I will be there with Developer WunderBoy Chris - perhaps we can talk about this:

Why this Industry Sucks (From Sitepoint)

"I just realized why this industry sucks" is a forum post generating plenty of debate at the moment, after the poster (PMichaud) laid out his frustrations as a web developer.

The crux of his disillusionment is that web developers' "highly trained skills have been commoditized by market ignorance."

That is, clients don't understand the web, so they fail to understand what they need, and don't have the knowledge or the ability to identify what they need. The client also lacks the ability to differentiate the "right" solution or developer from a poor one.

As a result, clients often end up with a poor solution to their problem, because they go with the cheapest solution. This cheap and poor solution inevitably fails, and it's another black mark for the entire industry.

I've seen this happen 100 times before. Cheap doesn't mean good. It means cheap. These web sites simply don't have the resources allocated to them to ensure success. The Web is not a case of "build it and they'll come." It's a case of build it, promote the heck out of it, provide entertaining, ever-changing information, and they may come -- and then they may stay.

So what's the solution? As PMichaud points out, major education of the entire market would be nice. But that's not going to happen.

Maybe a standard accreditation system for web professionals? I think that's impossible -- there are simply too many variables across too many markets.

There is no real solution. Some clients will always take the cheap option, just as some clients will always understand that allocating more resources to a project may enhance its prospects for success. And there will always be web developers who don't provide the best solution.

It's up to the web developer to work within the parameters of the industry -- great clients, idiot prospects, slow payers, big payers, tough competitors, red tape, fast changing technology ... and lots more.

These are the same challenges every business faces. We need to adapt, and make it work, or fizzle out.

I think I can make it as well.

-Ryan