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I've been handcoding webpages for over 10 years now.
I started way back when we had to make websites compatabile with IE 3 and Netscape 4 (or so). Back then CSS was a pipe dream of a few unknown geeks, and DHTML was the next cool thing. We've come a long way baby!
The first thing you should know about me is that I'm a web developer with a lot of vision, passion and ideas.
What I am is a problem solver!
I am an excellent systems analyst and I love to problem solve. I enjoy working from end to end on a solution design-development-support or more correctly working through the entire SDLC. In my current job, (like many of my past ones) I've had to do all of the above, and in that sense I am a bit of a "jack of all trades" because I do whatever I've got to do to get the job done. Having worked most of my career fairly independently (rather than on a team of developers) and also not for dot-coms but rather for businesses who use the web as only part of their business (and not as a business model) I have also become a great web evangelist, web strategist, web standards creator, and of course I remain an every busy web developer. I love thinking up and developing web applications which solve business problems. I also plan applications and write database designs in my head while I sleep and shower (and on paper while I bus to work and back).
I should explain that I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialization in management information systems. My business background leads me to believe that one should not code for the sake of pretty or smart "wow look what technical thing I can do" - but coding websites is a means to the business's ends. This is why I try not to get hung up about whether a particular programming language, methodology, software, OS, or anything else is better than another, or worse yet if it is the ultimate solution. The ultimate solution is the one which meets (and hopefully exceeds) ALL of the business's needs. This is the reason I've learned to be a jack of all trades and why I've never been concerned with developing excessive knowledge of any programming language. I can always learn more as I need to know, and I'm always challenging myself to learn more and to do better.
When I work on a website I consider functionality over style (and probably over everything else too). I am always looking to achieve whatever business purpose it is that I need to do to support the company. My choice of development language, platforms, and methodologies is always tempered by trying to achieve a specific business need within the constraints of the business environment (time, money, resources, skills, capacity, etc).
This is not to say that I disrespect great design. In fact, I believe that stylish design is integral into the optimal functionality of a brilliant website. A website's design is an entire package made up of numerous inter-related aspects: design, functionality, speed, navigation, architecture, interactivity, browser compatability, content, graphics and so much more.
Most recently I just finished reading the Wikinomics book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. Although I've been personally trying to embrace the whole social web (web 2.0) thing for the last couple of years, I think that this book reaffirmed to me the business value of the new web. What he said wasn't really new - I've seen all the signs and been apart of much of what he talked about, but it was good to hear it from someone who's seen the light of the big picture and how revolutionary the new web is affecting our entire world. I had realised last summer while in the midst of contemplating how to update the GVPL intranet that a social intranet would be fun and interesting. For a week I mulled over the concept in my head - evaluating whether a social intranet was just fun and hype, or whether it would be a new and needed business model. Over the following six months as management started to organize themselves into discussions of how to make internal communications more effective, I saw that the model I had envisioned would in fact satisfy every one of their needs and resolve all the complaints they have carried over the years on the past intranet. Web 2.0 isn't just a fun social activity. Web 2.0 solutions can and will become standard in the workplace over the next few years. I'm looking forward to doing all my new websites the new web way!