ends up eating your whole weekend.
So, somewhat reluctantly, I am trying to get some skills under my belt — CMS development and management, member roles and security settings, custom style sheets and modules, and basic web design. I am going to get asked anyway, so I might as well know a few things.
I don’t think I would ever like to be the full-time web development guy. I like CONTENT too much to get wrapped up in the code. I’m not really logical or mathematical enough to ever master a programming language like python or javascript. But nowadays, being the guy who can throw online a community blog and a document server in a day can make you plenty popular.
Anyway, it’s better than owning a truck.