Brandnoo. A Blog by Ben Hindmarch

The other week I met up with my old Technical Director whilst I was in London and spent a short while reflecting on how hard it seems to be to find developers, and then further to that how hard it is to find developers suited to agency work.

Now I’m in an agency where I’m the only Web Developer, I’m on the interview panel when it comes to finding other developers. This process has meant I’ve realised how hard it is to find people suitable for the job. There seems to be a mix of designers wanting to try their hand at developing and semi-skilled developers trying to go for a senior position before their time. The creative industry doesn’t seem to attract the talented developers it requires.

I’ve met a few other developers who are skilled but wouldn’t like working in a creative agency. They’re application developers, not web developers. When I asked, they said they actually make an effort to stay clear of jobs like mine. I was not going to be able to convince them to send me their CV. Finding Web Developers for our agency isn’t going to be so easy.

There are characteristics I think developers in creative agencies need to be born with or quickly acquire in order to survive:

1. Social skills. Geeks notoriously don’t have the best people skills, and when it comes to working in a creative agency where sitting in the corner keeping to yourself isn’t going to work, you’re going to have to face up to the fact there’s no getting out of going to lunch with the chatty project manager who thinks as a web developer you should be able to fix his X-Box. I’ve also had to feign an interest in sports a number of times, just to keep up.
2. Ability to work with computer illiterates. Being able to resist self-harm when I’m politely asked to download files and burn them onto a DVD as that is, apparently, what I do for a living. Oh, and I can also offer lots of advice about PowerPoint transitions.
3. Put a project down, picking it up again; repeat. This is more about developing in a way that allows the project to be continued after being put on hold for x amount of time. For example, I’d stop working on Project A because a more urgent Project B needs kicking off, then a number of weeks later I’d be asked to carry on with Project A from where I left off for a couple of days until Project C gets signed off. And no, I can’t get more time for Project A as it’s already over-budget and we don’t want the client back in for another meeting about timings as he eats all the best cookies and hits on the receptionist.
4. Explain yourself in small short words. Bearing in mind that some people in the office still think that a hyperlink is a new type of Japanese train, they’re not going to understand DNS propegation is the reason we can’t launch the website right now, after lunch on a Friday afternoon. Explaining technical concepts to non-technical people take a long patience and short words.
5. Fight for testing. Or test post-launch. Testing is something expected by everyone to be in the project plan, it even makes it into the Gantt charts the producer writes up, but it will be the first thing to go if the deadline looms a little too close for comfort. Or there may be a testing phase, but this is soon followed by changes to the creative that nullifies all testing done so far. Or there will be a testing phase, but only after the site has launched. I can’t point the finger of blame at anyone in particular, as it’s the way things work when you’ve got a small project with a tough deadline. The client asks for changes but the deadline won’t move. Proper testing seems to be a luxury reserved for those clients lacking extensive change requests and a clear understanding of what ’signing off’ really means.
6. See the design as the designer sees it. I’m anal about my work, so quite rightfully the designer will be anal about hers. A bad designer will never say when I’ve messed up a design because she’s scared of me, a good designer will tell me about a mistake I made, a great designer will tell me that I messed up and then tell me why it needs to be fixed. If I can understand the thinking behind the design, I can build it better.

I don’t think that working for a creative agency makes me a better developer, or a worse one. I do think it means I have to approach projects differently. I think working for an agency means you So there are quite specific skills that I think are needed to work in a creative agency as a developer. A lot of these skills are a little different from the stereotypical developer skillset. However, a lot of very talented developers do prefer the creative environment (I just need to find them). I like the small and exciting projects I do in a creative agency. I don’t have the attention span to stay put on one application for months on end. I’d rather download files and burn them obediently to a DVD for the TV producer who doesn’t know what a codec is, whilst performing self-harm here at my desk with a soggy cocktail stick.