Emlyn := TTransrodent.create;
VB will be the COBOL (mega legacy nightmare) of the next couple of decades - your income stream wont be drying up anytime soon. No insult intended to the many fine programmers working in the area; indeed, you've got to be really good to build a quality app in VB!
I'm specialising in Delphi at the moment, and it may be a big mistake - when you build complex apps in Delphi, they tend to work with minimal maintenance requirements thereafter, and even extensive enhancements aren't difficult enough to keep the gravy flowing.
I forgot the maxim of the late twentieth century consumption - Obsolesence, like security or robustness, must be designed for; retrofitting is a losing game.
Emlyn.free
> ----------
> From: Terry Donaghe[SMTP:tdonaghe@yahoo.com]
> Reply To: extropians@extropy.com
> Sent: Wednesday, 9 June 1999 4:12
> To: extropians@extropy.com
> Subject: [THE FUTURE & CAREERS] Request for Advice
>
> I think this topic/question is more aimed at those of you who have
> knowledge or careers in the computer industry.
>
> I currently have 3 years of experience as a Visual Basic programmer
> (yeah, yeah, hiss boo). I have gone from making less than $20,000 to
> more than $70,000 in this time, so my Visual Basic skills have
> certainly paid well.
>
> However, I'm not so sure that Visual Basic programming skills will be
> worth a damn in 5 years or even 3.
>
> Here's my question: In order for me to break over into the next level
> of income generation or at least stay in my current salary window, what
> sorts of skills should I be adding? I hope to be certified as a MCSD
> (yeah, yeah, hiss boo) before winter, but what else should I be
> learning/doing? What will the Next Big Thing be?
>
> I have fiddled with Visual C++, but I get the feeling that C++ may not
> be so hot in a couple of years. I thought at one point that Java might
> be the NBT, but it still seems immature and very few recruiters are
> looking for Java skills around here (mostly they want VB, VB and more
> VB with maybe some Interdev/ASP stuff thrown in for good measure).
>
> I've recently installed Linux to play around with, but I see very
> little need for Linux programmers (I'm in the Raleigh/Durham, NC area)
> currently.
>
> I have no formal programming training - I have a degree in worthless
> Journalism and with a family I don't have time to go back to school
> right now...
>
> Any advice? Comments? Etc?
>
> Thanks!
> ===
> Terry Donaghe: terry@donaghe.com
> http://www.donaghe.com
> "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
> than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask
> not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds
> you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that
> you were our countrymen." --Samuel Adams
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