So I’m an intern , and I’m pretty happy that I got the chance. Basically it’s the IT wing of one of the biggest companies in my country.
But I’ve faced a certain moral dilemma during the past few days that’s keeping me edgy.
Lets take it this way: I’m basically a self taught person when it comes to Web-Design. When it comes to marking up pages and writing style sheets, I do it all according to standards. I’ve done the bad and ugly, learned from it, and have improved my self continuously.
For now in this company, I’m under the supervision of one of their web-designers who has been with the company for a while, and has worked in the industry for quite some time (several years I guess). There’s another “Associate Web-Designer” that works as well, she’s been in the industry for quite some time too and in a “respected” web-design company.
My problem: neither of them know anything about web standards. To quote a few they do:
Using divs instead of p, h*, and virtually everything, and saying that it’s not a problem if they do that.
saying that nesting lists is wrong.
telling me to use a divs where I could have just used the semantically correct ul.
they use tables for layout.
using the br tag where they could just use p
I’m not even sure that I’m right anymore.
So just to ask, what should I do?[LIST=1]
[]Shut up and bend to their rules
[]Or tell them that they’re wrong (Remember these are people who have been in the industry)
[/LIST]
Or am I wrong?
PS. I’ve realized the hard way that I don’t have the creative edge that a web designer needs, most of the designs that I do are simplistic, so I don’t really think I’ll be pursuing a career in this.
The best thing to do is to code things properly and simply say there’s a better way if they question it.
If you can do that without being an overbearing know it all they’ll adopt it and you will have helped.
No, you didn’t. It’s just easy to come across that way without meaning to, especially when talking about something like standards. I know I have in the past
I would never work for a company that didn’t want me to challenge them when they do something badly.
Phew, what a relief! The last thing I want is to sound like I’m a whining little idiot.
I guess what you suggested is the best way, but despite my attempts to code well and bring it to their attention, they’ve been pretty indifferent about my code, they don’t question it. Should I tell them there’s a better way politely?
That being said, thanks for your thoughts I appreciate it!
Those 5 points I would raise when they’re appropriate, I wouldn’t start by saying You’re WRONG!
Raise something when you see it done badly or are asked to change your code, e.g. explain why <br>'s for spacing is wrong because you might want to change the space between paragraphs and with <br>'s you can’t do that.
People produce better things when people disagree and are open to discussion.
The worst things are produced when no-one questions or challenges and just does what they are told.
Humor can help keep these discussions free of anger.
There’s no one right way, sometimes just flat out telling someone it’s wrong is appropriate.
But I’ve faced a certain moral dilemma during the past few days that’s keeping me edgy.
If you can make your case and create positive change you will have learned the valuable skill of persuasion.
Try something with a level head. If it doesn’t work try something else.
Wanting to produce something better is a worthy pursuit.
I really do want to help them, since they’ve got the creative edge that’s so needed in this profession, so I will try to get them to improve while keeping the things you said in mind. Thanks for helping me our MarkBrown4 !
I agree with Mark here. Code the best way you can, and if they tell you to change it, be honest and tell them you can’t do that, because it is just the wrong thing to do. If they are worth a cracker, they’ll respect that, and wake up to their shortcomings.
You might want to keep an eye out for suitable references/articles to back up your point of view. Then if somebody queries your approach, you can say “Well I’ve been reading about it and this seems like the way forward. There’s a good article here, if you’d like to read it for yourself.” That way, they can kid themselves that they learnt the right techniques from respected industry sources, rather than have to admit that the intern knows more than they do.
Honestly, my advice would be to find another job somewhere else. Working there is only going to hold you back. I can’t stand working with people who are happy with sloppy and/or sub-standard work. Start looking around for something better. That’s my advice to you.
Problem is that within the company, he’s the junior guy and the other guys are the “senior” developers. His management will almost certainly respect the opinion of the established guys rather than listen to what he has to say.
That seems to be a good way to deal with it, guess showing them the standards is one way to get them to improve and not get any hate towards me. Thank you for your thoughts.
My first thoughts when I encountered this horrific code is that I wouldn’t want to work here anymore with this kind of status. But I’d like to try and help them out since they’re good designers, I might as well try for the engineering division instead.
I just had a talk with the “associate”, she isn’t gonna budge, she thinks she’s right. The lead is willing to improve himself, so I’m pretty sure he’ll set her straight. As for me, heading for engineering is a good prospect for me.
Does the following verify as good semantic code?
<div>
<li>...</li>
<li>...</li>
</div>
They’re saying this is for SEO:
<h6># 148,<br/>
Vauxhall Street,</br>
Colombo 02, Sri Lanka </h6> <!-- Address -->
<h5>+9480 07654 321</h5> <!-- Phone number -->
Yes, people who got into web design before the standards movement got into full swing can be pretty dangerous. There is no way I would put up with them professionally, even if it meant being unemployed. Just like I’d rather be poor than turn to crime.
When I first read that code example I was half awake in the morning here and was like “Don’t see anything wrong with that… Not sure what he’s… oh crap they’re really doing that? No <ul>? Ugh… wtf…”
The second example is even worse. Do they know there’s such a thing as an actual <address> tag in html? And those <br/> tags… ugh…
Yeah, you’re in the wrong place my friend. If you do stay there, make sure you don’t fall into the trap of taking notice of people like that. There’s a danger poor standards could become “normal” to you if you work in an environment like that over time. Take it from me - YOU are right, not them.
Basically it’s the IT wing of one of the biggest companies in my country.
did I?
she was pretty severe with me on the first one to quote: