We currently have one genius professional who knows how to do things the “right way.” He never gives an accurate ETA on a completion date, but he handles the most complicated (and cool) bits of the system. It could not run the way it does without him. He tends to come up with huge projects that would be really fucking cool, but would take way too long to complete. He also disappears randomly for no apparent reason and usually at the worst possible times.

We have one grad student who will become a professional. He’s more-or-less on the same level as the aforementioned professional. He handles a lot of complicated bits, and some tedious bits. He’s usually the first on the scene when the site breaks and is the main go-to-guy. He keeps the system working and he also adds some cool Bits like the graph system so that staff can see stats from previous years.

We have one completely self-taught and completely insane person who handles getting shit DONE NOW AND WORKING NOW I DON’T CARE IF IT’S NOT PRETTY OR IF IT’S NOT “RIGHT” JUST GET IT WORKING NOW. I come up with the majority of the new Bits (we need this handled in the DB. We need THAT handled in the DB. We should really track that . . . etc.), and work on what I damn well feel like while giving tasks to others. I drive the team along when they would otherwise become stuck worrying about making a REALLY cool system, programmed the “right way” which would take WAY more time than we have. I also am usually the one handling the tedious database crap. The majority of the “terrible code” is mine, but so is a LOT of the code. I make shit happen when everyone else is busy or disappears.

We have two novices who are learning VERY quickly. They have limited knowledge and experience about PHP and MySQL and have their Bits that they own. They are (and should be!) proud of the stuff they write in the system. They have been REALLY valuable in getting the less urgent, and not-so-large, but still pretty needed things added to the system.