Professional or DIY?

I've also struggled internally with this question.  Am I a professional Web 
developer?  Or, do I simply THINK I am?

Seven years ago I was searching for someone to develop web sites for two 
companies. I budgeted $10,000 for each site (picked the number from thin 
air - thinking "that ought to do it").  Went through three "professional" 
development companies with no success.  First one lost my FedEx packages of 
photos, information, etcetera.  Second one made no headway after 90 days - 
with no valid reason why.  Third one accepted the projects, then promptly 
told me it would cost twice as much once they realized both companies were 
multi-million dollar firms.  At the time I knew squat about the Internet 
and web sites, only knew we had to get on there.  For my $10K per site I 
had envisioned about 12 - 20 pages each.

Well, being pretty computer literate and business savvy, I thought "how 
hard can it be?" and went to Best Buy looking for web site making 
software.  There I found Adobe PageMill and within four weeks I'd developed 
a pretty fancy Web site for both companies.  (Both are still successfully 
on-line today - 7 years later.)    Does this make me a professional?

Now, I thought, since I have nearly 25 years of real-world brick-&-mortal 
business experience, (as retail owner and manger), coupled with marketing, 
advertising and graphic design experience, I have a leg up on many 
professional web developers who only know computers - but nothing about the 
challenges business people face daily.  Thus, I could most definitely be a 
professional developer, right?

Soon enough others came to me for web sites, all pleased with what they've 
seen on my own two sites, asking me to do theirs.  Well, for sake of make a 
longer story only long...  two years ago I began doing this full-time as my 
day job, choosing to leave the high-paying corporate rat race for a more 
leisurely life as a poor man working from home.  So now that it's my day 
job - am I a professional?

It's an excellent question.  Since I do this for a living now, I consider 
and bill myself as a professional web developer (and marketing consultant, 
advertising whiz, etc.).  However, while I am striving to learn every day, 
I am not proficient at hand-coding HTML, I do not know Flash, I have no 
idea what the newer HTML or XTML or whatever even is, I couldn't develop a 
large database driven site if my life depended on it... so really I am NOT 
a professional in the true sense of the word.

A professional would have the skill set required to handle ALL types of 
sites large and small.  I do not.  I am, however, professional enough to 
know when I should out-source to others who have those skills, so as not to 
lose a client.  So maybe that puts me back in the professional slot.

The true eye opener for me has been forums like this.  Here, the biggest 
thing I've learned is that I have a LOT to learn before I can play with you 
big dogs in your own back yard.  I soak up all your comments and 
conversations, sometimes feeling like you're speaking in Greek.  At times 
I'm ashamed that I have no clue as to what you're referring to.  But at 
other times I've learned a great deal, including new methods and resources 
to better myself and thus my service to clients.

So yes, I am a professional in the business sense of the word, but no, I am 
not a professional Web developer in the truest "skill-set" sense of the 
word.  That's why I don't tackle (yet) the large jobs that are beyond my 
capabilities without out-sourcing to a full-fledged professional developer.

As a pilot I learned to always "stay within the envelope" of my flying 
abilities and those of the aircraft.  I apply that same philosophy to this 
business.

Thanks for letting me join in.

Mike Bitton

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