I recently received an ‘IT Insights’ mailer from a placement company I once worked for.  Included in that letter was a section on Developer Skills and what to focus on over the next 5 years.  I thought I’d take this opportunity to point out, comment on, and add my own two cents to the topics in this article.

The main topics of this article were:

• The big three languages
• People/soft skills
• Web development and services
• RIA (Rich Internet Applications)
• Mobile

Let me review these topics, but in a slightly different order…

People/Soft Skills:

The Article Says: “The time when an IT professional could be successful while locked away in a closet writing code is no more.”

I Say:  This is very true. As someone entering this field of employment, your people/soft skills will get you far. Also, you will need these skills now, more than ever, as software developers now have to interact with various departments as well as internal and external customers.  There is still a place for the ’savant’-like developer that needs to be holed up coding away … it’s just fewer and further between these days… For example, think companies like Wells Fargo that still have old, legacy Cobol systems.  It’s not that newbies couldn’t learn and do development on these systems - it’s just that nobody wants to…

The Big Three Languages / RIA (Rich Internet Applications)

The Article Says:  With regard to the Big Three Languages, .NET, PHP, and Java, that developers should know AT LEAST one of these, if not all of them… and that developers should learn some related libraries (more on this in a moment).  With regard to RIAs, the article suggests that Flash, Silverlight, and JavaFX are all very hot and that a developer should also have a skillset with one of these languages, as well…

I Say: It highly depends on your interests and goals… However, if I were going to generalize (going along with this article - which IS from a placement agency), I’d say learn EITHER Java OR C# AND PHP AND ActionScript.  Oh heck, let me add to the list - AND JavaScript, AND EXT JS AND JQuery AND AND AND…. (phew, ok, feeling better now)…

Let me go back to my first thought on this topic, it depends…. If you got into programming because you want to do hard-core game development (PC/Console), get damned good at C/C++… If you want to be a Web Programmer, however, then I recommend the above… If you know Java, you can pick up C# if you have to and vice-versa.  As for RIA, I recommend ActionScript/Flash… However, while I try to remain tool agnostic, I do have a bias towards Java and ActionScript… Maybe a topic for another blog posting…

Last note on this particular topic: Going to careerbuilder.com and doing a search on Java, then .NET, then PHP, and then ActionScript gives the following results (as of 10/7/2009):

• Java:   4,934 jobs
• .NET:  4,569 jobs
• PHP:   995 jobs
• Flash: 1,013 jobs

Mobile

The Article Says: “Applications developed and designed for mobile devices are becoming increasingly important and a high-value opportunity area for ambitious developers.”

I Say:  This is close… However, they aren’t becoming increasingly important, they ARE already important… and they have been for quite a while now.  It’s more of a niche field/area/market for developers… But, it’s real… and there are big opportunities in this field.

In Closing

Let me impart some final thoughts on this subject…. After working in this field for 13+ years, the more I learn, the more I feel there is to learn… Add to that that technology is constantly evolving… Programming languages, libraries (APIs), and methodologies are constantly evolving too… Similar to a medical doctor, a developer needs to spend a certain portion of their career up-training… learning new skills - adding to the skill set, etc… New technologies seem to be coming at us faster and faster every year… So, if you are in this field - have a passion for LEARNING and consider yourself a life-long learner..