Titles Matter
15 days ago
- #AI
- #web-development
- #professionalism
- The author disagrees with the assertion that anyone who generates websites using AI prompting is a web developer, arguing that the title implies a certain level of skill and knowledge.
- Web development involves understanding HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and related concepts like performance, accessibility, and debugging, which prompters (those relying on LLMs) generally lack.
- The author distinguishes between 'making websites' and 'web development,' emphasizing that the latter requires applied expertise in how the web works.
- Titles like 'web developer' imply earned expertise, and giving the same title to those who merely use LLMs without understanding the underlying technology is misleading and diminishes the profession.
- LLMs often produce poor-quality frontend code, particularly in terms of accessibility, maintainability, and efficiency, which prompters may not recognize due to lack of expertise.
- The author argues that disambiguating between prompters and web developers is not gatekeeping but a necessary distinction to respect the skills and knowledge of professional web developers.
- The devaluation of web development is a recurring issue, and equating prompters with web developers further undermines the profession.
- The author welcomes newcomers to web development but stresses the importance of learning the fundamentals and earning the title through expertise.