A Web Jockey,
This page will be about the web master’s “web jockey” lifestyle / existence.
WTF? or “What (in) the Hell” is a “web jockey.”
Requires a little (doctored) history for explanation:
My father purchased a computer for my brother and I to use in the early days of computers, when I was 5 years old in 1985. Around the time I was 7 years old, I got sick of my father having fits about us screwing up the computer (he did as much so). By the time I was 10 years old, I was well on my way to feeling the pulse of a computer the way a doctor feels the pulse in your arm. By the time I was 15, I was essentially, technically proficient with computers on a hardware and software level (though, in good keeping with learning, I’d do things to screw them up, and find solutions, if not make them better).
I think we went online when I was 16. I’m a guy, so of course one my first endeavors was finding porn. Yes, I know the best and greatest, “free” porn sites.
In 1998, when I turned 18 and bought my own computer … my learning curve just took off. I started tinkering with web development and Linux (Red Hat 5.2, blue box, red hat).
In the here and now, I can get myself in enough trouble to be fired for blogging about my workplace (and, yes, I mention it because it has happened).
I don’t know every website on the internet, or trend that’s going on. I barely keep up on the Web 2.0 revolution. I’ve read about “Web 3.0″ (supposedly).
What makes me a web jockey? Well … I know how to develop websites, and I know how to run servers. That’s the simplest way of putting it. Secondary to these wonderful traits, I’m technically adept and a competent critical thinker. I know how to read and interpret technical information to solve problems, or find an unknown solution.
I love developing small websites, like this one, and then putting them aside. I used to be an IRC admin, and had an addiction to chatting online. I no longer do this – no addiction, just not interested in “chatting” or even cell-phone “text messaging” any longer (lost its allure). My current “web-based addiction” is reading through Wikipedia. I collect books because to me they represent knowledge. However, I barely ever read books (unless they interest me). Typically you can find me jockeying around online, doing something like this, or reading and amending Wiki(pedia) articles.
I think, more-so than being a “web jockey,” I’m a computer jockey. I don’t keep up on the latest hardware or software either, but I know how to diagnose and fix or solve a problem when it comes up. Part of this is length of time in “the industry,” and part of it is just good old-fashioned experience and know-how.
For the record, I love to use and deploy WordPress (the blogging / semantic web platform used here to present this information to you). I don’t do commercial websites. I volunteer at such endeavors as helping clean-up government / school websites to conform with such topics as Section 508 compliance (essentially, W3 accessibility standards).
I know how to and I love to run my own websites, web hosts, and servers. I hate it when I give up control of a server (i.e. using shared hosting versus dedicated or owned / co-lo) for cost to run on a shared solution (such as where this is hosted at iPowerWeb, but they seem to be good about giving necessary degrees of control to webmasters).
I AM NOT A GRAPHICS DESIGN PERSON. Primarily because I’m a perfectionist … and where some people have called my work “professional,” I’m never satisfied (one of the reasons I don’t do commercial websites. I know how to do graphic design and layout, from packages such as GIMP to Photoshop, or pure CSS styling. I just don’t do it except for my own minimalistic endeavors. Rather, I prefer to take an existing theme or work for something such as WordPress, and modify it to my heart’s delight.
Oh, and all those standards things … I like them, too. I strongly prefer W3 standards. I know everything from networking & server standards to web standards that I code by.
That’s about it for now … if you have “questions” but aren’t trying to hire me, you can use the “contact” form.