Did you go to school for programming? How did you get started in this field?

I am a self taught programmer. I guess you could say I fell into the field when I was eight years old. I learned to program, well, mimic on a Commodore 128. I just typed in the code examples, then I changed things here and there and watched to see how it affected the program. I attended the Air Force Academy for electronic engineering and became an encryption programmer in the Air Force.

When I really started getting into the web development field, it was actually as a design and UI guy, not a programmer. I already knew how to program in C++ and Java, but not PHP. A friend of mine turned me on to the backend technologies, and I transitioned into the field of backend programming. I didn’t lose my connection to design and UI as fell deeper into the world of programming. On a side note, back in 1999 I really liked javascript… which if you remember is when most people didn’t like it at all!

Now I program all the time. Literally all the time. I normally program in five different languages all day at work, then do it all over again in the evenings. I don’t watch TV, I program.

It seems you like learning a lot about new technologies. Why is that?

Yes! Its actually a big joke with my family and friends. When Google announced ‘Go’, my brother-in-law called me right up and asked if I knew how to program with it yet. Anytime a new language comes out, I make a point of downloading it and building an application so I can understand how it works. It is really important to me to have a working knowledge of a technology. Then, when it comes up in a conversation I am not just speaking on hearsay. I have actually used it, so I can be more informed. It’s really all about dominance in arguments. :)

How would you recommend someone pick up an additional programming language?

I always recommend the same thing to anyone wanting to pick up a new language. Program something common with it. What I mean by common is something you know how to build in another language. For instance, whenever I learn a new technology I always build a user management app or a todo list app. The methodologies never change with those apps even though the technologies change. By building the same thing over and over with different technologies, I can more accurately compare them to each other. It helps me really learn the language. Hello World apps don’t show you what is really going on with the language.

Do you prefer physical books or searching for the information on the Internet?

I love books. I read a technical manual a month. I go through every step, try every example. When I am picking up a new language, I tell my brain I have never programmed before. Even when reading about MVC, I pretend I have never heard it before. Since each company handles it a little differently, I don’t pretend to understand how that company views it. When working through the examples, I never copy and paste; I type it all out. Even when I write tutorials, I often use screen-shots instead of easily copied code. I know good and well that if a programmer types each piece of code he will be less likely to forget what he learned. If all else fails, I will go to the internet for answers.

How do you get a personal or work project from idea to completion?

I try to crush goals quickly. If you set a milestone that is so large it overwhelms you, it will slow you down. Set a small goal, hit it, then do something else on a different project and with a different language. Switching between projects and languages keeps you from getting burned out. None of my to do lists on a project have more than 4 or 5 items. This is essential to fight burnout. When you fight burnout, you keep yourself happy. Plus switching languages helps you stay very adaptable.

I have also found that feature creep comes from not stopping when your five tasks are done. When you finish what you set out to do, don’t look at it as being half complete. You are done… stop working on it. If you don’t, you will kill your own motivation. The big picture is beautiful, but don’t ruin it because a single leaf isn’t quite as nice as you imagined it.

Its your hobby, its your work. What else do you do when you aren’t programming?

I build furniture. I Build computer desks. As my needs change, so does my desk. As my languages change, my desk changes. I also spend time with my family. When I get home from work, three hours every night is family time.

I enjoy rock climbing and kayaking, but my current hobbies are really golfing and salt water fishing. However, sometimes I just like driving around and seeing how people interact with each other. I get a lot of inspiration for things I build by watching people interact.

Best thing sometimes is to stop and see the world for what it is. Not thinking about programming, but sitting with the family and enjoying life. Clearing your brain like that helps you get ready to code when you need it. I have never met a really stressed out programmer who writes really good code.

Thank you so much for this interview! What advice can you leave us with?

Push the limits of the technology you are using to the edge. Push it to where it shouldn’t even be functioning any more. An example of pushing the bounds is the Cappuccino framework. It is pushing javascript to the edge of what it should even be able to do. It completely blows my mind. Its the same thing Objective-C did to C. They broke the bounds of what the browser is capable of.

If you don’t think you can push the boundaries any further, then break them entirely. Use research to see how other people are using technologies in combination with out-of-the-box thinking. See how they are applying to to solve problems. Keep pushing the envelope.

How can our readers get in touch with you? Do you mind people connecting with you?

I love interacting with people! I am almost always on Freenode in one of the developer channels. I can be reached on AIM by my screen name: wattzilla. Of course my Twitter account is another great way to get in touch with me. I welcome any and all contact, so look me up!

Note: This interview has been adapted to a question and answer format from my much more relaxed interview with Wess last week.

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Interview with Wess Cope, Wattz.net

Are you a freelancer?

I used to be. Since I started by blog, I was way too busy with school, work and other stuff to keep on being a freelance developer.

What is the best part about being a freelancer?

Being a freelancer doesn’t have any real “best part” in my opinion. It has it’s up-, but also it’s downsides. For example: It’s great that you have “all the time in the world”, but you’ll need to be very good at organizing stuff, otherwise you won’t meet your deadlines.

What are your best methods for finding/attracting clients?

At the time I was a freelancer, clients came to me through referrals from others. Real-life networking was just a great way of connecting with people. Like I said before, when I started my blog, I didn’t do any freelancing anymore. I’ve had a couple of freelance job offers through my blog, but didn’t accept them.

How did you get started in your field? Did you study something in particular or are you self-taught?

I always was interested in computers in general. I first learned the Java programming language when still on high school. That’s the moment when I knew that I really loved to program. After high school, I started to study computer science. Everything I learned there was about application development. My web development skills are self-taught, just because I love to do that too.

What do you feel are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

Keep on loving what you do! That’ll keep you motivated and stay “on top of the game”. If you don’t like what you do, you should simply quit.

Where do you go for development inspiration, where do your ideas come from?

Tough question. I mainly draw development inspiration from real life, but don’t look at specified stuff a lot. When I have an idea for another crazy development proof of concept, that idea just came in my head without any real inspiration. I just think about that kind of stuff all day, what would be cool and what is possible. If it is a combination of both (cool and possible), I always like to give it a shot.

Do you have any favorite websites for interacting with others in the development community?

I do have a very full RSS inbox every day with blogs that I love to follow, but on Twitter most articles are tweeted there before they even get in the RSS feeds. Commenting on articles helps connecting with others too.

What are your 5 favorite sites online?

Other than my own site, I love to visit the following sites:

• SixRevisons – Great WebDev and –Design blog from Jacob Gube
• Noupe – Another awesome WebDev and –Design blog from Noura Yehia
• CSS-Tricks – Chris Coyiers playground, showing some real power of CSS
• Cyanide and Happiness / XKCD – I really love these webcomics, especially Cy&H is a great start of the day
• iGoogle – My iGoogle page with Twitter, GMail, Todo’s etc.

Who, in the online world, would you say has had the biggest influence on you?

I don’t think anyone on the online world really has a real “influence” on me. I just love to do stuff my way. When I think of “inspiration”, I think Jacob Gube (from SixRevisions) does inspire me a lot. He’s just a great guy, down to earth and managed to build a great online empire from scratch.

What are the tools you couldn’t live without?

• My MacBook Pro
• Google Calendar / GMail
• Firefox + Firebug
• Smultron / Eclipse
• Photoshop
• 24” widescreen (really improves the workflow)

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Interview with Marco Kuiper, Marcofolio.net

Are you a freelancer?

A little bit.

What is the best part about being a freelancer?

I only take on clients that I’m fairly sure won’t be stress-inducing and that I can “do whatever I want”, so the project is guaranteed to be fun.

What are your best methods for finding/attracting clients?

If I was actively in the game of attracting clients, I’d probably put more time and effort into my portfolio as a first step. Then I’d spread the word as best I could that I’m looking for work. Ask friends, family, colleges, anybody at all if they knew anybody looking for a freelancer. I think I’d be more worried about keeping up and dealing with all the business junk that I would be about finding the work.

How did you get started in your field? Did you study something in particular or are you self-taught?

My BA is in graphic design / ceramic art, so in college I did a little bit of web stuff and a bunch of print design. I always loved the web stuff, but was woefully unprepared to actually work in the field after college. I ended up in the printing industry, but on the side I was always messing with websites. So I’d say my design fundamentals come from school, but all the practical web skills / coding came from learning on my own.

Please tell us more about your programming background and what made you become a developer?

I was way into my computer programming class in High School (TURBO Pascal), which lead to me majoring in Computer Science at first in college. I spent literally four years in Computer Science before I decided at the last minute I didn’t like it and changed my major to art. I definitely don’t consider myself a developer. I tend to have ideas for applications, try to do it myself, and then going uhhhhmmmm yeah I’m going to need to find a real developer to get my out of this. It’s kind of weird position. I’m one of those “I know enough to be dangerous” types, which I enjoy since I have a greater understanding of what is actually going on, but I’m sure is annoying for the developers I work with.

What do you feel are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

Fundamentals and work ethic. I think a designer that really understands shape and form and balance and color theory and just generally has a good eye is going to go farther than a designer that knows a bunch of Photoshop tricks. Likewise a developer that really understand and is addicted to efficiency and perfect problem solving is going to go farther than a developer pigeon holed in a single language. And of course you need to work hard.

Where do you go for development inspiration, where do your ideas come from?

All good ideas are shortcuts. They make things easier than they already are.

How do you typically start a new project?

I always say getting to the root of the needs of the projects is the most important thing in the beginning. It’s so tempting to start throwing around design ideas right away, but that can be detrimental. As designers, we’ll start getting attached to those things before we even really consider what the end goals of the project are. If the end goal of this site is to sell as many garden hoses as absolutely possible, the work needs to be focused around that. Nobody cares how hot Gotham Bold is looking today when there is a warehouse of unsold garden hoses.

Do you have any favorite websites for interacting with others in the development community?

Twitter has a pretty kick ass design community going on it. A lot of link sharing going on, which can be both entertaining and educational. Most of my community interaction happens there, as well as the forums on my own site and just through email.

What does your typical day look like?

I actually just wrote up a little article about that, focused on the main applications I use throughout the day. I’m awake and at work by 6 a.m., I find I can knock out big chores if I tackle them right away in the morning. Then by the afternoon my mind is reeling with distractions and all the junk that comes up throughout the day. I’m kind of on autopilot by late afternoon, so I end up taking an extended break usually, and then come back at it in the evening to work on personal projects and write.

What are your 5 favorite sites online?

This is gonna be tough! I read TONS of sites through RSS in Google Reader, and I love all of them so I don’t wanna play favorites. I’ll just pick five kind of at random:

• Daring Fireball – I love John Gruber’s entire approach to blogging.
• Marc Johns – Hilarious drawings.
• Natalie Jost – I think this is one of the best designed blogs on the internet.
• Layer Tennis – It’s over for this year but it was lots of fun to watch.
• Wpazo – A linkblog of only really good WordPress-related stuff.

Who, in the online world, would you say has had the biggest influence on you?

One guy I always look up to is Collis Ta’eed from Envato. He and his team have really taken the idea of creating creativity marketplace to a whole new level and made a very successful business out of it. Someday I’d love to be a part of something like that.

What are the tools you couldn’t live without?

I could do 95% of my job with Photoshop, Coda, Firefox, and GMail.

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Interview with Chris Coyier, CSS-Tricks

Are you a freelancer?

Currently no, but I was working as a freelance developer earlier.

What is the best part about being a freelancer?

Freelancing has its own pros and cons, but for me it was a freedom of planning, organizing and decision making.

What are your best methods for finding/attracting clients?

Probably the exposure in the community, be it online or offline. If you run a blog or if you are active in niche forums, groups or speak at public events you position yourself as an expert and improve your chances to attract clients. They usually turn to people they have heard of.

How did you get started in your field? Did you study something in particular or are you self-taught?

I studied “Information technology in Business” and gained MCSD certificate about same time, which gave me broad knowledge not only in enterprise development but also in working with clients, project management basics and understanding of the full project life-cycle. However, I actually started to work some ten years before my studies, when I was 13 years old.
Apart from development I am very interested in web design. I’m an artist at heart, drawing and painting since childhood. My talent and artistic skills gave me an opportunity to bring computers and art together and I started with web design, illustrations, digital paintings and so on.
So I am both self-taught and educated.

Please tell us more about your programming background and what made you become a developer?

There is one person that is to blame for me becoming a developer and that is my father. He was working as a programmer (an “old school” programmer) in the late 80s and I was fascinated by programming. Eventually he bought us a computer, it was PC 286 that worked on 16MHz and had 512KB of RAM. Then I started to work with Clipper and dBase III+. Just a few years later I was freelancing with my cousin and we continued to freelance for a couple of years. Twenty years has passed since then and it’s actually sweet to remember those times.

What do you feel are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

I believe that good problem solving by thinking outside the box and being open-minded is what can make you better. Technologies, tools and patterns can always be learned, but more important is the way you use them and the way you think when you use them.

Where do you go for development inspiration, where do your ideas come from?

For me, getting an inspiration for development or design is the same as getting an inspiration for painting. I like to watch and study the world around me and try to understand it in many ways. That helps me think wider about problems and find solutions besides patterns. Reviewing different applications and websites, reading various articles and discussing things with friends also help me get inspired. Music also, especially hard-rock.

How do you typically start a new project?

Since I work within teams and often as a team leader I have more or less clear rules on how to start and run a project. Once we get user requirements from clients we start with analysis, decomposition, estimation and so on. This is a demanding and time consuming process, but our goal is to understand and describe the system the best we can. After the planning phase we move to development, testing and deployment. Basically I follow MSF Process model, but lately I’m trying to move to Scrum. Since switching to Scrum is not easy and fast I’m still in the middle of transition ?

Do you have any favorite websites for interacting with others in the development community?

I mostly use twitter because I have the ability to interact fast with most of my friends and colleagues. There are a couple of blogs that I read and comment on regularly.

What does your typical day look like?

I get up very early and due to the fact that my kids show no mercy, I am already tired once I get to work. Just kidding. At work, I am usually occupied with everyday issues and the time spent there always runs fast. Afternoon is when my wife and I spend time with the kids. Usually play a game or take a walk. Once they fall asleep (and that is the toughest daily task) I usually write blog posts, read interesting articles, try out some new concepts and if it’s not too late, sometimes even paint.

What are your 5 favorite sites online?

It will be tough to pick out just five of them, but let’s say it’s jquery.com, smashingmagazine.com, nettuts.com, visitmix.com and dotnetkicks.com

Who, in the online world, would you say has had the biggest influence on you?

I’d say two of them: Steven Snell and his blog on vandelaydesign.com and Scott Guthrie with his blog and sessions on public events. Both provided valuable information that helped me start my own blog and determine my direction with it.

What are the tools you couldn’t live without?

Basically I easily adopt new tools/technologies, but I definitively work to the bone VisualStudio, Visio, ArtRage, Firebug, InkScape, Google Mail & Reader, Twitter, my drawing pencils set, my watercolors set, Wacom tablet… there might be some more but I can’t remember now.

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Interview with Janko Jovanovic, Janko at Warp Speed

Are you a freelancer?

Yes I am a freelancer, I have been freelancing ’seriously’ for a little over two years now. I am also lucky in the fact that I have a steady part time job with a great company.

What is the best part about being a freelancer?

There are so many benefits, it’s hard to name one individually. One of the biggest benefits that I enjoy from being a freelancer is the ability to work on whatever job it is I choose. I don’t have to spend hours working on what I would consider a boring project or cleaning up some mundane code. I, luckily, can take the jobs I find most interesting and skip over anything I am not interested in. Another plus would have to be the flexibility and the ability to set my own schedule. Sleeping in is always great. However, for me, time and schedule flexibility is a double edged sword. I find a lot of people (especially friends and family) have a hard time understanding that just because I am at home, doesn’t mean I am available to chat or run errands. I have found that boundaries are very important for me, I will often turn my phone off while I am working so I can focus on the task at hand.

What are your best methods for finding/attracting clients?

Well, I am blessed and very luck to have a job that helps promote me as a freelancer. Most of the clients I work for contact me after reading an article or tutorial I have written for Envato. For example, I am currently running a ‘WordPress for Designers’ video series on ThemeForest. Because of this, I have had numerous people contact me asking for custom WordPress work and customization. To get back to the question, I think the answer to attracting clients, for me, is to become an authority or trusted figure in a certain area or field. Write articles and tutorials about a certain subject and show off what you have done in your portfolio. Get your name out there, contribute to other communities and web sites, be the expert.

How did you get started in your field? Did you study something in particular or are you self-taught?

I got started in the programming and web development field because I have always been passionate about building websites and coding, ever since I built my first website with GeoCities. Ever since then, I have been hooked on building things for the web and learning more about my field. I like to think that I have matured a little since my GeoCities website, but that was the moment it all started.

When it comes to being self taught, or formally educated, it is a little bit of both for me. Mostly the former. I am currently finishing my degree in programming and web development, but most of the vital skills I have learned have been from staying up way too late and writing endless lines of code.

Please tell us more about your programming background and what made you become a developer?

As I mentioned, I am about to finish my programming degree so that I will at least have some formal education underneath my belt. But most of my programming background comes from practice, persistence, and curiosity. Besides some basic education in programming, I don’t have much of a background, I just love to write code, build applications, and make websites. I’ve been very blessed and lucky to make it to where I am today and I think a lot of that comes from just being passionate about what you do.

When it comes to what made me become a developer, it’s quite simple. I am just a big code monkey. I love code, I love reading about code, I love writing code, I love writing about code, I love teaching code! I can’t imagine anything else I would rather do, so I guess you could say I made myself become a developer.

What do you feel are the most important skills for a developer to have/develop?

I think that absolutely anyone could become a great developer and/or programmer if they truly desire to. For me it boils down to three basic traits: a passion for what you do, the desire to always learn more, and a great sense of humor. Passion comes first as I have never met a great developer who wasn’t passionate about what they did. Next, the desire to always learn more is needed as we are in a field that is constantly changing. If you can learn to quickly adjust to new languages and challenges by constantly learning and brushing up your skill sets, then you are at a huge advantage when things change. Lastly, you just have to have a sense of humor in this field (and any field). Take a look at some code you wrote 6 weeks ago. Does it make you cringe or laugh? It probably should and that is ok! Look back at your mistakes, learn from them and laugh it off.

Where do you go for development inspiration, where do your ideas come from?

Whenever I decide to develop an application or web site, I try to make sure that it has a purpose, or more importantly, solves a problem that has not yet been solved. A great example of this is a super simple WordPress plugin I built a while ago called ‘Are You Sure?’. Basically, it prevents you from accidentally publishing a post before you meant to, as I have accidentally pressed that button a number of times. It turned out to be very popular even though it was the most simplistic plugin I have ever built. I accredit this to the fact that it solves a common problem.

The same thought process works for me when I set down to write an article or tutorial for work. If there are no article specifications, I will try to think of something that people would find useful. I’ll often look on popular web development forums and web sites and see what kinds of questions people are asking. If I see enough of them, then there is my article topic of the day. Other times, the crazy developer in me comes out and I just want to build something really cool or mess around with certain functions, so I will do an article on something of that nature.

How do you typically start a new project?

It always starts at my whiteboard. I have a gigantic whiteboard I keep on the wall in front of me. When I start a new project, I will literally lay it down on the ground and map out project goals, specifications etc.

Planning for me is key. I need to have a set of goals and functionality that needs to be accomplished, that way I can figure out the best way to accomplish what I am doing. After the whiteboard, I usually do some rough sketches on paper of important things to keep in mind, and overall goals and such.

Do you have any favorite websites for interacting with others in the development community?

I’m definitely a twitter addict, you can always find me lurking. I also try to keep up with some of the blogs and websites I have in my feed reader. In addition, I often am active on the WordPress development forums and other programming forums, I find that helps keep me up to date with what’s going on. To name just a few I enjoy:

• http://www.phpfreaks.com/
• http://wordpress.org/support/
• http://weblogtoolscollection.com/

What does your typical day look like?

After I finally decide to get out of bed, I spend about 1-2 hours just browsing some websites and blogs and catching up on Twitter. I can never get anything productive done withing the first hour of waking up, so I find it’s best to just take some time to relax early on in the day. Later on, I check in with my boss and doing any work I need to for Envato. From there it really just depends on how many clients I have and what needs to be done. Some days I will be hacking WordPress for a client, the next day I will be messing around in Photoshop designing a new application.

What are your 5 favorite sites online?

Wow, you really put me on the spot here. Just off the top of my head I would say the following:

• http://themeforest.net/
• http://nettuts.com/
• http://davidwalsh.name/
• http://css-tricks.com/
• http://www.gayadesign.com/

Who, in the online world, would you say has had the biggest influence on you?

Another tough question for me. I have to name two people in this case, because they have both had such an impact on my career and life. Firstly, the CEO and president of Envato, Collis Ta’eed, has been a huge influence on me. I can remember reading the different Envato websites and watching it grow into what it is today, it’s been really amazing. Collis is an extremely talented designer and developer, and is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Jeffrey Way, who is the site manager for NETTUTS and ThemeForest, and also my boss, is another person who has had a great influence on me. I really don’t know how Jeffrey writes so many quality tutorials per week and manages to still have a life, but he is really an inspiration. Jeffrey has a unique ability to teach very complex and difficult concepts to those new in the field and make it easy for them to understand, and that’s commendable.

What are the tools you couldn’t live without?

There are quite a few I would be very unhappy without, the number one thing being my MacBook. Some others would be:

• My whiteboard
• Coda
• ZendStudio for Eclipse
• Billings

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Interview with Drew Douglass, Dev-Tips