Peter Tran – Sydney, Australia

It has been six year since my last major revamp/redesign of my current petertran.com.au portfolio site. So what are my plans moving forward? My how the web development industry has changed! Methods that I adopted back in 2012 since my last re-design have changed dramatically. Alas, I’m still standing here and have managed to keep up with the forever changing nature of the web development industry.

Where Have I Been?

What have I done since then? I got married, have travelled and worked overseas for a bit, worked in publications, eCommerce and will soon be dabbling in the fintech industry. I’ve met many wonderful peers and leaders along the way and have learnt heaps technically and personally by being surrounded by highly driven people who are great at ‘getting shit done’.

I like involving myself in the start-up scene as my passion lies in contributing to growing companies in the growth stages. It keeps me on the edge of my seat learning new things and refining my skills along the way.

The Ever-Changing Nature of the Web

The web moves fast. It’s one of the most demanding industries to be in. For me, this wholeheartedly holds true. For instance, if you have found yourself picking up a new technical skill or learnt a development technique in the last three months, there’s a good chance that there’s a more improved, efficient and better way of doing it. Just for a bit of fun, let’s take a look at some example progressions that have stood out to me over the years in the web development scene:

• The popularity of PHP declines to languages like Javascript and Node.js. There’s more of a need for stateless, less complex microservices to do the equivalent work of large scale monolithic servers;
• We’re living in the world of managed platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Less time managing servers and hosting environments means more time focusing on building solutions to problems;
• CI/CD as a means of pumping out changes continue to be adopted by many organisations;
• The rise of hosted services like Squarespace for website creation, and Shopify for eCommerce vs a WordPress + WooCommerce combination make it easier for small businesses to gain exposure;
• Open source is favoured over proprietary code;
• Where once carefully selected and targeted keywords reigned supreme when it comes to SEO, speed, readability and accessibility are now indicators for search engines;
• Content is king. Society loves to consume content. What’s more interesting is video and voice will eventually take over written text. I’d give it another five years before this happens; and
• UX plays a more important role than ever. It’s what keeps users engaged with the site. My previous point mentions that content is king, so design needs to stay out of the way or guide readers to the information they need.

Plans Moving Forward

So how does all this apply to me? How does one prepare themselves for the next decade of continuous change in web technologies and keep at the forefront with the leaders in the pack? There have been several thoughts and key points I’ve collected over the last few years – which I intended to apply to my own personal development. The recent re-design of this site is representative of my shift in focus (which I will discuss about in an upcoming post). My plans moving forward include:

• Developing my personal branding. What is it that people think of when they first think of me?
• Focus more on content. There are key tips on how to best collaborate with a software developer and pitfalls to avoid. This applies to managers engaging with developers and juniors who need to shadow those with more experience.
• Be transparent. The techniques I used to build my site, my software development process and how I gauge the performance of my work – I’ll gladly share.
• Expand my reach. I intend to use several social media platforms to reach a wider audience, making it easier to see my content. I’m aiming to be ranked highly on search engine results for certain keywords.
• Be an influencer. You’re here for unique and insightful content. That’s cool. Building up a following is going to very hard. But let’s give it a shot.
• Focus on you – the audience. You may have your own website, application or are working with developers similar to me and need help to overcome a hurdle. I would love to help you and solve problems together.

So that’s a plan of what I had in mind moving ahead. That’s it in a nutshell! Did you have any thoughts or feedback you would like to share? Hit me up with a comment below.