The thought process of a good developer never switches off. They will constantly seek out new and more rewarding challenges. They will spend hours surfing online looking for information and potential projects to fulfil their appetite. The thought of Idleness, fulfilment or a sense of over-achievement is never an option. Developers want more and more all the time.
So what makes a developer tick? What goes on inside their heads that drives them to such obsessive measures? We sat down with Iñaki who is our own in-house developer to try to gain an insight into the workings and mindset of that unique species we call web developers.
“Although the roles of a designer and a developer differ, both are integral to each other towards the completion of an overall project. This is why it is essential that they work side-by-side at all times.
Before any website is built we must create a persona of a client or potential client of the business before we can move on to assessing their needs and expectations. The needs of every client are different so we constantly come across a variety of personas such as:
This is where the fun starts. Over the course of a number of meetings, we will gather as much information as we can about the client. We will discuss everything in fine detail for those who wish to know more about the service and sell our service to those clients that need convincing.
After we have gathered all the relevant information will be able to create a wireframe of the proposed website. A wireframe is essentially like a black & white painting of the homepage (and some subpages) of the site.
After the wireframe is created we will then meet and discuss the themes, brand logos and colour schemes to be applied on the website, we also get the clients to put their input in the personas and the wireframes. For this, we print the wireframes into a long sheet of paper and cut each section”.
“Then we put them together with sellotape so the client can easily separate them and change the order of the sections., this is known as a creative workshop. Based on the workshop we update the wireframes and the personas.
Once we have this ready we will create what we call a design brief where we outline the wireframes, the personas, brand guidelines, and corporate ID and send it to the designer. The designer then goes off, paints the picture and makes the masterpiece look pretty.
The developer then takes this masterpiece and brings it to life with coding and usability features. In layman’s terms, the designer is essentially Picasso. The developer is a mad scientist. The designer creates a script, the developer is the actor that makes it come to life”.
Looking to build or update your company website? our web development team here at Matrix Internet will be more than happy to assist you. No job is too big or small for our dedicated team.
“I was fascinated with computers from an early age. Whilst most kids my age were interested in playing computer games on their entertainment systems I was more interested in how these games were actually created behind the scenes. The same happened with the websites, while some people surfed them I spent my time looking into the inner systems of it, trying to see how each piece of code powered each part and how changing some of it could make the functionality change dramatically.
Most of people get into the IT / Website world because they like gaming and they confuse their liking to spend time in front of the computer with the fact of liking to code things and make things work. That’s why in my class alone around 40% of the people dropped out in the first month.
Another influence on my path was my brother. He is a software developer and although he doesn’t work with websites, through his experience he was able to advise and help me develop my computer proficiency over time”.
“The answer is no strangely enough. I actually wanted to become a police officer when I was growing up. I was fascinated with “shooting the bad guys”. I was fascinated by the guns the policemen carried and had a lot of toy guns at home that I would spend hours playing with.
It was as I got older and learned that a career in IT could be a real possibility for me given my interest in computers. At this stage, however, a career in web development was alien to me.
“Not at all. In fact, when I was in college I had no real idea about what sector I would eventually end up working in. Whilst there I learned a variety of things including programming and coding in different languages and for various platforms. I didn’t have an overall plan as such.
It was only when I joined Matrix as an intern that I realised my true niche was that of a web developer. Jeff and the team allowed me the freedom to develop my skills over my initial three months and eventually I developed a real passion for web development.
At the end of my three-months Jeff invited me to stay as he was delighted with my progress. To be honest I was proud of the work that I had contributed to the company over the three months and I felt like I had found my calling. It’s actually funny how it all panned out as if I hadn’t stayed on with Matrix I was seriously considering a doing a journalism degree with a long-term view to becoming a reporter”.
Over the next two weeks, we will bring you more excerpts from our interview with Iñaki. Next week we will discuss Iñaki’s arrival at Matrix Internet and how he integrated himself into becoming an essential member of our team.
Matrix Internet is also delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for the Blog Awards Ireland 2015. If you have enjoyed reading our blog and wish to vote for us then you may do so by clicking the “Vote for us” button below.
By Jeff Sheridan
By Iñaki Castellet Hernández