The Secret To Becoming A Rockstar Web Developer: Embrace IE6.

Rockstar.  If there was a way to get that stance, leaning back on one leg, rocking forward on the other, Les Paul Goldtop hanging low and those sweet sweet tones soaring out of your half stack in our web developer world, this would be it.

A while back I had posted about IE6 and my job to support it, I had linked to some rather vulgar hugsformonsters.com IE6 splash pages Mr. Lifrieri had created as a joke.  (I ended up removing the link as the content was too distasteful for my style) They’ve since made the rounds, and just recently again were sent to me as a link from a friend.  It got me thinking more about the core fundamentals that give foundation to why I choose to support IE6; the reality is, it’s not about IE6.  It’s about my attitude.  Every rockstar needs some attitude.  So, in my original post, I had said:

Look, my job is to make my clients online presence reflect the stature of their business.

I was wrong about that.

My job is to partner up with my client and make our online presence reflect the stature of our business.  Be sharp and realize what I’m saying here.  In order for me to provide the kind of service that I demand of myself, I have to take on the role that I am part of the company, that the work I am doing is going to impact my business, that every decision about every pixel could potentially be the difference between 500 sales and 5,000 sales.

My recommendations are to come from the same mindset.  I’m not going to pitch the pricey CMS when the site doesn’t call for it.  I’m not going to pitch the trendy ‘social whatever’ that lacks real merit.  On the flip, when a client wants to go cheap on Feature A, I’m going to push back, and explain why the costs are justified.  My expertise validates these decisions and being a real partner with a client allows me to make the right ones.

Clients that see you partner with them, and take a stake in the outcome of your work, will refer you, will talk about you, will call you when they leave their job for another.  These are the clients you want.  And they want you, because you’re a motherfuton rockstar.