The Dangers of Being a Web Developer

Published on May 10, 2018 (updated Feb 5, 2024), filed under development (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

On Monday I had the great, great pleasure of giving the opening talk at beyond tellerrand in Düsseldorf. The slides are essentially useless, but as I had focused on delivery during the performance the talk should provide value. I hope. Please check out The Dangers of Being a Web Developer on YouTube or Vimeo ^*.

As I’ve been asked about the talk’s various references to mostly classic and excellent books, here they are:

• Rachel Aaron’s 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love
• Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think
• Jakob Nielsen’s and Marie Tahir’s Homepage Usability
• B.J. Fogg’s Persuasive Technology
• Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style
• Edward Tufte’s books, all of them
• Gary Keller’s The ONE Thing
• Alfie Kohn’s No Contest: The Case Against Competition

Thank you all who attended the talk, and Marc and team for the great conference and the kind invitation, welcome, and hosting! I can’t wait for the next beyond tellerrand—quite possibly in Berlin this November 🙏

^* In confusion of obscure European and German data protection legislation I’m not embedding videos at the moment.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)