The Many Faces of Development and Design, Face I: The Importance of Learning
Becoming a web developer is like finally learning to ride a bike then realizing that real bikes only have two wheels. So, you take off the training wheels and try again, and again, and again. You can finally ride, but now all your friends are buying dirt bikes.
True web development or design entails just as much learning as it does doing–probably more. The web is constantly changing, and as developers our job is to know what’s going on and to be a responsible citizen of the web. Technology itself is not changing the web, rather those who take technology and turn it into something worth using.
But how are you going to do that if you don’t know what technology is available?
Reading blogs, listening to podcasts, checking what’s popular, and going to conferences are all ways to keep in touch with what’s going on and what others are doing.
And that’s a little more like real web development. Most people don’t vote for peoples who are still trying to solve issues that were solved 50 years ago, so why should people hire developers who are still coding for problems that don’t exist? As a designer, much of the job is as a problem solver, but if you aren’t aware of any problems, what are you going to do?
My advice? Wear a helmet and buy a Harley. 
Stay tuned for Face II of The Many Faces of Development and Design: Doing the Stuff
I’ve found that in creating the websites, you personally find the problems and most of the time the answer is on the Internet. When it isn’t and you figure out the solution yourself, then you have become an “amazing” web designer/programmer. This market is hard to get ahead in. If you aren’t always on top of the lastest and greatest, you could fall behind.
You’ve actually hit on Face III, which I’ll be talking about in a little while.
It’s true: Not only must you learn, but you must do. And not only must you do, but you must do in the best possible way that works specifically for your problem.
You are right. The most important thing I realised is the fact that it takes a while to understand that you actually are not that advanced as you might think. It comes a moment when you believe you know a lot. Then you understand that you don;t know that much and that you still have a lot to learn.
I have been there… I thought I am great
This happened a few years ago. Then i realised I have a lot to learn. I guess that at this point you actually start to learn. At the point when you understand that you don’t know much…
You have a long way before you…
Wouldn’t it be great if you had a site that backs this up? yeah you got alot of cool features but the site don’t validate on some simple point where it only take 2 mins to change it so that is does.
Starting at the roots as you says also implies studying the basics like the (x)html language and use the proper doctype for the site.
basic problem on this site is that you got a list within a paragraph this is not allowed in xhtml 1.0
@Islinnet: Yeah, but it sure works like a charm, doesn’t it?
Don’t get so caught up with the validators that you end up missing the point of standards all together.
100% Valid code != Wonderful Developer, nor does invalid code equal a crappy developer. Many of the rules really just get in the way, especially within CSS.
Should XHTML be valid? It’s a good idea, and it sure isn’t rocket science.
Fixing that error would probably take less than 30 seconds, but why? Is it even worth that amount of time?
Not really.