A piece by Raphael Pontual in this months .net magazine led me to think about what it is I do, and how I expect to compete in a marketplace filled with those who spend far more time than me keeping up with current techniques and technologies.

I’m only just starting to really get into jQuery and design patterns, and I have to make an effort not to keep reverting to old tried and trusted old skool strategies that have worked for me in the past.

The piece I believe was more aimed at design, but a relevant excerpt is: “It might seem crazy, but the older and busier you become, the less time you have to find out about the latest trends and adapting to the new graphics software. Meanwhile, there’s always a new generation that spends hours learning everything about the latest creativity suite.”

I’m a developer, not a designer, but I get what he’s saying, that successful professionals concentrate on identifying and solving problems, rather than just throwing gadgets and glitz at a project. A design for the sake of it is nonsense, it has to solve the problem, and the best solution is often the simplest whether it uses the latest whizzbang2.0 bling or not.

A good friend Sujvala kindly left a comment on an old post of mine ‘I want to be Clarkson‘ and one opinion he has is that I have an ‘infantile enjoyment of new toys‘ yet I’m ‘old enough to keep the safety catch on whatever is being tinkered with‘. I really like that.

Yes I do like toys, especially well thought out ones, but there’s a big difference between a toy and a tool. A tool has to earn a living.

The challenge when developing for the web, or making a fibreglass mould, or fitting a satellite dish (or most of my other previous employments) is to identify what it is you’re trying to do, what the challenges are, and what the most appropriate methods are to solve those problems.

Tried and tested (and safe) often beats bleeding edge, although you always have to be open to the idea. As Confucius said “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.“