5 ms·

The point about generalists no longer having a place in the market is something that's becoming more and more apparent every day. The web was crafted by genera

The point about generalists no longer having a place in the market is something that's becoming more and more apparent every day. The web was crafted by generalists. People who could think about both technology and design at the same time were hugely valuable builders, and leveraged to rapidly build up the content and tools of web from nothing. Looking back, it was the wild west. We generalists were the rough and tumble pioneers that swung an axe and moved boulders, dug for gold, founded towns from dirt. But now, it's built. There's no more frontier left to explore. The roads are cleared, railroads built, the land claims are well established, the towns have paved streets and public services. 10 years ago we web generalists were calling ourselves designers or developers but now we're engineers, product consultants. There's no longer a mad scramble to get a vision onto the screen with a designer, develop a new product from nothing. It's all about engineering to remove the flaws of the rough work done by pioneers, carefully looking at what's been established and tuning it so that it lasts. I think some of us chronic generalists need to find a new frontier. This is just no longer our place..

pbowyer 11y ago
Simon Wardley puts it very well in his Pioneers / Settlers / Town Planners model: http://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-town-planners-and.html http://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-tow... If you spot that new frontier do share - it's what attracted me to the web.
- thenomad 11y ago
  VR is my current top pic for a likely new frontier. It'll either bomb or it'll be huge, the equivalent of the introduction of the smartphone or greater.
  - swah 11y ago
    I wonder if it will isolate people even more? Everyone is always buried on their cellphones these days... Maybe people just accept to meet inside the Matrix... http://hypescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/12719113_10102665120179591_3471165635858509622_o-838x558.jpg http://hypescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/12719113_1...
  - rwhitman 11y ago
    How does one break into VR without a background in 3D gaming / CG?
    - cableshaft 11y ago
      Learn how to make a 3D game when you can spare the time with some books and/or tutorials (Unity game engine I believe has plugins for certain VR systems). Make a simple game that works in VR (use Google Cardboard if you need something affordable). Put it on your portfolio, and contact these companies and show how enthusiastic you are to enter the new VR frontier in your cover letter. Unity doesn't require knowing how to program low level 3D graphics. You just need to understand how to import models (that you can find on their asset store), and some basics about 3D coordinate space and basic update/draw loops used in every game to move and rotate those objects over time. You can go as deep as you want with it, but you could probably follow a tutorial on Unity and knock out something that proves you understand the basics in the span of a weekend. Keep improving and adding new stuff onto your portfolio, maybe blog about what you've learned, and keep networking until someone wants to give you a shot. That's basically how I broke into the game industry. It took time and passion, but I did it.
      - dba7dba 11y ago
        'game industry'. Whenever I hear that term, I shudder at the idea of working loong days and nights and weekends the industry seems to require.
        cableshaft 11y ago
        I didn't include that bit, but yeah, I only lasted a few years in the industry myself before being burnt out. Now I'm back to making games as a hobby.
      - rwhitman 11y ago
        Fascinating. Never crossed my mind that this was an area I could break into. Thank you
- patkai 11y ago
  IoT
- rwhitman 11y ago
  Thank you so much for that read. The part about Pioneers of the past being burned at the stake I'll hold on to. That's a truth that hangs on today, albeit with less fire and more firing
madaxe_again 11y ago
Well, I know where I want to go after the web, and am beginning to scheme - space - the final frontier.

pbowyer 11y ago

Simon Wardley puts it very well in his Pioneers / Settlers / Town Planners model: http://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-town-planners-and.html http://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-tow... If you spot that new frontier do share - it's what attracted me to the web.

thenomad 11y ago
VR is my current top pic for a likely new frontier. It'll either bomb or it'll be huge, the equivalent of the introduction of the smartphone or greater.
- swah 11y ago
  I wonder if it will isolate people even more? Everyone is always buried on their cellphones these days... Maybe people just accept to meet inside the Matrix... http://hypescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/12719113_10102665120179591_3471165635858509622_o-838x558.jpg http://hypescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/12719113_1...
- rwhitman 11y ago
  How does one break into VR without a background in 3D gaming / CG?
  - cableshaft 11y ago
    Learn how to make a 3D game when you can spare the time with some books and/or tutorials (Unity game engine I believe has plugins for certain VR systems). Make a simple game that works in VR (use Google Cardboard if you need something affordable). Put it on your portfolio, and contact these companies and show how enthusiastic you are to enter the new VR frontier in your cover letter. Unity doesn't require knowing how to program low level 3D graphics. You just need to understand how to import models (that you can find on their asset store), and some basics about 3D coordinate space and basic update/draw loops used in every game to move and rotate those objects over time. You can go as deep as you want with it, but you could probably follow a tutorial on Unity and knock out something that proves you understand the basics in the span of a weekend. Keep improving and adding new stuff onto your portfolio, maybe blog about what you've learned, and keep networking until someone wants to give you a shot. That's basically how I broke into the game industry. It took time and passion, but I did it.
    - dba7dba 11y ago
      'game industry'. Whenever I hear that term, I shudder at the idea of working loong days and nights and weekends the industry seems to require.
      - cableshaft 11y ago
        I didn't include that bit, but yeah, I only lasted a few years in the industry myself before being burnt out. Now I'm back to making games as a hobby.
    - rwhitman 11y ago
      Fascinating. Never crossed my mind that this was an area I could break into. Thank you
patkai 11y ago
IoT
rwhitman 11y ago
Thank you so much for that read. The part about Pioneers of the past being burned at the stake I'll hold on to. That's a truth that hangs on today, albeit with less fire and more firing

madaxe_again 11y ago

Well, I know where I want to go after the web, and am beginning to scheme - space - the final frontier.