>>This gets back to the article that was written in the LA Times several years ago about the dark side of IT. The typical developer gets burned out by the age of 40 and moves on to another field. I think the average age of the VFP developer is skewed higher then other tools <
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>I'll say. The last time I went to a VFP user meeting I looked around the room and thought I had wandered into an AARP meeting by mistake. I was younger than most of the people there, and I'm 48!
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>Although I am not burned out on software development -- I still get great satisfaction from writing some code and seeing it do something -- I do sometimes think about making a radical career change of some sort. Maybe that's a form of burnout and I just haven't fully recognized it as such yet.
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>For sure I don't get worked up any more over whether I work with Tool X or Tool Y. At various points in my career I have done heavy duty work with IBM mainframe assembly language, COBOL, Delphi, and SQL Server, in addition to FoxPro. With the exception of COBOL, which I never liked, I enjoyed all those tools, and with the exception of SQL Server none of them is in much demand any more. So what? Better to move on than to sit around whingeing that I'm not working with such and such any more. I am still developing software, which is the main thing. Am reminded of something Tom Watson, Sr. of IBM said about the decline of railroad companies. He said they thought they were in the railroad business when in fact they were in the transportation business. We are in the software development business, not the FoxPro business. Just my .02....
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>Mike

Mike;

I agree with your comments. At the same time I some how see an analogy comparing this VFP vs Dot NET “discussion:

To me it seems like a First Baptist walking into a Presbyterian Church during service, walking up to the pulpit and exclaiming, “I am the true word”!

Please excuse the analogy if it offends you.

People are too defensive about the topic of VFP vs Dot NET. There is an important message being given – look around and see where the job market is. Where is technology headed? Where should you be investing your training and education for your future employment opportunities?

Last time I looked Java was the language, which most companies used and for which most job offerings were given.

This is all so much fun! Sometimes I consider the possibility of taking up stamp collecting as my profession, but that may not pay the bills! :)

Tom