Comments on: The typecast developer http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6 Software, technology, startups and video games Mon, 17 May 2010 16:27:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: conormcc http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6/comment-page-1#comment-8 conormcc Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:03:03 +0000 http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6#comment-8 And I always though you were happy with your job ;) Its a fair point though. I guess we are all typecast to some degree and its not necessarily a bad thing if you happen to like what you do. And I always though you were happy with your job ;) Its a fair point though. I guess we are all typecast to some degree and its not necessarily a bad thing if you happen to like what you do.

]]> By: nallo nallo http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6/comment-page-1#comment-7 nallo nallo Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:03:51 +0000 http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6#comment-7 well look at it this way guys, You could have BCS Computer Science and MSC Managementand work in infrastructre. Ive forgotten ALL my development ability. I sort of drifted into this field though and it has perks in ways. But once in network engineering you tend to stay there. Once in Server infrastructere you tend to stay there. Typecasting happens in infrastructre as well - you go where the money is though. There are some atrociously low paid jobs asking for Cisco network engineering experience, data centre design and the like, but when you work for "big company" you go for and stay in network or server roles or whatever, Still we could be working in production support doing stuff as dull as dishwater and getting grief from traders 24x7 well look at it this way guys, You could have BCS Computer Science and MSC Managementand work in infrastructre. Ive forgotten ALL my development ability. I sort of drifted into this field though and it has perks in ways. But once in network engineering you tend to stay there. Once in Server infrastructere you tend to stay there. Typecasting happens in infrastructre as well – you go where the money is though. There are some atrociously low paid jobs asking for Cisco network engineering experience, data centre design and the like, but when you work for “big company” you go for and stay in network or server roles or whatever,

Still we could be working in production support doing stuff as dull as dishwater and getting grief from traders 24×7

]]> By: conormcc http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6/comment-page-1#comment-4 conormcc Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:14:13 +0000 http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6#comment-4 Wow! Someone is actually reading my blogs!! Now I am getting nervous :) I agree that you choose jobs you are qualified (i.e. experienced) for. The problem is moving to jobs you do not have experience in. I believe a good developer should be able to work on any problem, including ones they haven't worked on before. From my experience in college, students are taught the principles of programming, not specifically in C++ or Java but in any language. E.g., Once you learn OOP, you should be able to apply those principles to whatever language OO you happen to use. There is no doubt that languages like Java/C++ will be around for a long time to come. However, sticking with one or the other may limit the type of work you can get as time goes on. I fully agree that it is our responsibility to learn a number of languages. The difficultly is in converting that into cold, hard experience (without resorting to b.s :-) ) Wow! Someone is actually reading my blogs!! Now I am getting nervous :)

I agree that you choose jobs you are qualified (i.e. experienced) for. The problem is moving to jobs you do not have experience in. I believe a good developer should be able to work on any problem, including ones they haven’t worked on before.

From my experience in college, students are taught the principles of programming, not specifically in C++ or Java but in any language. E.g., Once you learn OOP, you should be able to apply those principles to whatever language OO you happen to use.

There is no doubt that languages like Java/C++ will be around for a long time to come. However, sticking with one or the other may limit the type of work you can get as time goes on.

I fully agree that it is our responsibility to learn a number of languages. The difficultly is in converting that into cold, hard experience (without resorting to b.s :-) )

]]> By: mj http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6/comment-page-1#comment-3 mj Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:31:00 +0000 http://www.conormccluskey.com/archives/6#comment-3 Don't underestimate the power of choice here. You choose the jobs you are qualified for (and can b.s. your way into). If you only learned Java in college then you're going to stick to Java. If you took the time to learn other languages then you have more choices. The Freelancer will take on *anything* at the start because, at the end of the day, the rent still needs paid. Thing is, there's still people out there using COBOL. Java will likely become the COBOL of choice for the next 30 years. It's a solid place to be. Would you be better served going with Silverlight? Too late for Ruby? Ever going to be time for Python? It's your free time. You decide. Don’t underestimate the power of choice here.

You choose the jobs you are qualified for (and can b.s. your way into). If you only learned Java in college then you’re going to stick to Java. If you took the time to learn other languages then you have more choices.

The Freelancer will take on *anything* at the start because, at the end of the day, the rent still needs paid.

Thing is, there’s still people out there using COBOL. Java will likely become the COBOL of choice for the next 30 years. It’s a solid place to be.

Would you be better served going with Silverlight? Too late for Ruby? Ever going to be time for Python? It’s your free time. You decide.

]]>