When I am asked, what do you do? I usually tell them, “I am a web developer, sort of.” People understand that a web developer makes websites, but in general don’t have the foggiest clue what I really do. I have a hard time explaining… “I do xhtml, css, javascript, design, flash, actionscript, c#, asp.net 2.0…etc”. I guess that is why I created the skills page of my website. It is a step towards giving people a graphical overview of what I do.

My skills page shows that day-to-day my job changes. One day I might be a javascript developer, the next day I might be a Flash developer. That is why it is critical to have project managers that tell me before-hand, “Next week you will be doing _____ project doing _____” – this is great! They know what I am good at and assign me work accordingly. I am lucky to have great management that knows how to use a jack-of-all-trades – which leads me to my next point…

How Does Management Work With a Jack of All Trades?

The manager needs to understand the jack-of-all-trades mindset. I admit that it can be hard because one week they might want to work with Flash and the next week they might want to work with Ajax. The key is, keep them on one type of project before moving onto the next. My manager has been great at this – for a month I did ASP.NET 2.0, then for three weeks I did a Yahoo Widget and now I am working with Flash/Actionscript.

The nature of the company certainly affects how well a jack-of-all-trades will work within it too. The company needs to have a diverse set of people with a diverse set of projects to stay engaged. Given these conditions the jack-of-all-trades developer will be happy and yield great results.

Do You Want to Specialize?

No, not right now anyway. The web changes so fast and I have about 100 news articles to read via RSS each day. Things are changing daily, everyone has an opinion on the next greatest thing, and businesses are affected by this industry’s change. I want to go where the business needs are. So I need to keep up on a diverse amount of opinions, both in technology and business.

Do business needs stay the same? Nope. More and more business owners want to take advantage of the new methods of communication online. Blogs, RSS, Viral Marketing, Widgets, Social News and Social Networks all have growing audiences and it is critical to know what they are and why they are important. I want to be that person that can execute in the widest range of these areas that I can. Can I learn it all? No, I only learn the things I care about because if I care about them, then someone else cares to.