The Woes of a Web Developer

I’ve recently reached a 6 months milestone at my new job and 3 years of experience in web development and these are really but oh really the bad things that happen to us web developers:

$developer_woe[0]:

Spending hours figuring how to actually integrate these new customer requirements (I’d say whims) and when you actually do it, they’d say “Euhm, you know, we finally liked it as before…”

$developer_woe[1]:

Discovering Internet Explorer launched a new version (Gee why does it still exist anyway???) and no tweaks done for previous versions works for this one! (IE is EVIL!!!)

$developer_woe[2]:

Receive the designs late and being told “Could you possibly find it in your capacity to still meet the deadline? We totally understand if you’d like to work from home too… ” (oh come on you gotta be kidding me right?)

$developer_woe[3]:

Actually integrating the late designs and discovering that no matter how much you’ve optimised your code previously, you will have to adapt it to the present design.

$developer_woe[4]:

Oh no, the internet is slow today or no wait my pc also is running slow! And what? Gee today’s supposed to be our delivery date!!! (actually it makes sense why there is “dead” in deadline ! )

$developer_woe[5]:

The client just sent a mail, he’s happy with what we delivered, BUT (there’s always a butt euhm but !) he’d like a few changes – see document attached (don’t freak out on the list of changes, they are only minor – or are they?)

$developer_woe[6]:

Testing over and over again a page, becoming mad about how that’s not working when it was simply a matter of file permission! (Duh!)

$developer_woe[7]:

The client has decided to migrate to a new server. “Oh great! Good for him!” Well it seems that now, nothing’s working. “Why’s that?” Oh the new server runs on an old version of PHP, nothing too serious…

$developer_woe[8]:

The client is more than happy of his website now. He even brought us a list of  “add ons”. Looking at his list, it’s in fact all the web site to be revisited -.-” (why do they  think web developers are magicians?)

$developer_woe[9]:

It’s Friday night, everyone’s at the pub (or even at home) chilling out and you’re stuck with a slow machine, a bugging javascript and a backache from too much sitting in front of your pc. (No comments, 1 minute of silence please…)

Positioning Mauritius on the Web

On this special date, I have been thinking what article I could write to celebrate my beautiful island in the sun. Then I also remembered having a conversation with my ex-director about the various Mauritian sites I’ve had the chance to work on, when I was at Netgroup. Hence the idea of writing about how Mauritius is being represented on the web through different local websites and more specially those I’ve developed.

To begin with I must say that Mauritius is being slowly and surely better represented on the web now. With the emergence of several web agencies in the country we can now see local sites of better quality may it be graphically or functionally. Besides I seize the occasion to also mention all those Mauritian bloggers who have also brought their participation in giving Mauritius an identity on the net.

Apart from websites, we also have social communities, the most famous one being Facebook, which has subtly taken its place in Mauritians’ everyday life. And local companies have very well understood the extent of this phenomenon! Hence the creation of many Facebook pages about local organisations, companies or events.

We therefore see how Mauritius, despite being late in technologies, has been able to reach the internet and make its position. Mauritian companies are understanding the importance of having a web presence in the sense that they are moving with the trend and that if they wish to go international, the internet can be a key success factor. Concerning, our local people, they have also grown an interest in the internet not only for research but for leisure and social purposes. Thanks to the web, Mauritians are being able to work for international companies without leaving their country as well as keep contact with family and friends abroad.

Coming to the different local sites I’ve developed as a web developer at Netgroup, I have made up a little list. It’s like my own hall of fame, I would say, because I particularly feel proud to have had a role in building those sites. It is a pleasure to have contributed to bringing more Mauritian sites on the internet and thus make Mauritius better known to the world! So, here’s my little list, hope you have a visit on the sites:

• Maurilait – the website of our local dairy products manufacturing company
• Mauritius Villas – a local website about villas offers in Mauritius + other services
• Dodolidays – the very first local website I’ve developed incorporating an e-commerce module, it’s all about renting, buying residential properties as well as other services
• Harel Mallac Technologies –  the branch of Harel Mallac dealing with technological services
• Harel Mallac Bureautique – the branch of Harel Mallac dealing with bureaucratic services
• LMLC – the official site of Les Moulins de la Concorde
• ADS – the official site of Aventure Du Sucre
• Compare Prices – the very first site in Mauritius enabling local people to view products from different suppliers and get price comparisons
• Connections – the very first Mauritian website built by Netgroup concerning Connections Tourism Management Ltd (CTML)
• Cargotech – my first Joomla website

So this is my salute to my beautiful country, where together with the Netgroup team, we have been able to promote local websites and on behalf of that same team, I wish all those for whom we have worked, to keep their websites alive and thus keep the Mauritian presence on the net. And I hope more and more local websites will emerge and that soon e-commerce becomes more popular among Mauritians…

Till then let’s celebrate our nation, our freedom, our dynamism in wishing to make this country progress and achieve heights even if it is just a little dot in the Indian Ocean.

To Future Developers…

If you are aspiring a career in software development, there are a few things you should realise before really stepping into this adventure…

I might be working as web developer for less than one year but I’ve learnt quite a lot in those last months. The first and foremost advice is to really like programming else it’s all gonna be hell!

Besides having an affinity for the job, certain skills are also important among which are analytical skills, patience (loads of it), a well -structured way of working and be well organised.

A developer , I believe, should also be sharing – for his/her own benefit (yeah true). Of course claiming your work is important but here the main idea is to share your experience and knowledge with your colleagues. Not only do you stand to gain more but you also get to introspect how you work and maybe find out how to improve it.

Deciding about becoming a developer will also bring about changes in how you view life. Development brings you to think methodically, relate things to others, find out the possible outcomes, the different conditions that could alter your results and so on. Soon this way of thinking will start to reflect on your everyday life.You might end up finding yourself calculating every outcomes of one single decision (side effects of if/else control structures?).

However, being a developer is the best thing that could happen to me. I used to look in awe at softwares and think of those peeps who had actually coded these as crazy. Today, I just feel like they are not only crazy but geniuses who have made of a computer a living entity 😉

As you aspire to step into a developer’s career, I’d advise you to sincerely ‘feel’ it than just ‘choose’ it. As someone once told me: Since we are to make money to live, why not find a job that’s going to bring both money and self-satisfaction…