Becoming a Dev Artist

Now that I'm in my 30s, one of the things I've come to regret about my 20s is that I've seemingly specialized as a "developer for developers". That is, a coder who creates tools that make coding easier. Or as a metaphor, a carpenter who makes woodworking tools.

I've programmed a lot of things over the years, but most of it only makes sense to people who are... me, or have the same job as me.

I want to flip that narrative, and showcase what I build in a way that makes sense to anyone. Become a developer who makes tables and chairs.

I want my skill as a developer to become more of a vector for my creativity, and not just engineering.

I'm not a traditional artist, even if I sometimes pretend to be.

Of course, art is more broad than pictures. To me, "art" is telling a story using a brush.

Stories are answers to personal questions.

• What are you thinking about today?
• What is something you want the world to know?
• What makes you happy? What makes you sad?
• What do you dream about?
• Who inspires you, fictional or not?

And brushes can be... anything really. Telling stories using new brushes is part of what makes art creative.

• Pictures use colors as a brush.
• Books use words and symbolism as brushes.
• Music uses sound as a brush.
• Games use interaction as a brush.

And so I've been asking myself: In what ways can I make web development a brush?

Mainly, three things:

1. Strengthening my dev-artistry, by building an interactive website-based story.
2. Keeping my engineering sharp, practicing agentic development by building something useful.
3. Expressing myself with other brushes (starting with... embroidery?!).

Anyways, stay tuned! I'll be talking more about these things in later posts.