I understand what you’re saying, your profession was in fact one I was going to refer to by example as I feel like (generally speaking) most clients won’t understand what’s going on in the back-end of a website or appreciate the effort that goes into ‘neat’ code. They would largely be interested in what they understand, the aesthetics of the website… unless they have some experience of developing a site already.

My blog post was about the majority of people that we have to clear creative projects with. In my industry the people who pay for these ranges and who largely have the final say in whether a project goes ahead, are male – (not an immediate target market for lipsticks!) and therefore highly unlikely to know what a woman wants in terms of a lipstick shade.

Therefore just because you can be MD/CEO of a cosmetics company does not mean you need to know anything about makeup/what women want… all you really need to know how is how to run a business. And WHEN that’s the case it is a massive irritation to me and the people who put months of effort into projects when it comes down to someone who is a) not creative and b) not your target audience.

That being said, I never assume someone doesn’t know what they are talking about just because they don’t fit the audience. If someone is ignorant of the situation it always reveals itself eventually! And yes, I understand that age CAN equal experience in a field, but it is also possible to come into an industry late on. Age does not always equal wisdom.

Thanks for your comment, and I really appreciate you reading the post
Charlie

I enjoyed the post and understand where you’re coming from, but I can’t help thinking – and I can be prone to this as a web developer – that by default, we tend to assume clients’ ignorance, and arrive on the defensive before we’ve even shaken hands at the first meeting. We love the work we produce, we’re proud of it, and we don’t want some snotty dipshit telling us it’s wrong.

But on the other hand, our jobs are about ultimately providing what the client wants, and we can’t always assume they’re wrong. Many of the designers and developers I’ve worked with are quite young, so it’s daft to assume they’ve got all the experience and knowhow needed, fresh out of uni or with only a couple of years’ work experience, when the clients they’re addressing have often had upwards of decades in their markets.

I wrote a post about it a while back (http://marksteadman.com/2011/12/29/your-professional-arrogance-is-no-longer-cute/); no idea if it goes over the line or is in any way relevant, but there it is

Thankyou,
-Mark

I am pursuing MA GB&I at LCC.