What are my options?

[Manoj]

Hi,
Thanks for your post, it is an intresting one. Do you really belive that
most software development in not done that well? For example one reads lots
about the classes and use of usercontrols and custom activex controls etc
in many magazines. I would imagine that thats how software is developed,
also when searching for jobs, all the adds are looking for people who know
how to desine app in that way. My search is purely based on VB6, and its
components.
As you might know there are a number of ways to develop apps in VB. For example
the use of a user control for say employee information and then making that
control a standard throughout the organisation. The other way would be to
create a form and reuse that form, most of the code would probably reside
in the form itself. If the form was to be resused then it's added to the
current project and the developer ammends it. So after a couple of years
you have several variations of that one form, in various projects, maintencance
will become a lot more difficult as a result.
It's good to know that its not worth persuing with webclasses cause I dont
like them.
Well as for the citrix solution, I would not classify it as "a cheap alternative
to webifying legacy desktop" not in the contaxt that we plan to use it anyway.
Look at things this way, I would find it very difficult to write an application
on the web with the same level of functionality and quickness of development
as I would a VB app. Also I dont have to worry about deploying various components
on various clients once the ICA client is in place. Since we are dealing
with external clients who mainly use netscape with some using IE, I dont
worry about the browser complications.
Also we plan to update the app over time, and belive me the business req
change quite quickly. Citirx makes a lot of sense, after all our business
in not focused on software distribution but on providing clients with a service
of online reporting. As for using a dial up connection, I was quite happy
with the response, I tested it our a modem connected at 56K over the phone
line. Things seemed fine, but remmember most of our clients will have a faster
connection at work. However I do see the use of webpages for a genral audience
to be a good approach e.g. like yahoo etc.
As for VB.net can't realy deliver a project until we have a proper releses
of the software even then we shall wait a while before going down that route
in this company.
The only thing wrong about my situation is that the way we develop, I'm a
single developer in the department and its difficult to bounce ideas of others.
But I still enjoy the work, I am just curious as to how things work else
where.
As for the law firm, I thought they make more money then market research
companies and as a result they can pay a lot more. In my case £7K more plus
private health and good working hours, and I will be given a much simpler
task just automation of word.
Anyway what sort of sector would you recommand apart from the financials?
Just to end this message, do you know where I would be able to find out more
about how VB is used in organisations and how software development is managed,
I just can't belive that most companies go about software devlopment in the
way we do it over here.
I look forward to your response.
Regards
Manoj




"Frustrated IT Worker" <frustrated@nospam.com> wrote:
>
>Law firms are none to be cheap so before you take the offer ask some questions
>about training, etc. Citrix server is that how your clients run your apps
>remotely? Never used it myself, but I have been told that it a cheap alternative
>to webifying legacy desktop applications. I bet the response is bad on a
>dial up.
>
>Webclasses -- forget about them their dead. ASP -- will be around for sometime.
>I really haven't had the opportunity read up on the .NET framework, however,
>it appears that it will make web development more accessible to the programming
>masses. That is they won't have to learn a whole slew of scripting languages.
>
>What's wrong with your situation? Many people seem to think (idea comes
from
>books, magazines, hype?) that everyone is doing software development correctly
>except for the company they work at. Well, the reality is that most people
>are in a situation similiar to yours. Companies/Teams that have their act
>together are tough to find.
>
>"Manoj" <AKshah1@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>

[Frustrated IT Worker]

>Anyone doing development in the US and doing it well should be compensated
>AT LEAST 50K, 60K+ is the norm for good developers. That's for a >permanent
job with a real company.

Yup, I would tend to agree with these numbers. That is, they seem to be what
most experienced developers are making nowdays.

Mid to upper 30K on average, 40K - 50K for the "top guns" coming out of college
(yes, I have twisted Matthew's words here) is probably about right if you
were looking to come up with a so called "national average". Note: 10 years
ago, these numbers would have been significantly lower.

All in all, I would say that Matthew's salary figures are a pretty good guestimate
for his region of the country since it is one of the hotbeds in the IT industry
(probably right behind Silly Valley and the DC area).

Personally, I don't think a person can take the figures quoted here as a
good benchmark for what they *should* be earning. There are too many variables
that need to calculated into the equation before a person can determine their
true market worth (i.e. geograhpic location, years of experience, skill set,
business knowledge/experience, roles played on past projects, size of past
projects worked on, and the list goes on and on and on). There is a compensation
web site http://www.salary.com/ that tries to help you come up with a benchmark
based on position, geographic location, etc. I don't know how accurate their
figures really are, but I suppose that it is a good place to start.

Personal Opinion: I would take a 30K - 40K developer position over a much
higher paying, dead-end, skills dulling job, such as, maintenance programming
any day of the week. Long-term marketability is more important than how much
money you can make in shortest period of time.

[Frustrated IT Worker]

Hi Manoj,

Below are my brief comments on your last post.

>Thanks for your post, it is an intresting one. Do you really belive that
>most software development in not done that well? For example one reads lots
>about the classes and use of usercontrols and custom activex controls etc
>in many magazines. I would imagine that thats how software is developed,
>also when searching for jobs, all the adds are looking for people who know
>how to desine app in that way. My search is purely based on VB6, and its
>components.

My observation is that employers tend to want someone who has a big S on
their chest, wears blue tights with a cape, and has a strong aversion to
the mineral kryptonite. Just because a job ad states some particular set
of technologies or development experience doesn't mean that they will find
an acceptable candidate to fill the open position. One of the reasons that
so many IT positions go unfilled for long periods of time is that employers
would rather hold out and continue looking for that perfect candidate to
come along rather then fill it with someone who has the potential to do the
job. In the "old days", you were not expected to be "productive" right out
of the gate. However, times have changed and so have performance expectations.

>I just can't belive that most companies go about software devlopment in
the
>way we do it over here.

How do find out if a company is doing sofware development the way "you think"
they should be? Ask a lot of questions during the interview process.

>The only thing wrong about my situation is that the way we develop, I'm
a
>single developer in the department and its difficult to bounce ideas of
others.

I hear what you are saying. Assuming you can find a job where you would be
working with highly experieced and selfless employees this can be a great
perk to have at your disposal. Have you tried to discuss some of your ideas
with the seperate IT department's employees at your current company?
Is this a impractical or impossible solution? One of nice things about your
current situation (or so it seems) is that you can implement your own procedures
without being shot down by others since you are working alone.

Btw, Citirx seems to be a very good product. I hope you didn't interpret
my words any other way. I know that I made it sound as if webifying desktop
applications is the only thing it is good for when clearly this is not the
case. Glad to hear that performance is not an issue for you. Several years
ago, I installed Citrix's client software on my home PC. The client that
I was doing work for at the time was going to use me (along with dozen or
so others) as a guinnea pig to see if some of their desktop applications
could be run remotely. Of course, I never found out how things turned out
for them since I left for bigger and better things a short time after I installed
this software.

>As for the law firm, I thought they make more money then market research
>companies and as a result they can pay a lot more. In my case £7K more plus
>private health and good working hours, and I will be given a much simpler
>task just automation of word.
>Anyway what sort of sector would you recommand apart from the financials?

Just my observation: In the states, most law firms seem to have modest IT
needs. That is, they would probably find a person with your skill set to
be a pefect match for almost all of their current and future needs. Are there
law firms that have a large internal IT staff on hand? I don't know the answer
to that question, but in my area the answer is "generally speaking no". As
for the financials sector, there are certain financial type of companies
(i.e. Charles Schwab) that are definately cutting edge and they employ quite
a few IT workers. I can't give you any easier answers to your questions about
a particular business sector of the economy. I think that you need to assess
each IT position being offered to you on a case-by-case basis. For example,
in the USA some telecommunication companies pay fairly low wages while in
other areas of the country that may not be the case.

[Jeff]

As a solo worker, one thing you can do is to read all you can about software
development techniques. You don't necessarily need to be in a group setting
to get all that knowledge. Just get some good magazines, read some good
books (check your local library), and become a student of these techniques.
If your group expands to the point it needs more people, then you'll be
the guru on software development for your group. If you get the chance,
network with other developers too. This will give you some of the advantages
of gaining knowledge from others.

[Jeff]

>Personal Opinion: I would take a 30K - 40K developer position over a much
>higher paying, dead-end, skills dulling job, such as, maintenance >programming
any day of the week. Long-term marketability is more >important than how
much money you can make in shortest period of time.

I would prefer to do that too. But I'm not in a position to take a significant
pay cut to do something that I would enjoy more. That's the frustrating
part of work, I guess. I guess I'll keep hoping for the Holy Grail - a good
developer position with the same or better pay than I'm getting now

[Pierre G. Boutquin]

"Elena" <egermano@home.com> wrote in message
news:3ac9d43b$1@news.devx.com...
> Normally, I'm not a big fan of certifications - - I did an MCSD myself a
> few years back and was told by many employers it was worthless.

IMO, it was worthless a few years back. However, MS revised the requirements
and made it more relevant to what a developer needs to know. In particular,
the architecture exam is a fairly useful test.

<Pierre/>

[Elena]

Well, my point was not that the exam itself was worthless, but that employers
had no respect for the idea of application developer certs. I have not detected
any change in that attitude. I rather doubt that any sort of test could
be devised that would convince development managers. They just tend to dismiss
all software certs as "paper tests", irrelevant to "real work".

There are a few companies that seem to support the idea and if you work for
one of those, great. Otherwise, use the exams as an outline to study from
but don't spend a lot of money or build up a lot of expectations as to what
they will do for your career.

Elena

"Pierre G. Boutquin" <boutquin@home.com> wrote:
>"Elena" <egermano@home.com> wrote in message
>news:3ac9d43b$1@news.devx.com...
>> Normally, I'm not a big fan of certifications - - I did an MCSD myself
a
>> few years back and was told by many employers it was worthless.
>
>IMO, it was worthless a few years back. However, MS revised the requirements
>and made it more relevant to what a developer needs to know. In particular,
>the architecture exam is a fairly useful test.
>
><Pierre/>
>
>

[simon]

Perception is everything. There are way too many "Paper MCSE" and "Paper
MCSD" out there (people passed the exams by pure memorization, with no
practical experience to back them up), causing employers not to trust them
entirely. IMHO, certification should be used as *compliment* to your
working experience, no more and no less. I am Microsoft-certified myself,
but I view it as a personal feat and not a "meal ticket".

Just my $0.02.

simon.



"Elena" <egermano@home.com> wrote in message
news:3ad5ac2e$1@news.devx.com...
>
> Well, my point was not that the exam itself was worthless, but that
employers
> had no respect for the idea of application developer certs. I have not
detected
> any change in that attitude. I rather doubt that any sort of test could
> be devised that would convince development managers. They just tend to
dismiss
> all software certs as "paper tests", irrelevant to "real work".
>
> There are a few companies that seem to support the idea and if you work
for
> one of those, great. Otherwise, use the exams as an outline to study from
> but don't spend a lot of money or build up a lot of expectations as to
what
> they will do for your career.
>
> Elena
>
> "Pierre G. Boutquin" <boutquin@home.com> wrote:
> >"Elena" <egermano@home.com> wrote in message
> >news:3ac9d43b$1@news.devx.com...
> >> Normally, I'm not a big fan of certifications - - I did an MCSD myself
> a
> >> few years back and was told by many employers it was worthless.
> >
> >IMO, it was worthless a few years back. However, MS revised the
requirements
> >and made it more relevant to what a developer needs to know. In
particular,
> >the architecture exam is a fairly useful test.
> >
> ><Pierre/>
> >
> >
>