When I first got into web development I didn’t realize the difference between Interactive and IT disciplines. Perhaps it was naiveté, or perhaps they weren’t so well defined at that time. I thought building web sites was technical; anyway, it was the first time ad agencies employed programmers.

The Internet was born out of IT. So I guess hardcore ITers have a sense of ownership over it. But IT blew it. They could have kept the Internet for themselves and dominated the web market, but IT didn’t have what it takes to create web sites that effectively communicate and still doesn’t.

Along came Interactive born from ad agencies and communications firms. Interactive’s initial job was to convert traditional messages to the web, the new medium. Since that meager start, Interactive has grown into a full fledged discipline, pushing the web farther and faster than it ever would have gotten with IT alone.

My experience in an Interactive environment is much different than mine with an IT one. Interactive folks usually love the increased capability to do something cool technologically. Interactive designers are always fighting technology’s boundaries and good IT people help enlarge their sandbox. They like that, but they don’t like it when their work relies on an IT person to implement it and can’t execute it properly. In an Interactive environment, an IT person quickly learns about details. IT folks don’t seem to have any respect for Interactive. Graphics are not important when compared to functionality and a lowly script monkey can’t have a better approach than a “real” programmer that knows C++.

Interactive has grown up and there are very talented, intelligent programmers that do not have the IT mindset. The tools used in Interactive work have become powerful and complex. Interactive is encroaching on IT’s space, but IT hasn’t countered. They still can’t communicate well and can’t create good interfaces.

However, these two strange bed fellows need each other: art oriented Interactive and science based IT. A few companies have successfully merged the two, but that is a rare find. What strikes me as odd, today, at a time when the two disciplines are closer than ever before when it comes to level of skill; the two are no closer in how they are perceived in the corporate world. An example of this is how Human Resources Departments treat the two disciplines. A web developer from an Interactive shop does not compare well to a web developer from IT department of a large corporation even if they have the same skills. Job title and pay scales are often different. Another instance is many companies’ web departments are part of the marketing department. Why not the IT department? It seems IT is trying to keep Interactive people from crossing over into their world - competition I guess.

Good work is both technical and creative and a web site cannot succeed without either. It is information technology AND interactive. The sooner these two disciplines learn to play nicely the better off the industry is. After all, we’re all working for clients and share similar experiences.