Re: Got keep learning or being professional with Web standards

Rob wrote:

> I disagree on one point, I don't think the people having problems
> changing are the young ones, those of us in the web industry that are
> young, have seen, either first hand, or through a history of sorts how
> things have changed and accept that we must stay on top of our knowledge.

As a prominent educator and evangelist, I can agree through experience that
the younger folks coming into the field *from certain avenues* are having
less trouble. More and more attendees at workshops and conferences are
answering the question "have you ever used a table-based layout" with a big
"no!"  For those folks, it's very difficult for them to understand why we're
having a real time of shifting thinking.  Typically, these are younger folks
who read blogs, know about the web standards movement, and pay attention.

> Generally, I find it is the older, more established designers that /did
> /learn html 3 or before that have a hard time, learning new methods.

However, there are many of us who have stayed in the game, learn new
methods, understand our craft to the best of our knowledge and put a lot of
extra time into our ongoing learning as well as participation in the sharing
of our longer experiences - which can actually make us far better at what we
do because we understand more deeply how things work ideally, worked
realistically, can work now, and will work in at least the near future.

For the record, I'm 42, and many of my colleagues are in their later 30s and
40s as well. It's the ones that *have the passion* that stay in the game.
And, while I'm fundamentally against certification per se, there isn't an
industry standard for professionalism in this field. How do we gain that?
That's the real question.

If people care about the quality of work they do, no matter their
profession, they read trade magazines, follow web sites and blogs relevant
to their work. Any professional worth his or her salt does this - doctors,
lawyers, antique dealers, architects, chefs - you name it, it's done. So I
cannot buy into the idea that the more established designers have any excuse
for not applying themselves. Now, this is not to say that it's easy, because
I know from my own struggles and the struggle to help others along the way
just how hard it is. But laziness is no excuse, and unfortunately, that's
what I see is part of the problem.

Another very problematic area is that the innocent folks who are just
starting out might go to a college or trade school or uni and take a course
only to be taught in old-skool methods. THAT is a very real problem that
needs to be addressed, and one that I know the WaSP EduTF members are
working hard to do.

With best regards,
Molly :)
-=-

Molly E. Holzschlag
Author / Instructor / Web Designer
http://www.molly.com/

Web Standards Project (WaSP) Group Lead: http://www.webstandards.org/
W3C GEO Working Group Outreach: http://www.w3.org/International/geo/

Received on Tuesday, 22 November 2005 21:13:46 UTC