---
title: "web development woes — alex laughnan"
description: "so many languages, not enough time."
url: "https://alexlaughnan.com/blog/web-development-woes/"
---

[← blog](https://alexlaughnan.com/blog)

# web development woes

may 6, 2014

i like to consider myself a web developer. i’ve been messing around with html, css, and javascript since back in the days when my parents would force me off of myspace. that’s sooooo 2004. in the past two and a half years, i’ve been focusing heavily on [drupal](http://drupal.org/) and all the flexible magic that goes along with that management system.

while web development is a future career goal, i haven’t had my full attention on the latest web technologies and libraries. guess i have been a little too busy supporting windows 7 environments and software at portland state. wah wah waaaah.

_screen capture of my asana project dedicated to tracking interesting web developer finds._

looking at diving into some of the latest goodies, i found myself lost. there are **so** many different languages, platforms, javascript libraries and projects, frameworks, etc.

in my quest for web development domination, i can’t help but wonder if i should know **a little bit of it all** or if i should isolate myself into a framework.

are companies looking for employees who can take a set of requirements from customers and solve their needs based on various frameworks? or are we expected to embrace one set of tools and dive head-first into a project?

in preparing resumes, cover letters, and other digital fodder surrounding my experience in web development for future positions, freelance clients, or just “spring cleaning” i consistently feel trapped.

> **“jack of all trades, master of none.”**

solving problems and embracing the “why — how — what” approach, is a lesser understanding of systems acceptable as long as know **what** we want and will then do the research to support it?