Interview w/ Six Revisions

Interviewee: Jacob Gube of Six Revisions

1. Why did you start a web design blog?

Six Revisions started as a means to share all the things I've learned. I had all these thoughts on web design and web development, and I needed a medium to take it out of my head and put it into something tangible. So on Sunday morning, on a whim - I decided to buy a domain name, get a shared hosting plan (Media Temple at the time), install WordPress, and start writing. By the end of the day, I had everything set-up and my first post written.

2. A lot of bloggers lose steam as time goes on, how do you stay motivated?

You'll hear this often - but it's all about passion about the topic. I mean that sincerely and it's the biggest motivating factor I have. I live and breathe this stuff. It's not just work for me, it's my past-time. I dream about user interfaces and MooTools code, and design layouts in my head while showering. While many people who work as a web developer/designer come home and do something else - I come home and write about my work.

As a blogger, you have to write about what you know and love or else it won't work. You'll quickly run out of ideas and writing will become a chore. If you love sports, write about sports. If you love cats, write about cats. My passion just happens to be what most people would consider work; I'm just lucky that people want to pay me to do it, much like an athlete playing his favorite sport professionally.

Other than passion, it's the readers. I have an obligation to keep writing and I learn a lot more about a particular topic by reading the comments left by Six Revisions readers. They're extremely intelligent individuals and give me a lot of motivation to keep going.

3. What's a common misconception people have about being a web designer?

People automatically assume we're good with computer issues. Do you expect a race car driver to know how to diagnose and fix his own race car? No, you leave that up to the pit crew. To a race car driver, his car is a tool (much like my computer is a tool for me); he can win races without knowing every detail about the car.

I'm a geek at heart, so I just happen to know a lot about computers. I build my own PC's and know my way around a Linux server. But in general, being a web designer or developer doesn't automatically make you a good computer guy. I can't fix your email, I can't help you with Excel, and I can't fix the networked printer (and when you get someone to fix it, please let me know because I need to print a bunch of PDF's, pronto). :)

4. In a language us non-computer geeks can understand, where do you think the web developmen and design industry is headed?

That's a seemingly easy question that I can't answer succinctly. I can write an entire book about this topic. If I had to pick just one direction: software as a service (SaaS); we'll be moving everything from the desktop and into the web. What does that mean for the web development and web design industry - job security. Web application development will be, more than ever, a sought-after skill. So thank you Ajax, Web 2.0, Cloud Computing, and all you other web-related buzzwords for making sure I'll have a job for just a little bit longer!

5. Whats the biggest obstacle a new blogger faces?

Planning and worrying about the future too much is a big obstacle to execution. It's really not that hard, and there are plenty of resources out there for you to learn exactly what you need to do to start blogging. I think a lot of people get stuck in the planning stage too long. They worry about scalability, how to generate income, whether to use Google Adsense or not, what plugins to install, how to get site traffic... just do it and learn/adapt as you go. Less thinking, more doing. If this sounds familiar to you, then you probably know by now that I'm a "Getting Real" type of guy. I got Six Revisions started in less than a day without much planning and less than a hundred dollars (bringing down my net worth at the time to $24 dollars). I didn't write down my 5-year plan (and I still don't have a 5-year plan).

6. One piece of advice for an aspiring web designer?

In order to succeed and stand out, you need a thirst for learning. Again, this is a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. I've been in this field for over eight years and I still learn something new every day.

7. What do you do on your day's off?

I'm a hobbyist photographer, so when I'm not writing or working on a website, I muck around with my Nikon DSLR. I'm not that good at it and it'll always be just a hobby and a means to enhance my designs with custom images.

I also love playing video games on the Xbox 360, but unfortunately don't have a lot of time to spend on playing at the moment.