[thelist] webmaster know databases

Dreamscape Interactive Web Design drifterlee at iavbbs.com
Wed Dec 13 20:43:04 CST 2000


I agree with all of you who said a webmaster should be a Jack-of-all-trades.
Right now the industry is changing so fast you have to constantly learn a
little bit of everything just to keep pace. It really does help to love what
you do and be profoundly interested in it.
 I started out in the auto industry as a controls designer writing the
programs for huge machines that made car parts. In those antiquarian times,
we used Allen-Bradley and Modicon programmable controllers and drew the
circuits as if they were old-fashioned relays - much like binary is today -
on blueprints on a drafting board, then programmed them into the
controllers. Very primitive. Computers were huge mainframes with tape drives
and tubes (like old TV sets had) that took up entire floors of buildings.
The relays in my designs were open or closed, current stopped or flowing
through, strung together to make something happen, or not. Make things
happen in a certain sequence and make damn sure nobody out in the shop got
their arms cut off.
 Before that I designed hydraulic and pneumatic systems until the bottom
dropped out of oil and companies had to switch to electric and air. The
point is I had to learn whatever was necessary to change with the times. I
knew tons about hydraulics but had limited electrical experience. I learned
it fast, or would have lost my job. After years of that I semi-retired to
raise my two daughters, then took up web design. I love art and programming
so I picked it up pretty fast, but it is constant learning. I bought Access
and put it on my home machine so I could fool around with it and learn the
concept of data bases.
These lists help a lot. I usually don't post, just read, and read, and
read....
Yes, I agree you should learn something about databases - it's not hard. If
you can think logically, none of this stuff is really hard. But the key word
is love - you have to love it and love learning - otherwise you will just
resent the need to constantly keep up with a rapidly changing industry.
PS, I still have tons and tons to learn. I have only scraped the bottom of
the barrel. And damn, I'm excited about it!
Just my 2 cents worth :)

Sherrie Grady
sherrie at dreamscapeinteractive.com





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