I was discussing web programming with a bunch of urban planners only to find blank stares. To laypersons, the web is like a magical television feed that pipes into their computer screens from far away.  In reality, a web is a simple set of instructions telling your computer to create something fun and interesting.  In explaining the process of how entire technology departments create effective and maintainable websites, I had to describe the “stack” which like a layered cake allowed multiple people to seamlessly develop a website.  I stumbled in connecting each role to more relatable jobs, until recently I realized a fun analogy could be a restaurant.

The Ingredients – Code

All life began with the computer and a plethora of languages available to create the web with.  HTML is just the seasoning and plate presentation of a server-side steak dinner, which could be built of Python and php.  Sometimes these languages come pre-packaged into libraries, like pre-made sauces that help speed up the process.   Or if it’s good and you can’t tell the difference, we’ll serve you a WordPress frozen soup we’ve heated up (a content management system with our own spices). 

The Back Kitchen – Dev-Ops

Those who play with Linux servers sit in the dark back room making sure we can keep up with the booming web traffic of our hardcore ninja app.  Servers are the stoves that keep things cooking and feeding the masses.  Someone in the back has to know how to fix the deployment blender.  Purging logs like washing dishes.

The Cooks – Back-End Programmers

These people are wizards with server-side code.  They know exactly how long to prep and cook the steak.  They’ll slice zucchini the way you need it.  Server-side languages manipulate and produce the expected data, like measuring the ingredients exactly for a perfect souffle.  They execute recipes with precision so they’re not always concerned with how pretty things look once on the plate.

The Sous Chef – Front-End Programmers

In past days there were webmasters who tinkered with plain text.  Today front-end web languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript support the ability to have fully interactive and visually pleasurable websites.  They turn that raw server information into beautiful plate presentations that excite and challenge the eye and palate.  The back-end hands over the useful data, the grilled steak, and the front-end positions the steak on the plate, assembles the side dishes, and puts finishing touches.

The Head Chef – User Experience Designers

The head chef creates the plates and recipes everyone is busily cooking and perfecting. They set the look, the standard, the expectation.  A web designer today is designing user experience and providing visual guides to websites in addition to pixel perfect templates. Granted, a designer doesn’t necessarily drive the show come table service, they certainly set the way things will be done when they’re not there.

The House Manager and Host – CTO & Support

The chef doesn’t call all the shots, the ultimate decisions end up with the restaurant owner.  A development team is guided by a Chief Technology Officer who permeates all processes and layers.  Along with support people, they also solve client-facing problems and emergencies — the confused or disgruntled patrons.  Their steak is undercooked, there’s a hair in the soup, the waiter is rude, the web can “break” at many points in the process and so they come in to address these administrative issues.

The Wait Staff – Sales and Marketing

The business development and “growth” people will jab me in the side for calling them the wait staff.  In reality their role is very similar, they are selling the product and standing by it.  They’re delivering a promise to patrons that the menu is going to give them that great experience, for a price.  And any good salesperson will keep the client or diner happy.   These people also in turn inform and drive the development of new features or changes to the code base, like a waitress sharing dining feedback, and so are important parts in a successful code base.

So there you go, that’s a restaurant version of the web “stack.”  Each person and layer is integral to the process that creates a good website that evolves to meet its market and demand.  Now, I’m starving for food, there’s an app for that right.