When you tell people that you are a web developer they start to see you as a different person. You'll get questions like, "Why isn't my Wi-Fi working" or "Can you tell me the best website for cheese". It can get pretty hilarious when the non-techy people around you start to think you're a master of the internet and all the things it holds.
Once you reveal your web development powers, your life will change in the most interesting ways.
You now know how to fix computer problems.
It doesn't matter if you've never worked with anything more complex than a flash drive. Once people know you work with computers in some form, you'll become the go to person for all computer problems. Be ready to explain to people that you aren't sure why their mouse isn't working or what happened to that folder they needed.
Although you will start to learn some of the answers to these questions if you have enough friends, family, and co-workers ask you repeatedly. Soon you might actually know how to fix computer problems.
You control the internet.
Web developers make websites so that means they control them all, right? Someone might even ask you why Netflix is down or if you can speed it up. After you explain to them a few times that you can't get access to every website they'll back off for a while.
Then something else will pop up and you'll have another random question about a website you don't even know about. The good thing is that you'll be able to explain servers and cyber security to them and they will both learn something new and go tell more people about it.
You are tech support.
This is especially true if you work for a smaller company that lumps I.T. and software together. So don't be surprised when someone comes to you freaking out about the network being down. Also, don't be surprised when they get a little irritated if you have no idea what to do about it.
Get ready to answer user questions about the web app you're building while you are working on bugs that will fix the problems they are griping about. Get ready to sharpen those critical people skills because this is the time that they will grow the most.
I know some of these things sound ridiculous, but you'd be surprised by the questions people ask. Not everybody is tech savvy and most of the time they'll appreciate it when you explain stuff to them without being condescending.
Hopefully you got a few chuckles out of this. What are some of the weirdest, most non web development related questions you've gotten because people know you write some sort of code? People make the assumption that I'm a hacker just because they saw some JavaScript in a black IDE. It's easier to go along with them sometimes.
Hey! You should follow me on Twitter because reasons: https://twitter.com/FlippedCoding
Oldest comments (52)
"Can you hack my friend's Facebook account?"
No.
Twice this month. Both my own family asking about gf/bf
My girlfriend asked me this once, I sat her down explained why it was impossible, why no one in our whole campus can't do it and how phishing, theft of credentials and social engineering are mistaken for actual facebook hacks
I've got this before... :|
I charge them 50 bucks, then print out the olds 10 posts :D.
Evil. That person probably deserved it though (Hacking peoples accounts isn't a nice thing to do or ask of someone else).
"I have a mobile app idea, similar to Facebook, it will buzz! Can you develop it for tomorrow ?"
I HATE this the MOST!
'I have an idea for Uber-for-dog-walking' - them
'Oh yea? How much market research, advertising, business plan, and funding do you have?'- me
'none' - them
'go away' - me
Haha exactly !
Yup, I can, just give me million dollars in cash this evening :)
Scrap the Web in the headline - For a lot of people "i am a software engineer/programmer/etc" means "hey, here i am - fix my computer plllllzzzzzzz"
So here i am ... talking about this.
im working right now at an media company, im the only guy who knows html.
All this problems that you mention above is true and i felt related to that until i talk to my boss and... they read some Union status and responsabilities, but they mistaken the job, there were reading the IT status and i told them.. " so , where in this status said that i'm a programmer". they didn't knew what to do.
Sounds like you have plenty of opportunity ahead of you to make things better :)
I been here for 8 years aprox, the first years where good, now is horrible. do you have a job? :P
Hhahahahah...totally accurate for someone who doesn't know much about IT, ridiculous questions should always be expected I guess.
I work in an Office as a developer and IT is two floors above me. Not only that they've outsourced IT. So I get questions nearly daily about keyboard issues etc.
"My bank website isn't showing my recent transfer, can you fix that?!" facepalm
As a developer who has a background in tech support, network engineering, phone systems, applications..etc,etc... Those things are just not my job anymore. Our most hated word at my job is "glitch" which is uneliversal for "it doesn't do what I want so it's glitched'.
I wrongly assume rather different things about web developers -- e.g., that they can figure out how to install Ubuntu in a VM, or that they have at least a basic understanding of how operating systems work.
Maybe an article about what they should know, but often don't.
That might be an extremely long article 😂
Maybe an article on snarky ops nerds being twats instead of shipping an ova
Yes, usually a web developer can do all of that, but he or she is not an expert on those subjects.
I was told to set up an old computer in my church. It took me a while because the hardware was very old. I installed Ubuntu SE. I rebuild everything to hide the administration from non saby users, installed a couple more applications and even the basic servers to start a website. At the end, I was proud of my work, but they were not happy because it wasn't Windows. Well, the machine came with Windows 98 and it wasn't ready for internet. I even bought a wireless adapter with my own money.
At the end, I told them that I wasn't a technician, but a developer. And to then, their idea was that I wasn't professional.
All the work and even free.
To many, if you are not an technician that can solve their problem, whatever it may be, you don't know what you are doing.
This is so true. I can't tell you how many times I've seen little kids walk up to me and threaten to call 911 because they think I'm hacking. It's so annoying and funny at the same time
My family has absolutely no idea of what I am doing all the day.
I don't know how to explain it to them.
And they keep asking me to get their internet box to work.
I wish I could go back in time and tell them I work at the post office...
😂😂😂😂
Next time, open this: hackertyper.net rattle out some kernel code by mashing the keyboard, then hit Alt 3 times, or CapsLock 3 times. Enjoy :)
This might sound mean but...I started charging my parents when they asked for tech support. They paid fgor the support from the OEM; Im not fixing there printer for free...
Gods, but do I hate printers ... horrible Rube Goldberg contraptions.
Anyone else get approached for graphic design work as well? "That site looks great! Can you do the layout for my kids book?"
Lol
Hey, can you fix the internet for us please?
Me...
Umm. Sure, why not.
Restarts the router.
Haha, perfect
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