Zlog relaunches their interviews section with an interview with Drew McLellan.
In the interview Drew gives us a unique insight into whats happening down at the Web Standards Project’s headquarters and shares his views and opinions on the web development scene in general.
Hopefully it makes an interesting read – I certainly had fun answering the very thought provoking questions. Interviews can be hard work, so my thanks are extended to Ronan for posing such interesting questions and making it happen.
Comments
A lot of the formal qualifications out there are based of out-of-date courses and out-moded working practices.
I graduated from a design school about a year ago and was amazed at how little I knew. Practically everything I learned was out-of-date or irrelevant. Although, I think that is something that most graduating students deal with regardless of profession.
Nice interview Drew.
You gave some very wise advise for the last question—I’ll keep those words in my mind.
My Wife just graduated with straight A results in a 2 year degree course. During this I became friends with some of her lecturers and was amazed to find out how far behind the real World their teachings are.
I am self taught through online tutorials and a stack of O’Reilly books and was hoping that I might learn more from these people. I was more than a little surprised to find that only one of them knew what CSS was but even then had no real knowledge of it.
Why is it that the educational system is so far behind? For the most part I believe that those teaching have too little time for learning themselves. Those that I met spent most of their summer breaks trying to learn the intricacies of the next generation of software being installed at their place of work, so that they might be able to pass something of use on to their students.
I have no idea what the solution might be but figure that people need to know the reasons behind the teaching profession’s dated ways.
Me? I’m a heavily qualified diesel mechanic/engineer who is now freelancing with web design/development having become sick of the oil, grease, and also being the local amateur expert on computers. Now I can charge for my knowledge and don’t get dirty!
I take my hat off to you, Drew, keep spreading the word.