The Dangers of Being a Web Developer

Published on May 10, 2018 (updated Feb 5, 2024), filed under development. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

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 an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Interpret charitably but be critical—and share feedback and advice that makes my work better.)