[thechat] What do you *really* do?

[matthew garrett]

Here goes nothin.

I develop web sites for a living. Sometimes I design them and build them for
my own clients. Sometimes I build them for other designers and their
clients. I do some database design, and develop Cold Fusion applications to
do what needs to be done with the data. Most recent large (for me) project
was a staffing company in New York who wanted to post their jobs on their
own site (major upgrade from their brochure site). So i did the whole admin
area/dynamic data/online applications thing and they love me now. Anyway, my
CF skills are ever improving.

A lot of my clients are creatives - photographers, designers, architects,
etc. and they've all come to me through word of mouth, and through publicity
I get by winning awards in various magazines (the kinds that use actual
paper). Most clients are in Connecticut, New York, and New Mexico, but I
need to find a good client in Denver...

Everything I know about making websites i learned through reading books,
magazines, the web, and by just doing it (hello Nike). Never took a course
or a class. Took one programming class about 100 years ago. Only thing i
remember  is the basic if/then premise. A couple of years ago reading
Webmonkey gave me the confidence to try ColdFusion, and reading TheList now
gives me the resources to solve problems more quickly.

By the by, *that* is what I actually do most of the time. Solve problems. I
think that's what we all do. We work in a field who's main characteristic is
the sheer volume of problems to solve.

Last career: aspiring photographer. Posessed the skills but not the will to
pound the pavement with the hoards of photogs in NYC which is where i would
have had to compete for the jobs.

Link: with apologies for is increpitude, here is my personal site, (circa
August 1999) http://www.imagerealm.com
I broke my neck within weeks of it's launch. Maybe that's why i keep
delaying the completion of my next personal site see5.com , named in honor
of my c-5 vertebrae. Stay tuned for that one. It will have links to better
sites.

matt