That sounds like very good advice to me. Being able to see the big picture and understand business problems and how they interact with data processes is a skill that will not become obsolete and is pretty tough to outsource to a code shop in Bombay. ( travel bills get a little high :0)
It is also somewhat language independant and gives more access to bonding with management for the consultant. There is also more money in it ;-)
I've never done that kind of work as an employee, so I couldn't speak to that, but it sure is a nice way to do consulting. Sometime it means a small app and writing it all yourself, sometimes it means being the interface between a big company and inside and outside programmers. Either way, it is a lot of fun.
>Woodie,
>
>>>I am probably going to lose my job because of this thread.
>
>That's pretty sad. Is there more to it than this?
>
>Presuming you are young: if you feel you are in a rut, make sure you are not contemplating a jump to another rut. You seem to assume you want to stay a codehead; are you sure about that?
>
>What about project management or design leadership? Do you enjoy figuring out solutions to problems and laying out plans to make it happen, or do you want to be in there coding to somebody else's design? Some here seem to be privileged to do all the planning, design and hands-on development in their projects; that was common for VFP work, but for larger corporate projects in dotNET that would be rare. And as automation increases, application design and management will move inexorably away from pure development. IMHO codeheads will become a commodity, competing with cheap foreign labor who can do an excellent job as long as a good scope is supplied. Just MHO.
>
>Spend some time on visual interfaces as well- even take a class at your own cost. In 2004 the browser is prevalent and it needs developers who can create things that look good, or in a way that makes it easy for a web designer to make it look good. If you can do that, employers and other decisionmakers will remember you.
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>Overall: the market has changed and is changing at a huge pace. There are many more options than just what tool to become a codehead in next. Spare a thought for we old-timers who can cope with a new tool but not necessarily with the risk or upheaval of an entire career change!
>
>Good luck,
>
>j.R
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
