>When I was working in .com the word on the street was knowledge of JAVA and Oracle and you're employeed for life. Or until the .com crash.

Perry;

LOL! Life can be so short. Not long ago .COM was not able to consume enough people into its embrace. "Be a millionaire in six months! We are pre IPO.


A true story. Two years ago I was at a job fair in Santa Clara at the tech convention center. Two guys about my age were standing behind a makeshift counter covered with butcher paper. A piece of butcher paper scotched taped to the wall said – “Create your own job”! They used a Magic Marker - looked great! :) I asked what that meant? The answer I received says it all.

Answer, “We just received funding for our new company”.
Question, “What is your product”?
Answer, “Well, we do not know yet”.
Question, “Where is your business plan”?
Answer, “ We do not have one! You have any suggestions? You can do what ever you want if you work for us”!
Question, “Do you have any business cards or literature”?
Answer, “No”.

I left thinking that this was insane. This place was like a shark-feeding tank, with 1069 companies participating (Actual number being reported that day). Two jobs were for Microsoft products – VB and NT Server. The rest was Java with insane people. They wanted warm bodies and had lots of money. Sincerely, I did not find one of these companies with a business plan – just hot to be a pre IPO with the prospect of someday going public. They did not care about skill sets in most cases.

Yes, the .COM craze gave a thrill to some but I think it gave our industry a bad taste and a bloody nose which will be remembered for a long time – like five minutes or until the next craze comes along. :) Just wait until some money is found and some greedy people think of a way to get rich quick.

Tom


>
>Now if you search for Oracle on Dice or Monster, 98% of the developer type jobs are only for doing Oracle Financials work.
>
>PF
>
>>Dean;
>>
>>Just to show the confusion that exists amongst developers, I just got an e-mail from a friend who is also a Java developer. He is going VB and VB .NET as he is fed up with the fights between the two camps. He thinks there are more jobs here in Silicon Valley using Microsoft products. I do not know as up until the .COM crash Java was king, and accounted for 99% of the software jobs in this area.
>>
>>Who knows what the favorite programming language will be next week? :) Well, as for me I go where the action is and whatever pays the bills.
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>>Learn JAVA!
>>>
>>>I'm just starting to do JAVA at work. So, I'm a JAVA enfant, but from what I've read and seen, JAVA does anything that MS .NET can do and better/more. I looking forward to what that more is!!!!!!
>>>
>>>.NET, though promising (I guess...), has a long way to go to catch up with what JAVA can do, not to mention market share that JAVA has. I know "MS is a marketing machine and will give JAVA run for its money...." But will it really?
>>>
>>>We still use VFP to do a lot of data managament, because VFP is a go tool.
>>>
>>>
>>>MY 2 CENTS.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>My personal goals are to get my programming/software knowledge up-to-date, and as a former FPWer, I decided to pursue VFP. Compared with other languages I’ve learned over the years, I get very excited about VFP. Rarely a day goes by that I don't remark to myself "Hey, that's pretty cool!" So I come to the UT boards with that background and interest, and run into this VFP - .Net debate.
>>>>
>>>>In a previous post, John Petersen said to George Tasker: "On a pure technical basis, many arguments can be constructed that validate the feeling that VFP is in an enviable position. These arguments are mostly klinged to by people from the inside. For the most part – the business - and quite frankly the technical world as well - are not ruled by "technical" concerns..."
>>>>
>>>>This hit home to me. I don't care how great VFP is technically. If
>>>>businesses and students (like me) PERCEIVE that VFP isn't the future, businesses won't support it and students won't learn it.
>>>>
>>>>So, I've been rethinking my pursuit of VFP. Can I better spend my time learning something else? What will be best for my future?
>>>>
>>>>Microsoft's confusing marketing/support of VFP casts doubts, whatever their intentions may be. Even the VFP community of experts, are obviously confused/concerned/doubtful. Microsoft appears to have some kind of plans for VFP – they are planning v.8. They are clearly marketing .Net. But I haven’t heard from them a clear statement as to what application, role, or niche VFP will have in future.
>>>>
>>>>So that’s one student’s opinion. I would love to hear from all of you what advice you would give folks like me.