On web developers

Hey there! This post was written in 2012, so it may contain information that is no longer accurate or thoughts that no longer reflect how I feel. As human beings, we're constantly learning and bettering ourselves through experiences and interactions with the world and each other.

I keep posts like this around for historical purposes and to prevent link rot, so please keep this in mind as you're reading.

— Cory

College didn't teach me how to program. All of the skills I use daily were learned the hard way — through trial and error, poorly written API docs, and foraging through other people's code. I give credit to Academia for algebra skills and emotional endurance, but web development was something that needed to be self-taught. I've embarrassed teachers who tried to teach table-based layouts and stumped professors with scripts that were a fraction of the size of their Java equivalents.

This isn't rogue, this is renaissance.

We solve problems and we do it our way because it works. We make things out of necessity and we give them away for free. We set our sights on the impossible and we make it happen, whatever the cost. What you call insanity, we call perseverance. We don't do it to impress, we do it because it's in our blood — it's who we are.

We're the hackers you fear and the geeks you rely on. We stay up late and wake up early out of sheer adrenaline. We do it, we do it until it's done, and we never complain about it. It's not an addiction, it's a way of life — and I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.