---
tags: webdevelopment
date-published: 2013-12-05T00:00:00Z
resource: http://alistapart.com/column/never-heard-of-it
title: What do we need to know?
uuid: 2bf0d1e8-11eb-4ee5-970e-cfb3ce6cdf59
permalink: /posts/what-do-we-need-to-know.html
og-image: /images/selfies/3.jpg
type: post
---

> I go through periods of self-doubt about my qualifications as a web developer.
> I have a sense I’m not alone in this. Our field is by nature a generalists’
> field, where expertise involves synthesis of concepts and technologies, not
> complete mastery of a single, static topic. It’s hard to know how to tell if
> you’re good at your job.

This post on A List Apart resonated with me a lot. [Liza Danger Gardner](https://twitter.com/lyzadanger)
describes a situation we all have been in: someone talks about that
*new feature you never heard of* and you have no idea what they are talking about. Web
development being a profession that develops so fast and in so many directions
at the same time <strike>sometimes</strike> makes it hard to follow along.

<figure> <img src='/images/fear.gif' > </figure>

> There’s no defined lesson plan or standardized test for the many branches of
> real-world applied web development, and the whole profession is a moving target.
> So if we can’t possibly know everything, all the time, what things do we need to
> know?

She then attempts to answer this question by answering the opposite question “What do we
not need to know?” which is fine but doesn't exactly provide you with a list of
things that are *required*. Probably this list is hard to create but I'm curious
what you would put on it. What are the high level concepts in web development
everyone should know about? Is it “How the DOM works” or is it “What Prototypes are in Javascript”
or is it ...?

I'd love to hear what you think is “required knowledge” on Twitter ([@martinklepsch](https://twitter.com/martinklepsch))
or elsewhere.
