Interview with Drew Douglass, Dev-Tips

Drew Douglass of Dev-Tips is a Web Developer who works primarily in php, MySQL and Javascript. He also dives into WordPress projects frequently. He lives in Columbia, Missouri and also works for Envato.

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