10 things I've learnt my first year as a web developer (Advice to new web developers)

As a bit of background I work in a small specialist printing company in Sheffield, UK. My projects have ranged from basic design and implementation of static html sites to eCommerce systems incorporating custom image generation and internal systems which integrate with production software. Most of my work is in PHP, Mysql and javascript, although I always try to use the best tools for the project at the time.

Me when I started Me when I started

I don't normally write posts about myself as usually they'd not be very profound, however I feel that after my one year anniversary of my getting my first real job as a web developer after leaving university (though not my first job) I have some worthwhile experiences to share. Some of them are just good practice that any decent developer will alredy follow and some are more general observations:

At this point there was going to be a paragraph for each...then half way through writing it I realised nobody would read it all so I've summarised it (even now I'll be lucky!):

Being a lone developer is great but being in a team is better

Working for a startup gives you breadth

Don't be afraid to innovate

Conferences are cool

Read Read Read

Unit testing is great

Version control is worth it, even when you're on your own in small projects

Frameworks help but are not the only way

1and1 are in leagues with the devil

Work Work Work

Me now

Until next year….