Just Use Blogger! - May 30th
The main reason why I started this blog is to experiment and expand my technical knowledge base. As of a few months ago I did not know how to style HTML using CSS. I did not really know what XML is never mind develop a valid RSS feed (be quiet, now I know how easy it is!). My formal training is in SEM, web analytics, and at my current job A/B and multivariate testing. No development skills required!
Seth Godin blogged a few weeks ago about how being a generalist is worse than being a specialist. To some extent I disagree. Learning about new-to-me technologies is fun. Am I ever going to know how to launch and enterprise level CMS and prevent random black hat SEOs from XSS my system? Probably not, but understanding the basic aspects of site structure, understanding how CMS really work, XML, etc are all bits of information that will help me on a day to day basis as I become a specialist.
So Mr. Godin in case you are reading, I hope you realize being a specialist with a complementary range of general knowledge is actually better than just being a specialist.
The next step going forward with brandonreiser.com is to develop a Joomla! (open source CMS) template so that when I decide to ‘update my blog’ it doesn’t involve manually updating dozens of pages. Hopefully I can also learn a little RoR so that my comments section isn’t some open source widget thing-a-ma-jig. Wish me luck!
