How D&D is like the World of Web Development

Andy Budd has a long post up about the similarity between character classes in Dungeons & Dragons and roles in web-development. To summarize the thing, he draws analogies as

• Fighters =:= Developers
• Thieves =:= Front end developers
• Illusionists =:= Designers
• Clerics =:= Project Managers
• Rangers =:= UX Designers

I'm really short-changing the article.  Seriously, go read it.  But, in the meantime, there were was one section in particular which caught my eye 

Characters in Dungeons & Dragons progress by gaining experience points which relate to the complexity of the quests they undertake and the level of the foes they defeat. If they do something themselves all that learning goes to them. However if they are part of a team the experience is typically distributed amongst everybody. So the more quests you undertake, and the bigger those quests are, the more you’ll progress in your careers. If you play infrequently and only accept easy challenges it can take you ages to move forward, while if you work with a small but experienced team on tricky adventures you’ll grow much faster.The same is true with the web. Learning comes through experience and the more projects you undertake the better you’ll get. If you accept simple projects with little risk you’ll have an easy life but you won’t push yourself. It’s only by taking risks and working on projects that are slightly outside your comfort zone will you learn new skills and push your career forward apace.With some character classes, new skills become available at higher levels. You could argue the same is true on the web. There are certain skills you would typically only pick up at higher experience levels and are unlikely to be present in junior practitioners. As such, your level of experience really does impact what you can and cant contribute to a project.

Its really pretty obvious stuff, but you'd be shocked how many people out there get into their comfort zone, and stay there.  The point about moving out of your comfort zone (in my opinion) isn't really to do new things - though that certainly is a possibility.  The point is to get better at what you are doing right now!

The D&D parallel is quite amazing.  A 3rd level fighter can take forever to kill the baddie, but your 7th level fighter, well, one swing of your Sword Of Plenary Smiting and you move on.

So, try new things, see what lessons there are to be learned, and broaden your horizons.  You'll appreciate the results...