

Ask HN: Are (web) developers now a commodity? - kungfooey

I've had two people tell me this in as many days.<p>* Are they?<p>* If so, why?<p>* If not, then why is there this perception and how can it be changed?
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arghnoname
I got my first web dev job after two weeks of reading some PHP books and
coding up an application to help my girlfriend of the time keep track of some
stuff for her business.

I sucked, but I got a job (making poor wages of course) and it didn't take too
long to get past the median and (I think) into the higher percentiles of PHP
talent.

I'm not that smart so my easy entry into the field has always had me
disconcerted and I've made a concerted effort to dive into parts of
development that are more difficult or require greater rigor. So much web
development really is just playing ferry for the database, and the frameworks
are just making this easier.

This might all be a good thing for a certain class of problems that these
frameworks solve, but if you make your living making dynamic forms or whatnot,
I'd consider diversifying and picking up more skills.

There will always be a class of problems on the web that are truly difficult
and require real, uncommon expertise. A much larger portion of the work on the
web will be increasingly easy to complete for lesser trained or qualified
people, with much thanks to those who improve tools and technology for their
benefit.

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va_coder
People have been saying techies are a dime a dozen for years.

Do you try to put yourself in your customer's shoes and help solve problems?
Does your customer know you do this?

If the answer is yes, you're not a commodity.

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teeja
From the ads I see on Craig's, the parade of "requirements" they're looking
for vis-a-vis the money they're paying, I'd say yes. It looks like too many of
the troops have sold themselves cheap ... (and that too many potential
employers want a lot for almost nothing).

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ScottWhigham
The proof that they aren't is the fact that all web dev is not outsourced to
the cheapest company.

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kaveri
Probably from some idiot MBA. Now _there's_ a commodity.

