Tools vs Talent
People sometimes assume that “computer people” can become web designers overnight, in the same way that tech people can “study up” and obtain Cisco or A+ certifications.
I had an interesting extended conversation today with a web guy at a BMW dealership, (actually I bought a Toyota …I work for the state, remember?)
The long and the short of our chat had to do with this guy managing the website for the dealership. He talked about his decades of experience in car sales, and his transition to managing the booming internet side of the business. He mentioned a recent trend of dealerships hiring “techies” to run their websites, techies who had no previous experience in the auto industry, much less selling cars, dealing with people, etc. The crux of his argument was that “you could teach a good car salesman to run a dealership website, but you couldn’t necessarily teach a technology guy to be good at using that website to sell cars.”
There is something to be said for years of industry education and experience. And no amount of tech-savyness can leapfrog someone into overnight success, unless they understand the medium, the mechanics, the psychology, of the particular field that new technology is being applied to.
I find it interesting how that core principle applies to almost any industry. Its the same old argument about tools vs talent.
You can discuss the newest features of Photoshop until you’re blue in the face, and endlessly commisserate about which set of Adobe Creative Suite you should purchase, all the while pretending that these tools will somehow make you better at what you do, ….when in reality, a trained artist/industry professional can run circles around your $1200 software package with nothing but perhaps an ink pen, an old version of microsoft paint, and a photocopier machine he rescued from an office trashcan.
Beware the “expert” designer who, in fact, only knows the nuts and bolts of their software. Like the guy (or gal) or claims to be a master carpenter because he/she can work a power saw, they may know the TOOLS, but they don’t necessarily have the experience and talent to output any kind of product.
I’m wary of conversations about tools. Lets start talk about ideas. About design. About content.
You make a really valid point here. Just knowing how to do something doesn’t make a person great at it and we’d think of that for doctors, lawyers or anything else, but when it comes to folks who do technical things, a lot of people assume that it’s some skill that translates well to anyone who is supposedly “really good at that computer stuff.”
Thanks for the post, Drew. This is a good one, and it’s one that’s particularly close to my heart. Personally, I am a Web developer, not a designer. There are many parts of my job that cannot simply be taught, but need to be experienced. As a designer, that experience becomes even more important.
Although we have begun to move away from the era when everyone with a copy of FrontPage thought they were a Webmaster, there is still a good bit of that out there (though, now they’re using Dreamweaver and Photoshop to make that claim).
There is something to be said for it. Whether you’re talking about artwork or something more technical like writing code, that talent and experience is always necessary. You just won’t learn those things by reading a book and/or sitting in a classroom (fortunately or unfortunately).