Issue #5 - What's in a name?
I don’t know why but I never like to refer to myself as a “coder” even though it totally makes sense. If you write code, then you’re a coder right? This term also reduces the complexity of trying to distinguish between all of the various specializations such as front-end, back-end, app development and so on. We may write in different languages but essentially, we’re all coders! But even as I type out this explanation, I just don’t like it. No offence to anyone who does refer to themselves as such. It just doesn’t feel right for me. Kinda like when people call me ChristinE instead of ChristinA. It’s close but incorrect!
When I was starting out in 2005-2006, there were people still calling themselves “webmaster” which sounds incredibly dated now! But while I was coming up, some variation of “developer” was the most prevalent (e.g. front-end developer, web developer). I think these different titles also vary depending on what city you work in.
I also never liked it when people called me a web designer. While I was interested in design and always considered myself to be an artistic person, it wasn’t my focus. But I found that when I spoke to people outside of tech, web developer seemed to cause confusion. I remember meeting a friend’s husband for the first time and telling him I was a web designer, just to avoid the confusion. But when he told me he was a back-end developer, I said, “oh in that case, I’m a front-end developer.” And we ended up chatting about code for the rest of the night!
Then there’s “engineer.” That was something that seemed to gain more popularity when I had already been in the industry for a bit, so I never related to it. And by the time I started noticing that it was being used more often, I had already started to move into the tech education space, which has made it a little harder for me to define what I do.
In the last newsletter, I started with “as a developer...” I looked at it and thought, can I even call myself anymore? Truthfully, these days, I don’t feel right calling myself any of these titles. Front-end development has changed so much. It’s been years since I’ve worked a traditional web development job. The only websites I make now are for myself! But I do keep up to date on HTML and CSS, since these are the topics I teach. And I use static site generators/front-end frameworks so that requires me to have general programming skills. (I used to use Jekyll but I’ve since switched to Eleventy). But I feel more like a content creator now, who happens to code/teach code.
I’ve also been self-employed since 2016 so I can call myself anything I want! I’ve defaulted to “tech educator” as a job title now but it still doesn’t feel quite right.
What do you think? Tweet me if you got some suggestions!
(Also, don't forget to check out my YouTube channel! I'm trying to get those watch hours up. 🙂)