Learn to program, it will make web development that bit easier.
As a web developer you’re not expected to be brilliant at designing, programming, marketing, and monetizing a website. A CEO of a company ensures that all the various departments of a company work together, effectively. That’s just like the role of a web developer. For example, a web developer makes sure that the programmer and graphic designer are working in tandem. It’s a webmaster’s job to glue the various parts of a website together. However, I think it’s incredibly useful for a web developer to know a little bit about programming.
I’m not saying that you need to go and learn how to develop applications like Wordpress in PHP. All you need to be able to do is to tinker with bits of code. I know a little PHP and quite a bit of Ruby and I find it a great help when working with software such as Wordpress.
The first clear benefit is the ability to make changes to a website on demand. If something has suddenly stopped working correctly, or isn’t doing exactly what you want it to do, it can be very useful to be able to change it right there and then. There’s no need to find and wait for a programmer to do it.
It’s also much cheaper. If you can make small changes yourself, there’s no need to pay a programmer for every little job you need done. Also, if you’re able to alter open source code, such as Wordpress, you could save yourself a tonne of money. Instead of paying a programmer to develop a new application, you could tailor and existing app to suit your needs.
Furthermore, there’s less financial risk involved. When hiring a programmer, you have to be sure that you can trust them. There are some programmers out there who may lie about their skill set or do a half-assed job. They may be lazy, and constantly late in completing assignments. You can trust yourself more than anyone, so why not use yourself?
It can also take time to find a good programmer. Time you may not have when your website is down, in need of a quick alteration or if you’re trying to reach a deadline. It’s important that you have the ability to get things done quickly on the web. The web moves at a much faster pace, than the real world.
However, there are some risks involved with programming and altering things yourself. You could do something which causes an error on a website and could result in you paying even more than it would have cost to hire a programmer to do the job in the first place. But then, that’s why we have back-up utilities.
As you can see, there are many benefits to being able to program. A successful CEO knows what’s going on. How can you be a successful web developer, if you don’t know anything about what someone is doing to your site?
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3 Responses to “Learn to program, it will make web development that bit easier.”
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Internet Entrepreneur
February 8th, 2008
Oh cool! Welcome aboard, fellow programmers. Now I’ve got to learn to do web development, it will make programming that bit easier. 
Vincent
February 11th, 2008
[...] I mentioned in my recent post about programming, it’s good for a web developer to know how to program. I dabble in a little code here and there, and as a result, I find web development that little bit [...]
JQuery makes JavaScripting really easy | aaronfalloon.com
February 14th, 2008
I would agree that every one should familiarize themselves with at least html knowledge and some php knowledge.
Me personally having a background in software coding, java, c++, and what not, I can tell you that I save ALOT of time, in most of my online work, and money because of that.