Facing Obsolescence?
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- vaxorcist0
and hey.... there will probably be LOTS of projects "converting this flash website to HTML5" or whatever the PHB's want to call what they think is "preserving their investment" ....
uh huh... oh.... well, some consulting companies will make a mint on that mess....
- PonyBoy0
flash isn't completely gone... and as acescene said... KEEP LEARNING :)
you're only as obsolete as you make yourself
- keithrondinelli0
Can one stick with Flash and still seriously earn a living at this point?
- vaxorcist0
I've come to seriously love jQuery, as it insulates me from the javascript browser quirks and hellish debugging that used to make it impossible to say when the javascript would be done and debugged...
- vaxorcist0
acescence is right.... actual programming principles are transferrable.... problem-solving, and being able to learn a new API is too....
I fear that having a learning path that included lots of quirky API's can be detrimental, as you have a hard time remembering what's the architectural idea and what's just a weird quirk you have to wrestle with for historical or random reasons....
- acescence0
if you stick with flash you absolutely need to know AS3. and if you know AS3, you have a pretty good grasp of javascript syntax. if you know javascript, jquery pretty much comes for free. if you can only tinker around with jquery, you don't really know javascript and will be extremely limited. I wouldn't focus on any one thing though, learn all you can.
- Agree. Though knowing AS2 (ECMA4) would be just as good as AS3 for the purposes of learning JS.kingsteven
- SoulFly0
Hang in there brother.
Flash is not dead just yet.
Hand in there.
- kingsteven0
Stop thinking of yourself / calling yourself a Flash designer.
I'm in exactly the same situation, designer w' primarily Flash dev experience 10 years/ 'AS 2.5'.
Skills aren't all technical and most are transferable. I like to believe that all those years working independently of standards based design gives me a bit of an edge when it comes to creating original design concepts.
Once you start getting in to HTML5 and it's related technologies you'll realize that almost everything that separates them from Flash lies in the process of creating within the Flash IDE. Macromedia's usability rush with Jakob Nielsen from '01 - 05 plugged a gap temporarily and brought many new developers to the platform but has little to do with it's recent popularity (mostly down to online video). ATM less Flash (as a standard) doesn't indicate the death of Flash; instead we may get more Flash content where Flash is the most appropriate tool for the job.
At the weekend I prototyped a 3D engine in Flash that displays a model created algorithmically based on the time and sine and cosine. The client has had the equation for two years (it's part of a bigger project to display 'cybertexts' that repeat every 24 hours.) I could have written the same thing in Processing JS or Cocoa. I could have animated it in C4D or AE but I knew it would be quickest with Flash. In 2 days I had a prototype online and we've got the contract for app development off the back of it...
may the spirit of Flash always be with you.
- " I like to believe that all those years working independently..." lol!PIZZA
- everyone believes something :-Dkingsteven
- I also prefer working with musicians because they're often more open to critique and have better communication skills...kingsteven
- vaxorcist's comment below is more or less the point i was trying to make...kingsteven
- twokids0
Most people who write job descriptions are morons. They make a laundry list of everything piece of software ever made, say '5 years experience' and write a paragraph describing and ideal person that will never exist.
You just have to ignore that since they will never find someone as they are describing.
In the end, they take the best person, whether it comes close to the description or not.
- vaxorcist0
Many of the job postings you mention show employers who have no wisdom, because anyone who "knows all" those alphabet soup skills EITHER has a very shallow knowledge of most, or should be paid a fortune....
Seriously though.... There have been posts about the way a company or client treats developers like a tool, not a partner, and the laundry list of requirements tends to show that ,mindset, they care about covering all their bases or asses, rather than making something great....
I'd specialize in high quality UI, dynamic jquery stuff, and team up with a smart back-end developer to make something great.... then show it to people, learn how to market and network yourself, and make the user experience and business objectives the things that matter... do not fall into the endless desire for a job amongst the alphabet soup API-of-the-month club checkbox mindset people...
- bored2death0
I've been shocked by the job postings I've seen lately.
The amount of skills that someone is expected to have seems unrealistic. I've literally seen jobs where the person is required to have motion, web and print skills.
Do these people really exist? Is this what I'm competing against? It may be time for me to hang my mouse up.
- no... this just clarifies your seach, those postings are NOT where to look.....vaxorcist
- Late 90's, lots of posts asking for 10 years of experience in Java?!?vaxorcist
- when Java had only been around for 6 years or less....vaxorcist
- Those requirements are usually assembled by clueless people who don't even know what they're asking for.Josev
- flashbender0
"What do I do? Do I chomp down and learn to hand-code standards-compliant websites with XHTML/CSS and perhaps learn some JQuery? It seems any job posts looking for a web designer/UI designer demand experience in this area, of which I have little."
yes this. Also focus attention on the UI/UX side of things - more than just interface design... complete site design, user journey and all that.
- Mimio0
Just use the other technologies.
- keithrondinelli0
Hey, I know, I'm not really complaining – not yet at least – but I see technology changing and I want to stay ahead of the curve. Thanks for your replies!
- maikel0
at least you are not an editorial designer, mate...
- dMullins0
In this age, it's starting to become less and less realistic to be a specialist, unless you're ultra bad ass at it. I would learn anything and everything you can.
- It's funny. The game started out for us web designers being a jack of all trades. I've been designing, hand coding html/xhtml/css/javas... and actionscript 2.0 also doing IA. When I moved to NYC everything was so specialized. they want me to design or they want me to code. Then i have toi hold the IAs hand b/c they usually have no clue.graphiknature
- html/xhtml/css/javas... 2, and doing IA. Now everything is so specialized they want me to code or they want me to design. Not both.graphiknature
- aanderton0
I'd recommend learning XHTML/CSS as a quick fix (you could probably learn most of it within a week if you got your head down). Then once you're comfortable with that start looking into other things, (C4D etc). That way you always have the XHTML/CSS side of things to resort back to if needs be.
- keithrondinelli
I'm at a bit of a crossroads, and I was wondering if anyone on here had any advice. I've spent the past 10+ years primarily as a Flash designer. Of course, I've done other types of design work – some brand identity design, a good amount of UI design, etc. – but the core of my portfolio is comprised of Flash work. Unfortunately, as has been discussed ad nauseam here and elsewhere, Flash is most likely going the way of the Dodo. The fact that Flash's popularity is waning, coupled with the fact that I found Actionscript 3 to be too much of a change from AS2, led me to not pursue learning AS3.
I've become very interested in 3D and motion graphics, and I think I have a fairly good reel, an excellent grasp of Cinema 4D and After Effects, and have managed to get a job or two at the most in this field, but, the more I read the job posts, the more I'm realizing you pretty much have to have years of experience and live in Los Angeles to really get a foothold in in this field. It just seems so specialized, and insular, and a bit of an impenetrable clique.
I have a bit of experience hand coding websites with HTML/XHTML/CSS/Javascript, and it seems like with CSS3 and the coming of HTML5, this is the future.
What do I do? Do I chomp down and learn to hand-code standards-compliant websites with XHTML/CSS and perhaps learn some JQuery? It seems any job posts looking for a web designer/UI designer demand experience in this area, of which I have little.
Anyway, I seem to be staring in the face of obsolescence. I'm confident in my design and animation skills, and I'm also confident in my ability to pick up whatever software and/or technology I need to turn the ideas into working products, but I feel that I'm at a bit of a crossroads, and would love some advice.
