How we become web design experts

Maybe we all want to be experts, and that's because we want our ideas to be taken seriously by others. In order to be respected, but also to make themselves more valuable, but also to satisfy their own ego, of course, the most important thing is that we hope that we can become the best, but also hope that we have their own unique and powerful way of doing things.

Do you want to talk to your clients so that they can take your views seriously because you look like you are an expert? If your answer is in the affirmative, then I would like to congratulate you because many people are like you. And if you want to be able to do it one day, then I think you may need to step back and think about it again. Why is it so important for you to be an expert?

Why we all want to look like an expert

We all want to be experts because we want our ideas to be taken seriously by others. Respected, to make themselves more valuable, but also to satisfy their own ego, of course, the most important thing is that we hope that they can be the best, but also has its own unique and powerful way of doing things.

Anyway, just as we will tell you later, becoming an expert is much more than just getting others to follow us. If we can only do this, we can not really achieve our expectations and are recognized by others.

Respect is not the only expectation that we become experts. Some people think that perhaps a proprietary expert will give us more job opportunities and more voice. Unfortunately, there are many cases where many experts do not know more than they do and do not receive any more pay in areas they are familiar with. Being a niche expert is not significant for career advancement.

Nonetheless, being experts can help us work with clients and give us the potential to create higher quality jobs. So, how to make us experts?

How to make us experts?

In Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell suggested that becoming an expert (master) would typically cost nearly 10,000 hours of practice and practice. For most full-time web designers, this is equivalent to an eight-hour, productive work that takes four days without a break.

I think 10,000 hours of doubt, I can see this theory to some similar to the training of instruments, or sports may be effective, but I am not sure to apply this theory to other, such as web design. Experiences like 10000 hours of Photoshop use will not make you a web design expert, and at best just make you a Photoshop master.

Of course, Gladwell's argument is somewhat justified. Become an expert, you must take time and experience.

Many people claim to be experts, but only a handful of people have really invested thousands of hours of hard work. Image Source Brett Jordan.

Time and experience

There is no doubt that professional skills must be achieved through time-honored exercises. Not a flash of inspiration overnight, there is no shortcut to achieve a high level of skills. As experience continues to increase, the more you learn, the more you will find yourself in greater need of learning.

Of course, you can say that web design has changed so rapidly that four years ago it was almost useless now. But I do not think this is a problem. In my experience, though technology is changing, people who use technology do not change. When developing a website is always dealing with the details of the user or user experience. At the same time, years of experience improve your ability to solve problems. Although the challenge is new, the way you solve the problem will become more sophisticated. Your accumulated theoretical knowledge and workflow make you better. Therefore, the knowledge learned a few years ago is still worth it today.

Paranoid passion

I am not saying that experience is everything. For example, I do not think you should have spent years trying to get someone with enough experience working nine to five nights. Instead, always look for something worth learning, a creative job in your business, and above all, a passion for treating what you are annotating.

For myself, my career started with IBM, and in a few years I felt that there was not much improvement in skills. Many of my people are not passionate about work. Without passion, there is no desire and motivation to learn new things.

I believe that paranoid passion for web design is something that an expert needs.

In addition, my IBM colleagues never want to take risks. And the courage to try, and the occasional mistake, will have to be experienced as an expert and learned

The importance of making mistakes

Being a real expert can not evade the fact that you have to be willing to make mistakes and make a lot of mistakes.

Unfortunately, we are not living in a social culture that fails to recognize and defeat. We need successful people. But success is not just a flash of inspiration, but hard work and water. Winston Churchill said:

Career success and becoming an expert do not just require you to have experienced one or two failures, but nonstop experiences.

Failure is an important part of our experience as an expert, as Charles Willson said:

Without failure, we can not learn the best way to do things. There are many lessons that can be learned from the failures of others, but nothing compares to the failures we ourselves have experienced.

We need to overcome our fear of failure. When something goes wrong in the project, people will always react instinctively. Some people keep tangled, otherwise the problem exists, do not want to accept the input but not the output results, this time it is important to learn when to let go. Others tried to escape these problems as much as possible pretend it never happened. But this means you will never learn from your mistakes. We need to spend some time at the end to look at the mistakes in our projects and learn from them. This process is difficult, especially when you're dealing with customers who are already unhappy.

And those who have never experienced failure, they may be reluctant to try, fear others' criticisms, or have no desire for success at first.

How to make sure you are an expert

Sometimes not everyone recognizes you as an expert. It is not enough to have enough knowledge, and we also need someone to recognize what we have learned.

This may be the problem you will often experience. You've completed your 10,000 hours of study and learned from the mistakes. However, your client or boss does not recognize your accumulated knowledge and experience.

How to convince them that you are already an expert and should seriously consider your advice?

Show some modesty

The first step to do is not to over-express my attitude as an expert. The real expert is often the last person to call himself an expert. In fact, experts often acknowledge that their knowledge is limited and thus encourage others to better accept their opinions.

People often suspect someone who claims to be an expert. Having your own knowledge speak for you is more effective than taking the initiative to get the attention of others. It is not wise to say that you are an expert directly, and you can suggest it in many different ways. One of the most important ways is to use scenarios.

Use the scenario to show your strengths

When you take a few modern art paintings from the gallery and put them in elementary school, you are most likely to be mistaken for a child's graffiti. Because the environment affects the acceptance criteria when things are accepted. Imagine sometimes managers are very serious about following the opinions of some outside consultants, ignoring their employees' points of view, though both say the same thing. Because they pay consultants for more money, their opinions appear to be more valuable.

You may not have the means to raise the price of your labor; however, you can change your way of expression and allow people to increase your value recognition.

Like the artwork in the gallery, your professional skills will be recognized on some suitable occasions. For example, there may be more weight in the conference room than speaking in the conference room, or just speaking in your own workplace. Also, if your expertise comes from some books, it is far more valuable than you can boast in the conference room.

As an expert I often make mistakes because I am on stage. Photo credit: Marc Thiele.

Not everyone has a chance to speak or speak at a conference. If so, you can also publish your own books, or do some podcasts, blogs or participate in some open source projects. Show yourself as expert as you want to be simpler.

If you get a conference address or an invitation to write a book, that means your skills are already recognized by some people. Meeting organizers and publishers are like quality assurances, and if they agree with you, then people will identify what you're about to say from the very beginning.

Of course, the situation is not everything. More important is your point of view and how to express your point of view.

Style and theme

Writing a book, speaking, blogging or playing is more effective than a simple conversation. Because these are more rigorous and rigorous than the structure of the conversation.

Express your own importance. When something is clear to you, others may not see it, especially if it's a recurring problem. When customers ask you to change their logo larger or more blank, you have to be careful about these small things. You can easily get impatient or indifferent because such things are always happening. But careful consideration of your coping style and strategy will make you more convincing. In addition to the theme, your style of argument and communication is equally important. Experts should be full of confidence and rich in expression and authority when talking. Audiences do not get upset because of your opinions, and they can convert their perspectives if properly expressed. If you want to be recognized as an expert, understand yourself, relax and be confident.

Unfortunately, sometimes the problem still occurs, because the other party has long prepared their own point of view.

Too much prejudice

Starting to act as an expert before your existing boss and client can be a challenge. In particular, you used to be junior staff, and their attitude towards you will not change overnight. Fortunately, you can do some useful work to help you change roles.

First, provide valid evidence for your opinion. When your boss fears your proposal will not be on the table, give him a look at valid evidence, such as the following scrollbar behavior report.

Citing a research result can increase the credibility of your content.

Second, citing an existing expert will effectively support your point of view, such as someone who has written about the case of the scrollbar report.

These skills not only support your point of view. At the same time they can fully demonstrate that you have extensive reading and research. At the same time, you are doing this as well as adding credibility to yourself, thinking like a specialist. You are a step away from experts.

Of course, there is no way to quickly eliminate prejudice. This is very difficult for people who always work with the same people. But over time, effectively demonstrating their expertise and using these skills, they can ultimately change what they think of you.

Greater ability to greater responsibility

The focus of this article is on how to be an expert. Before concluding, I want to talk about what it means when you truly become an expert.

What happens when you get your respect from customers, colleagues and your boss? Becoming an expert is not just a journey of self. More about the service for others. When you become an expert, you can better serve your customers, provide more value to your business and promote your business. If you just want to get everyone's love and respect, then you will never really reach your goal. People will realize that you may just ignore your vanity.

In other words, we must take our work seriously. If you do not take it seriously, a good website may get worse. I'm sure you've certainly had to share with others about the site getting worse because people did not listen to your point of view. But it may be more beneficial to talk more about some of your stories about persuading your boss and your clients to take your opinion seriously.

Cover image copyright: Aural Asia