Recently, I’ve seen some articles asking interesting questions to those of us who create for the web. One such question, “What do you consider yourself”, is especially interesting to me. 

All of us who create for the web have probably worn multiple “hats” at some point throughout our career.  Initially, you HAD to wear different hats to get a web site built.  Today, as the web continues to dominate our lives, we see more and more specializtion or “silos” of web duties.

Sure, we still do a multitude of jobs every day or every week.  But, the need for a clear deliniation of the different phases of web:  designers, user-interface designers, client-side developers, database administrators, server side developers, and content creators; seems to be more urgent.

My philosophy, with regards to this issue of “everyday evolution” (as I’m calling it here), has always been to stay well-rounded.  For example, when I initially started out as a “web guy”, I considered myself more of a designer.  Of course, who couldn’t “design” a site back in 2000?  All sites were table-based, mostly informational, and in most cases very ugly.  Fast forward to today and the web is a much more sophisticated, prettier place for a designer.  Back to my point about staying well-rounded, those skills from my early days as a “designer” are still relevant and useful today.  I may not create designs much anymore, but I can take a design, chop it up, and build it out with the best of them.

So, I’ve eluded to the fact that I don’t call myself a designer anymore.  So, what would I call myself?  A developer?  Ah, there is another one of those catchy job descriptions for us web folks.  Sure, I code in html/xhtml, css, php, javascript, asp.net, and mysql on a regular basis.  So, I must be a developer right?

Maybe, maybe not.  I think I could throw myself into any one of those silos I mentioned earlier.  However, there are varying degrees of ability within each one of those silos.  For example, I could easily label myself a developer for any one of the reasons I mentioned above.  However, in relation to a colleague of mine, I don’t feel like a developer at all.  On a scale of one to ten, I’d give him a ten and myself a five.  But, compared to other web people I’ve met, I could be the ten and them the five.  So, you see, I don’t think this issue of “what do you consider yourself” is so crystal clear.

And, again, back to my point about staying well-rounded.  You see I have asp.net, php, etc on my list of languages.  I could have easily decided to be a php guru and become an expert in just one particular language.  However, I never wanted to be left in the dust if the one language I learned became obsolete.  I always felt more flexible and valuable if I were knowledeable in multiple areas, versus being an expert in just one.

So, what’s my title?  I think the best job title I’ve ever owned is “web specialist”.  That title may be the most generic, but I think it fits the bill nicely. 

As the web continues to evolve, so will the every day duties and responsibilities availble for us web people.  My best strategy has always been to stay well-rounded and avoid falling into a particular silo.  Of course, I wouldn’t mind being in a silo in the right environment.  Cross functional teams are very effective, and I’d be glad if my everyday evolution led me into such an environment….how about you?  What’s your job title?  Do you like this evolution towards different areas of specialization on the web?