10 Skills Developers Will Need

Apr

03

by Mike Fleming at 7:09 am (2 Comments) .NET, Blackberry, ColdFusion, Technology | , , , , , , ,

Justin James at TechRepublic posted an article yesterday that covers his opinion of the 10 skills developers will need in the next 5 years. You can read his article and I’m sure you will agree with some of his items and there will be some you take a different view on. Here are my thoughts:

I agree 100% with the first item in the list, that you should already know or learn at least one of the most popular languages (.NET, PHP or Java). That does not mean you need to be proficient in every one of them, but I would agree that you should be in the process of at least being very proficient in one of these. I know and love ColdFusion, and as long a Adobe updates and stands behind the product I will use it. I have started some deep learning of .NET (with C#) and it has expanded my horizons. After being reluctant about .NET at first, I can now say it like it. Knowing more than one language will also help you to determine what platform will be the best for your projects in the future. A certain platform will not always be the best solution to a particular problem. Having a knowledge of other languages will help you make the right decision and be successful.

I am not sure if Justin was listing his items in order of importance, but if he was I would disagree with having mobile development listed as the last item in the list. Mobile applications are gaining steam every day and there is one important factor that seems to get overlooked sometimes. Depending on your application, most organizations are looking to put a little part of that on a mobile device or at least have a website that displays well on a mobile browser. Take a look at the most popular websites currently, those like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc… They are started on the web, but you can find tons of dedicated mobile apps for your Blackberry, iPhone, etc… that take advantage of those technologies. I may have moved this item up a little further in the list.

I do agree with item four on his list, knowing and understanding web services. Web services easily allow you to release an API or some other hooks into your application. This easily allows third party integration with your application, which is getting more and more common every day.

That’s it for my thoughts. What are your thoughts?

Categories .NET, Blackberry, ColdFusion, Technology | Tags: , , , , , , ,

2 Responses to “10 Skills Developers Will Need”

  1. David

    April 3, 2009
    4:39 pm
    reply

    Hi Mike – I’m just not sure about some of this list, but I don’t have a specific issue with any one item.

    I believe we should be moving beyond the “commodity” aspect of development. I don’t think, over the next 5 years, or beyond, anyone with 5+ years of experience should be doing something that can be done by a faceless developer half a world away.

    I think real value is going to be providing solution, from a business perspective, rather than code. I think some of that was brought through in this article but that wasn’t the main thrust of it. The article had a focus on “skills”.

    I don’t know, just my opinion, and I’d be interested in what you thought about that.

    Cheers,

    Davo

    • Mike Fleming

      April 4, 2009
      9:12 am
      reply

      David,

      I would agree with some of what you said, but of course it does depend more on your current level of knowledge. I believe the core of this list was geared towards the current developer who is in the trenches writing code, or someone who is just starting out. If you view it from the perspective of a veteran then I totally agree with your comment. It’s up to those people to offer the best solution and strategy to solve whatever the goals of a project are. I do think that the more languages you have used (or at least written a few apps in), it will help you to make the right choice as you will better understand the pros and cons of each. It does make for a good little debate.

      Mike

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