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It’s hard not to laugh after “so called”, but easy on patronizing a clearly non-technical person (if not a high school troll) about reuse. He unintentionally has a point. I am talking about unneeded modularization and everything becoming an “integration” of progressively smaller pieces that could have been parts of your system: developed to the exact specification.No one is trying to reinvent the wheel (e.g. file systems and databases), but many times it is 100x easier to write something from scratch to the exact spec than use some third-party module/API with 90% of functionality you don’t need, and the remaining 10% covering 90% of your needs. You’ve been through this, haven’t you? After learning all API intricacies and mitigating all issues to make it work with other (third-party) modules, after all those adjustments, workarounds, and dependency messes, you are still 10% short, so you shop for another third-party package to cover the 90% of those 10%, then another one, and another one, and another one.After all is said and done, you have to use something like Docker to deploy that mess and something like Akka to make a multi-server setup resilient to crashes. Forget about easy clustering i.e. spooling up a straightforward self-contained server when needed - automatically. And that’s just the static view. Imagine something changing, breaking everything else. But, hey, 10 Web services using 20 databases, accessed through seven message queues look great on an “architecture diagram” presented in some board room to clueless MBAs with deep pockets.Look, I understand some non-programmer Wordpress freelancer doesn’t have a choice, but to combine different widgets, buttons, and controls for every little thing. We, programmers, do.Not everything needs to be modularized (to be integrated) via “micro-services” or somehow else. In the old, circa-2002 Enterprise Java days, when the first generation of code monkeys from you know where declared HashMap and ArrayList variables, if some still remember, newbies tried to impress everyone with the Factory pattern, since it was the first one in the GoF book. Every second class (used only once) was an “implementation” with a dedicated interface and factory. Now it’s an HTTP micro-service.A few other examples:A “workflow engine” is really a state machine with an optional work queue persisted as a database table. No external libraries, let alone physical servers accessed through a message queue (also hosted on some server) needed. A workflow itself is a flowchart-like decision tree, best implemented with… yes, frigging if statements. It takes several times longer to draw pretty flowchart diagrams and still type programming code inside rectangular and diamond blocks - compared to just writing normal code, that needs to be recompiled, retested, and redeployed after requested changes anyway. The only benefit of a visually captured workflow is that some non-technical boss can look at that flowchart diagram and admire it, still without a clue what’s typed inside the rectangles and diamonds.Speaking of which: so called “business rules” typed inside, it’s even more outrageous, why one would use an external HTTP-accessed “rule engine” in our age of Functional Programming, when little pieces of logic: lambdas, closures, EL expressions… whatever language/technology you use, can be simply injected where you need them.Here is my theory why it happened and software development became all about “integration”.The programming was dumbed down to accommodate the least skilled code monkeys. The pieces of software are becoming smaller, so they can handle them. Essentially a cohesive 100-screen application is replaced by a 100 of one-page “micro-services”, comprehensible by a 100 of code monkeys. The problem didn’t disappear. It was just postponed, moved higher, so some poor slightly higher paid “slash-architect” developer now needs to “integrate” those 100 pieces. However the main goal has been achieved: keeping dirt cheap code monkeys “busy” to justify their employment, meaning the middlemen commissions. WTF we need to find work for slaves because we got their services for free?Have you ever wondered, why freelancers are never encouraged to build bigger and more robust things, and everyone keeps producing simple two-page data entry apps and single-purpose consumer stuff like blog platforms, messengers, plugins, and cute little GitHub-hosted frameworks? Want a chat? No need to learn WebSockets. Here’s a “chat button”. Meaning pushing your customers into using an additional service with its own back-end UI. Many of those services are trivial. Am I the only one, who thinks they are easy?Half of business systems needs some kind of specialized CRM. What is a CRM? A mysterious system you need to integrate with, making sure everything is styled to blend in and works flawlessly? It’s a glorified one-table contacts manager. What is a role-based security component? The users table. Should I continue?Here’s what happened. All talented people who should have written the next gen business software with embedded CRMs, HRMSes, and other precise internal modules, were pushed out of IT - into better-paying “scientific” Google, that works on cool algorithms and new languages. That freed the space for hordes of code monkeys hired to keep the old crap running and gradually learning programming. At least they don’t declare ArrayLists anymore. Anyone left out? Wordpress and Drupal freelancers, who took PHP 101 classes.Google doesn’t want to touch custom enterprise development with a 10ft pole. The new grads (those who couldn’t get into Google) think they cannot develop anything bigger than a messenger. The PHP freelancers know they cannot. The code monkeys never develop anything new. They fix bugs. Who’s going to carry the torch? Is “build” ever going to outweigh “buy” in IT?A big kid can build an infinite number of cool things out of normal (small) size Lego blocks: programming keywords like “if” and “for”. A toddler can play with Lego too: big chocking-safe blocks, similar to “software packages”. There was a healthy balance between two Lego sizes 20 years ago. Seems like today everyone is back in daycare playing with toddler-size Lego.I don’t want to write a novel here. You can read more on industry follies in my Medium blog, particularly this article: IT Meritocracy. Part 6: Everything Is About Technology.

Good question!The best answer I've got is that you should alternate between coding and design skills.It's not like you'd learn everything there is to know about code and then learn everything there is to know about design.You need to balance acquiring both types of skills.However, there is also a third component: practice.You will hear this a lot on Quora and other forums—The best way to become a web designer (or anything for that matter) is to try to apply your skills.Even if you are frustrated with the results.What I'm trying to say is that learning web design should progress like this:1. Acquire a minimum set of coding knowledge2. Acquire a minimum set of design knowledge3. Do a tiny project and go back to 1.Learning is not a linear process. At least, it shouldn't be. It should be iterative.When you approach web design this way, in tiny increments, you will be able to keep yourself motivated because you will feel that you're making progress.Now let me expand on these points.Your minimum set of coding skillsLearn HTML and CSS. Tuts+ or http://codecademy.com are nice resources.That's it.What? No Bootstrap, Skeleton, D3.js, JQuery, CSS animation?!Right, when I said tiny increments, I meant that. :) You can build a website with just HTML & CSS. So, stop here. There is time to work on your coding skills.Besides, if you don't start learning web design, because otherwise your work will look sub-par. And when it does, you won't be able to charge a lot for it.Your minimum set of design skillsThe smallest set of design skills that you need for your first project (coming up in a minute).Design with the business goal in mind. A web design exists to to help a business realize a goal and to help the user achieve their own goal. When the 2 goals converge, everyone is happy. So, these 2 goals should be your reference points, always. You should base each design decision that you make on them—font choices, colour choices, layout, etc. Design is not art and your decisions are not supposed to be based on "taste". They have to be based on the problem(s) you're solving.Read about the basic principles of design. This 7-step primer in web design should help you get started. Also, this series of articles.Observe what layouts other websites use. Why did they choose this particular layout? What problem are they solving? How does this layout help realize the business goal? But don't just observe, note your observations.Read this amazing introduction to typography: Butterick’s Practical Typography or, at least, this short summary of it: http://practicaltypography.com/t..Start embedding harmony in your designs by using a modular scale to size text. This mini-series explains more about harmony and using a modular scale.Your first projectNow, when you're done reading about all these things and you know HTML and CSS, you should get your feet wet.Try to design a single page with just text, in black and white.Why just text? Because text is by far the most used medium to convey a message on the web. Therefore, it's fundamental for you, as a web designer, to be able to make text look good and be a pleasure to read.Why black and white? Because choosing colours is yet another beast. Taking small steps will make you feel happy about the progress you're making and will help you learn quicker.Apply the basic design principles you learned + use the observations of other people's designs + think about the goal of that page + size the text using a modular scale.And if you're wondering how exactly to do that, try this web design process here: http://www.rumendimitrov.com/201...Best of luck!

I found this amazing guide by Paul Jarvis on Medium, please note that there are actually 19 points.This guide works when anything shitty happens. Someone criticizes you online? Read this. Someone wants a refund on something that took you five years to build, and they’re mean about it? Read this. You got fired from a job or by a client? Read this. Zombie apocalypse? Well… in that case, what’s probably more important is non-perishable provisions and zombie-smashing devices (but maybe afterwards, read this).1. Everyone is offended all of the time.We’re all set in our ways. As much as we tout how open-minded we all are, we all have little nit picks about everyone else. Slow drivers (who speed up when the road goes from one to two lanes), 17-year-old yoga teachers who talk about the meaning of life for the first 45 minutes of a 60-minute yoga class, people who write op-ed pieces on the Internet (like me…), people who swear, people who use social media in a way that we don’t.Assume whatever it is you’re doing, someone else can — and will — be offended by it. This shouldn’t stop you from doing what you’re doing, but it also shouldn’t come as a surprise when someone tries to tell you how offended they are by what you just did.2. If someone is offended by you, that’s because they’ve noticed you.Before you get bent out of shape about someone dumping their shit on you, realize that they’ve taken time out of their day to call you out. They noticed you, paid attention, and consumed what you made. Sure, they hated it, but now you’re wasting even more of their time because they’re telling you how much or why they hated it.Even if you don’t respond (and you probably shouldn’t), you’ve won because you’re on their radar and they don’t want you to be. Plus, even if someone is offended by you, them telling you about it is basically the worst case scenario. Life will continue, the planet will keep fucking spinning, and no one but you will be the wiser that someone was offended.Worst-er case scenario: someone complains about you publicly. Reality: it’s not that bad, because people have the attention span of a gnat when it doesn’t relate to them, so it fades quickly from the collective radar (or Twitter stream).We’re all paranoid that everyone will hate us. Especially when we make things for other people, and especially when we put those things online. Go into everything assuming that even if a few people do hate you or what you’ve made, there are more people silently consuming what you made (or even better, buying what you made).3. Not being noticed sucks more, but it’s a universal pain.If no one hates you, no one is paying attention. If attention is what you want for vanity, confidence, or, hell — to make a decent living — then know that it’s not instantaneous. Every single person that you’re currently paying attention to, at some point in their lives, was in your exact position. They kept at it and worked enough so that others started listening.Also know that if no one is watching, you can experience true freedom. Dance in your underwear. Write entirely for yourself. Swear like there’s a going-out-of-business sale on “fucks” and “shits.” Find yourself — not in some coming-of-age hippie way involving pasta and ashrams— but in a way that helps you draw your own line in the sand for what matters and what doesn’t. Do what you want to do, just because you want to do that thing. This will build confidence that will come in handy later.4. People will judge you, regardless of what you do, because everyone’s “judgy.”Fear can make us afraid of what others will think. It’s not a question of if people will judge you, because they definitely will judge you. People are judgy and that judgement is scary.True story: I just got invited to an event, read the invite online, and judged the hell out of the event. I actually said, out loud, to myself, “Fucking hippies!” It’s a party that features fires and dancing, wild-harvested local food, rosehip mead and gratuitous photos of people with dreads and body paint hugging each other. Is their party happening regardless of whether not I attend? Heck yes, it is. Will the party be awful because I think they’re a bunch of hippies? Heck no, hippies don’t give a shit about me. They’re going to drink their rose hip wine (probably out of chalices they whittled while chanting to fairies) and dance into the night having a blast.Don’t be me in that situation, be the hippies. Not literally of course (unless that’s your thing), but you get what I mean.Look at it this way — whatever you do, whenever you do it, you’ll be judged for it. Even by letting fear kick your ass and doing absolutely nothing, you will be judged. So, since you’re going to be judged any way, why not actually take action? That way, at least when you judge yourself, you’ll be able to sleep well at night (you’ll be tired from the figurative mead and dread-locked dancing). Everyone else who judges you can politely fuck off.We all care what others have to say. But it becomes dangerous when we value their opinions more than our own. The list goes, in order of importance: 1) our opinion of ourselves, 2) (which is a distant second) everyone else’s opinion of us.5. Luckily, judgement & respect are different thingsBeing judged and being respected are not the same thing. People can think you’re an asshole and still hold you in high regard. People can totally disagree with you, but still understand your values.Conversely, if someone judges you as a nice person or a decent human being, it doesn’t mean they respect you. People walk all over nice and decent human beings all the time. It sucks, but it happens. On the other hand, people don’t tend to walk all over people they respect.6. Self-respect leads to others respecting you.Self-respect, in a world where everyone is constantly offended and judging you, is fucking tough. But it’s necessary.You need to figure out what makes you respect yourself first, before anyone else will respect you. That’s because people are sheep. They see one person doing something, and they do it, too. Like fucking lemmings and cliffs. Or that Derek Sivers TED talk where that one guy started dancing and everyone followed (he was probably drunk on rosehip mead). So if you’re respecting yourself — publicly and proudly — chances are, others will follow. And even if they don’t follow, hey, you’ve got yourself a nice big bowl of self-respect and there’s nothing wrong with that.7. Self-respect & entitlement are very, very different things.Self-respect means you know what you’re willing to do and what you’re not willing to do. It’s honour and dignity that makes you, you. It’s your line in the sand to help you feel good about who you are and what you’ve done.This doesn’t mean that you have special privileges or rights to anything, though. Whoa there, pardner!Entitlement means you think you deserve something. You deserve your own self-respect and to be treated decently by others. Anything past that — you’ve got to fucking work for it. And even then, even if it doesn’t work out the way you wanted, that’s just the way the cards fall sometimes.Feeling entitled is the quickest way to lose respect from others. The world doesn’t revolve around you. You don’t deserve anything that you didn’t earn. You need to start small and build up; paying some dues. You can’t just do whatever the fuck you feel like and make a shit-load of money or get famous doing it. The world doesn’t work like that. I’m glad it doesn’t. That’s not healthy.Ashton Kutcher had it right when he said, “working hard and being generous and thoughtful and smart is a path to a better life. The only thing that can be below you is to not have a job.”Self-respect doesn’t mean you deserve something. It doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone else. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to venture into the unknown, like the rest of us, and see what happens when you do.8. If you don’t have their respect, you don’t need them.So, say you’ve got your own self-respect dialled in. You know that entitlement is bullshit. Yet, some people are still not going to respect you.The good thing about people not respecting you is that unless they’re actually causing you some sort of harm, you can be like, “fuck ‘em.” They’ll never support your work or make you better as a human being, so you drop them as quickly and silently as possible. They’re dead weight to your path to winning.Unless you’re into pain and anguish, people who don’t respect you shouldn’t be in or even near your life. They’re not your audience, your rat people, your customers. You don’t need them for anything.9. You really only need the people who respect and value you.With the disrepectful assholes and trolls out of the way, the people that are left fall into two categories: People who don’t know who you are, and people who respect and value you.The former don’t matter, unless you’re into building an audience, in which case you just need to show them that you exist in some way. They shouldknow about you, but they just don’t know about you… yet.What’s left is your people. These are the most important people to you on the planet. They’re the ones who not only pay attention, but are interested. Treat these people like royalty, because to you, they should be. Make things for them, be generous towards them, and basically make sure they know how you value them.10. Confidence is achievable by the timid, introverted, or non-a-types.I’m an awkward little nerd who’s afraid of everything, dislikes groups of people, and has a penchant for being alone. I’m definitely not type-a or extroverted.I’m confident, not because of ego (ok maybe a little because of ego) but because I try things, fail at things, and learn things. I’ve spent a lifetime learning how to do a couple things well (and I don’t ever stop learning). You can get confidence like that too — all it involves is action and a willingness to learn.You don’t need to be loud to be confident. Sometimes the most confident person in the room is the woman who has said three sentences the whole night. And probably, when she spoke, everyone else shut the fuck up to listen to her awesomeness.You don’t need to be putting it out there how much you know about some shit to be confident, either. Confident people know what they know, and don’t need to share it to build confidence. Confidence comes from within. They share when the time is right or when they’re asked. They also share it in a way that works for them.So confidence doesn’t look like some idiot on stage shouting platitudes and waving his hands around (I’ll bet you 10 quadrillion dollars that guy isn’t actually very confident). It can be quiet, reserved, and like Kenny fucking Rogers — knowing when to hold’em.11. Don’t give fucks like fucks are going out of style.“Giving a fuck” is basically your life’s currency.If you give a fuck about everything and everyone, you’ll quickly run out of fucks, or even worse, go into fuck debt. Your time will be spread too thin, you’ll stress about tiny things and insignificant people, and external factors will rule your life and run it into the ground.When you find yourself giving too many fucks about things that don’t matter, it’s a signal that something in your life needs to change. You need to find more people or ideas that are worthy of your limited fucks.Is this the line for the convenience store?!Don’t give your fucks to small things that are out of your control or to people who don’t deserve them. Trolls don’t deserve giving a fuck about. The long line-up at the convenience store doesn’t deserve even a single fuck. Learn to meditate instead.If you save up your fucks and squirrel them away, you’ll have lots to give when the time is right. Bank those fucks! Save them for a rainy day, like when something or someone really matters.12. It’s okay to give a fuck about certain things.When something or someone does really matter, it’s okay to give a fuck. Or several.Give those fucks then, otherwise you’ll become too cynical and jaded and all your fucks will lose their value and depreciate.There’s a tiny handful of people and ideas I’m willing to stick my neck out for. In those cases, I give several fucks, and that’s only because I’ve saved my fucks up like a squirrel with nuts in the fall.13. Not giving a fuck is the opposite of apathy.Apathy is indifference you feel when something just doesn’t matter. Not giving a fuck means you’ve stopped yourself from making something matter that shouldn’t matter. This is a key point to understand and reflect on.Not giving a fuck is strength in the form of willpower, whereas apathy is just not feeling anything.14. Greatness happens when you’re okay with being foolish/stupid.The truth is that no one knows what the fuck they’re doing.Experts, thought leaders, those who seem like they have it all — there are too many variables to account for what specifically worked in creating success and what didn’t. The only difference between them and someone who hasn’t seen success is that they tried a whole bunch of shit, and didn’t stop trying until something worked. Then they wrote a best-selling book about the process, like they knew what the fuck they were doing the whole time, and became even more successful. It’s the circle of life or something.Taking action on the unknown is scary shit. We aren’t guaranteed an outcome like a math problem. We basically have to line things up, do a few stretches and take a big fucking leap. Sometimes we trip, or realize our shoelaces are tied together and face-plant.The most successful people I know aren’t afraid to be seen as idiots for trying. They’re more concerned with the “what could happen if I…” than “what will others think if I…”I’ve also found, much to my wife’s chagrin, that I’m having the most fun when I’m making a massive fool of myself (in public). Little known related fact: “losers” have more fun with life because they know when to give a fuck and more importantly, when not to give a flying fuck about what everyone else thinks because they’re having a blast drinking rosehip mead and dancing by themselves at concerts (or in my case, in the produce aisle at our grocery store).15. Everyone is awkward, weird, different.You are, too, so use it to your advantage. The only way to stand out, or stand apart, is to be your real fucking weird self. Otherwise you blend in.Embrace what makes you different, even though it’s difficult and stressful to do. Everyone you admire or look up to does this. Think about it. They all take the reigns of what makes them different and use it to their advantage. No one that you’ve heard of got there by being like everyone else.Also, anyone who seems “normal” is faking it or you just don’t know them well enough yet. We all have quirks. We all have oddness. This is what makes life interesting.16. Refuse the boundaries of other people.If someone tells you “you shouldn’t do that” or “that can’t be done,” assume they’re talking out their own asses until you’ve proven otherwise for yourself. People are well meaning, but their advice is clouded by their own bullshit, their life experiences and their choices.Instead, set your own boundaries and only acknowledge those.If you don’t want to take client calls or emails from your boss at 11 p.m. on a Saturday, don’t fucking do it.Boundaries are like self-respect, the majority of people will be okay with you setting them, simply because you’ve set them. Letting others know what isn’t okay doesn’t make you an asshole or a bitch — it makes you a strong and respectable person.Never let someone else draw your line in the sand. That means it’s their line, not yours, and you’ve just been following their lead.17. Be honest about who you are and who you aren’t.In having self-respect and setting boundaries, it helps to know a little about yourself, so you can make these decisions. Be clear about who you are and who you aren’t. First with yourself, then with others.Honesty is a lot easier than you playing a role because you think it’s a role you need to play. Honesty can be pulled off with less work. It’s more enjoyable in the long run, too.18. You can be honest without being a jerk.Learn the difference between being very clear about something and being an asshole about it. If you don’t like something or someone, honesty doesn’t mean you have to ream them out. Sometimes honesty means you just shut your damn face and move on.Being the bigger person doesn’t mean you have to win, it just means you know when to let someone else feel like they’ve won. Sometimes you have to be nice instead of being right.Being honest isn’t a licence for you to run your mouth with impunity then end things with, “Hey, I was just being honest…” No, you were being a jerk. Don’t be a jerk. Not even jerks like other jerks. You’ll die alone with 17 cats who now have no one to feed them (which, by the way, is a big jerk move).The best way to know if you’re being honest or just being a jerk is to think first, then speak. Otherwise you run the risk of vomiting instead of communicating. A five-second pause can do wonders if you lean towards being a jerk sometimes.19. The less you expect, the more accomplished you’ll feel.The Bhagavad Gita, a super smart and fucking old yogic book, talks about how we’re only entitled to the work, not the fruits of that work. That’s deep, and true.Don’t do anything because you expect something to come from it — do it because you really want to fucking do it in the first place. It’s like writing a book because you really want a best-seller. Well, tough shit. It’s impossible to guarantee that. Write a book because you want to fucking write the book. That way, regardless of what happens next, you’ve already accomplished what you set out to do.Spend your time focusing on what you give fucks about where the outcome doesn’t matter.None of the above points can happen without you paying attention. Paying attention to others, paying attention to where you give your fucks, and — most importantly — paying attention to yourself. You’re the one in charge of your life, so take charge of it already.That’s it. Nineteen super fucking difficult rallying points for winning at life. Now stop reading listicles on the Internet and get back to being awesome.Confession: I wrote this for myself, but you’re more than welcome to use it if it helps you, too.Source The complete and logical guide to winning at your own life in 19 super difficult steps