Hybrids Rule Everything Around Me (A Web Afternoon)

Transcript

1. Hybrids Rule Everything Around Me
   A talk given with ❤ by Bryan Veloso
   http://simpledesktops.com/browse/desktops/2013/apr/06/wiresphere_black/
   

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2. Specialization is dead.
   

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3. Specialization is dead. No, not really.
   

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4. Specialization has evolved.
   

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5. The common term?
   Well, I find it boring...
   

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6. A generalist.
   “yeah, I’m generally ok at things.”
   

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7. A jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none.
   Cool story bro. What does a jack even do?
   

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8. Yo jack-of-all-trades, I’m really happy for you and Imma
   let you finish but hybrid is the best title of all time.
   

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9. Come on guys, srsly. Mega Man or
   horses with horns? You pick. But I’m
   going with hybrid.
   “Unicorn” is prey cool too.
   

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11. Hi, I’m @bryanveloso.
    

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12. I live in LA.
    

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13. With my wonderful wife, Jen.
    

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14. ... and 1 cat.
    

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15. ... and 2 cats.
    

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16. ... and 3 cats.
    

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17. ... and 4 cats.
    

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18. ... and 5 cats.
    

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19. I work at .
    

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20. .com/bryanveloso
    

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21. So, let me tell you a story.
    

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22. I’ve been designing since I was 13.
    My first website was a fan-site for Final Fantasy 7. It was
    pretty wicked. If you’ve heard of “Avalonstar” or the
    “ChaoticSoul” WordPress theme... yep, that’s me.
    

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23. I turned that hobby into a career in 2005.
    Graduated college. Joined thefacebook as their 2nd
    designer. Still kinda sorta in college.
    

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24. “I will never get into programming.”
    Said around 2006. PHP was icky and all I was using it for
    were WordPress themes and templating at Facebook.
    I wanted to be a “pure designer.”
    

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25. So, let me really tell you a story.
    

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26. Don’t panic, there’s a pony in it.
    This is the Django Pony from the Python web
    framework of the same name. I am its father. o_o;
    

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27. This is the story of Hello! Ranking.
    This is the story of how my wife and Japanese Pop music
    made me a hybrid and changed my life.
    

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29. design + development + ops = devignops?
    I wanted to control the entire stack. Having the power to
    go from idea, wireframes to the back-end and deployment
    is awesome.
    

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30. September 2008 – May 2011 (Codebase 1.0)
    

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31. October 2011 – Present (Codebase 2.0)
    

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35. 5 years later, Hello! Ranking hasn’t shipped.
    Just because you don’t ship, doesn’t mean you don’t
    learn. I’ve learned more about programming (and design)
    with this project than any other. And I continue to learn.
    

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36. What did I learn?
    Wait for it...
    Wait for itttt...
    

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39. Learn by scratching your own itches.
    No, you’re not trying to create the next Facebook. What you
    are trying to do is keep the motivation and excitement up.
    

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40. Asking the right questions is an art.
    The more specific the question, the more specific the
    answer. You get out what you put in.
    

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41. Everything is a challenge.
    You know what you say to those challenges?
    Come at me, bro.
    

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42. Turn discouragement into motivation.
    Can’t even name the number of times I was this close to
    giving up. Cheer up emo kid, you can do it.
    

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43. Failures make success even sweeter.
    Now I know why people throw launch parties. When I
    launch H!R, I know I’m throwing one.
    

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44. At we’re all hybrids.
    

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45. My co-worker Cameron
    went from motion graphics
    to building a Ruby gem for
    our icon typeface in his
    2 years with GitHub.
    

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46. It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this.
    

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47. The first step is the hardest.
    When you get home, pick up a book or read an article about
    something you’ve always been meaning to learn.
    

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48. Build. Force yourself to build.
    You’re a designer? Remember when CSS was foreign to
    you? But you really wanted to make that fan site, so you
    learned and you built.
    

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49. You’re a developer? Remember when here> used to be foreign to you? But you really disliked b2
    to blog. So you learned and you built.
    Build. Force yourself to build.
    

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50. You’re neither? You have no excuse. You have the ideas,
    learn to build them. Learn to speak the language and help
    yourself in the long run.
    Build. Force yourself to build.
    

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51. Once you get your footing, a new hotness can possibly
    become more attractive than where you came from.
    Be mindful of your roots.
    

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52. We’re striving to be hybrids, not a “designer now” and a
    “developer later.” It’s not easy. I’ve personally be struggling
    with this for years.
    Be mindful of your roots.
    

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53. Hybrids thrive off of exchanging knowledge. Trade some of
    your design chops for your friend’s programming know-
    how. Even better, build things together.
    Knowledge exchange through pairing.
    

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54. As you learn, you will be able to better communicate with
    peers and understand their lingo.
    Be a babelfish.
    

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55. The important note is to gain an understanding. A
    designer asking “yo, I need these variables available in the
    template” is certainly more than most devs hear normally.
    Be a babelfish.
    

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56. If you ever find yourself in a place where the new is just too
    hard to take, just remember a 30-something Asian kid
    still hasn’t released his social web application yet.
    Never give up.
    

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57. It’s time to build.
    Let’s conquer the world together.
    Become a hybrid today.
    

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58. Hybrids Rule Everything Around Me
    A talk given with ❤ by Bryan Veloso
    http://simpledesktops.com/browse/desktops/2013/apr/06/wiresphere_black/
    

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