The name of this website is not the best one to sell myself.
But the name of the site deeply reflects the way I see things. In the Internet era almost anything can be solved using a simple Google search. Think of something like “how to tie a tie?" or “how to root my phone?". Any tech-sapiens human knowing his way around a computer has at least some competence in asking questions and finding answers via a Google search.
I like to think that any problem, be it a life-related one or a development related one, that finds an effective solution in the first page of a Google search results listing is an average one. Tying a tie or rooting a phone is a problem a lot of people faced before and that has had many solutions: hence it is a problem that has passed the two-step process of being publicly asked and publicly answered. Statistically speaking that question has gone through the meat grinding numbers of:
- having a problem
- deciding it is legal and legit to ask on the web
- finding a suitable place to ask it in
- asking it clearly enough to allow a relevant answer
- having someone that reads the web and knows the answer and takes the time to answer in a relevant way
Decomposed into those step it is a miracle that any question gets answered at all.
But still it happens and if it does it’s because there is a huge amount of people at point 1 of the above list.
Then it’s an average (“common” might be said) problem. Thus I use this social theory of mine to decide if a problem I have is an average or not an average one. The name I gave my site is not humbling at all. Average developers solving average problems are needed because most of the problems are average.
But the opposite applies.
If I have to go several pages into search result listings to have a suitable answer, or if I do not find a relevant answer at all, then it might be that my problem is not an average one. I’ve read many times the advice (a right one I think) “find your niche” referred to the development world and I think the Google search based method described above really gives some good insights about where niches actually are.
Furthermore it also shows where you believing to be an “above average” developer might be wrong.
I know I’m getting up to speed with current standards and well-known solutions because many of the problems I face (say 9 on 10) can easily find a solution in the first results page of a Google search. This fact makes me an average developer facing average problems and finding average solutions.
Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so unless I try to sell myself as an excellent developer. Knowing my limits and gaps tells me where I can improve and in which topics.