What professional organizations exist for web professionals?

I recently attended a conference by David C Baker on "Resourcing the Creative Process". One of the items we discussed during the seminar was "what is it about this (creative) industry, that no real standards or professional organizations for people that work in the creative / interactive world" and it got me thinking. My brother in law is a HVAC engineer and his girlfriend an architect. Both of them belong to numerous professional organizations. In many other industries including law, finance, accounting etc there are plenty of organizations professionals can join to increase their level of certification, enforce standards and best practices, provide updates on industry trends, improve overall education and provide them networking opportunities.

So I asked myself the question "What Professional organizations for Web Programmers and Developers?".

I'm started looking both at national and international organizations for Web developers and programmer. None of them really offered all the attributes I was looking for, but here are the ones I managed to find:

• International Webmasters Association
• American Association of Webmasters
• Interactive Web Development Association
• HTML Writers Guild
• Guild of Accessbile Web Designers

There was an interesting one in Australia called "Port 80" but that has morphed into the Australian Web Industry Association. Content Management Professionals comes close, but is a little restrictive as I wanted a organization for professionals in this industry that goes beyond content management. Most of these organizations cater to Designers, Webmasters and System Administrators but not towards the Web Programmer / Developer.

Sure Microsoft has MSDN and MCAD certifications and other organizations offer similar programs. But I was looking for an organization that is platform-agnostic, and devoted to the people that do all the Web 2.0 wizardry these days. The hunt continues....

Podcasts, way better than books on tape!

When I used to work in computer sales in Australia I had a crazy boss that used to subject me to audio tapes / cd's while we would drive in his car. Tony Robbins, Zig Ziggler and Tom Hopkins where all his favorites. He would tell me that this is the best way to learn when you are have no one annoying you and your mind kind absorb whats being said.

So it got me thinking most people these days put up with at least a half and hour commute to work every day, whether it be car, bus, train or bike. Generally I zone out and listen to the radio but I really get nothing out of it and the content is becoming increasingly, well crap. So following my old bosses advice I feel I could use my hour plus commute more effectively each day and i've decided to use Podcasts, my Ipod and the AUX jack on my car radio to broaden my knowledge and education in the field I work in. For those who don't know what a podcast is essentially its generally a free broadcast of audio or video that can be downloaded to your portable media player and then played back at your convenience. The content available via Podcasts is amazing, and grows everyday. They exist in just about every category or field of interest you can think of, and come in all shapes and sizes. :)

Here are a few of the podcasts I currently subcribe to:

• O'Reilly Web 2.0 Summit Podcasts
• Diggnation
• The Web 2.0 Show
• the .NET magazine
• boagworld.com: web design podcast

Each night I dock my Ipod in my craddle, eat dinner and then return to see its filled with fresh brain food. I create my playlist for the following day and voila i'm all set "get my learn on". If I ever get tired of Podcasts, I can always switch to the vast array of audiobooks available on Itunes! :)

Conferences and Seminars to keep on the calendar

In our industry things are constantly changing. One of the best ways to keep on top of that is using the internet; the other is attending conferences and seminars. Below is a list of some you should keep on your calendar. Regardless of your role: architect, designer, developer, strategist or manager these events are a vital parts of keeping up to date. So here are some that I cherry picked to give you a rounded view of “what’s what” online, hopefully you find them useful:

• http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/
• http://www.ftponline.com/conferences/webdesignworld/
• http://www.aneventapart.com/events/chicago07/
• http://www.ad-tech.com/
• http://www.internetretailer.com/
• http://www.fitc.ca/
• http://futureofwebdesign.com/

These events are great source of education and offer huge networking potential. Of course their are others, but these my favorites for this year. If you think i've missed any critical ones let me know.

Education And The Future of Technology

Today it seems to becoming increasingly challenging to hire and find qualified workers in the web and new media field a co-worker sent me a link to the following video. Some interesting facts I extracted from it were:

"... the top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn't exist in 2004.We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist... using technologies that haven't yet been invented... in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet."

Definitely some interesting statistics on the future of education and technology! One thing I’ve learnt about one of the webs leading company's Google recruitment doctrine is that they hire their programmers and engineers to be agile. For instance you may be hired to work on Gmail, but could also be tasked to work on Google Maps. They believe in hiring workers with skills and aptitude that don't pigeon hole them into a specific job or career path. Add to that the 20% time they give you to work on R&D which has given birth to Google Transit among other amazing projects and you can see why they are the leader. So maybe Google is ahead of the curve here! They realize that hiring people with a broad base of skills and the ability to learn quickly and multi-task is an asset to their organization.