Belling the Cat
Are we on track for a future where the skills of a developer will become all but ubiquitous? Will there still be a place for product managers and UX designers unless they are not merely conversant in the tools of a developer, but proficient? Will fluency with code be a bare essential? Or, put another way, will we see a time come when no mouse is calling on others to bell the cat, but will have the courage and resolve to do the deed himself?
Categorised as: code, process, ux
I think yes, to varying degrees.
There was a time when the term HTML was known to only “webmasters”.
Then slowly, the term crept into the lexicon of administrative and mid-level managerial types, to where, now, I don’t think you could get those positions without a basic knowledge (as it once was with typing speed, and now is with accuracy in “Word Processing”).
I have also worked with product managers, of varying titles, with an extremely wide range of knowledge in code, from knowing a few terms, to actually reading tech blogs and finding some nuggets before I do!
So, yes, I think anyone in any arena of work will slowly need to know something about the web, but I think that will always be a moving target. What was once “Must be familiar with HTML” will likely become “Must be familiar with WordPress”, but will it ever become “Must be fluent in JavaScript” or “… PHP”?
Likely, I think, or will our tools simply get better, so they needn’t? Yes, I’m taling WYSIWYG-like things… ACK!