In Defense of Web Developers, Again

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a blog post titled Sadly, the attitudes I was hoping to nudge into changing continue a year later. In response to said a few things I don't agree with. However, we are likely to hear from readers who will point out one thing immediately about all of these positions - they do not appear to be true engineering or programming jobs, which means the pay scale will be lower than those fields. They do not require, or even create the perception, an advanced degree in computer science is needed. Referring to web development as "front-end engineering" is very generous. While web development involves coding, PHP and AJAX aren't exactly the same as C++ or Java. Sigh... I agree that PHP and AJAX aren't exactly the same as C++ or Java (duh), but that doesn't mean they're less demanding. Some of the smartest people I know are kick-ass Java or C++ developers. But another slice of them are amazing front-end engineers. They understand JavaScript, DOM manipulation, cross-browser scripting, PHP, XML, state management, and so on. The undercurrent in what Dave wrote is that front-end engineers are lesser engineers than those working on the back-end. That says more about his ignorance of the challenges in developing (and releasing) world-class front-end code that works for millions of users. I happen to think the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library are good examples. Everybody who mentions them to me (including the Jeremy Zawodny's blog. Jeremy is part of the Yahoo search team and frequently posts in the Jeremy Zawodny's blog