Flex: Basic expectations from a flex(actionscript) developer

Question

Hi Friends, Knowledge has no limits but still in your opions, what are the basic requirements for an individual, where he can call himself a flex developer. To make it a bit concrete lets say after having a 2-3 years experience.

In my perspective it should be something like below. It is a very (very) rough idea and please let me know your views and suggestions on this.

BASIC: (1) Knowldge about basic GUI components like tab, vbox, etc. Their properties and the ability to decide which component suits better in a condition. (2) Knowledge to use services like HTTP, wsdl, remote objects, etc. (3) knowledge about basic event handling mechanisms and bindings. (4) Knowledge about basic Object Oriented principles.

EXCITING: (1) Knowledge about advanced GUI components. (2) Knowledge about architectures like cairngorm, live cycle data services, etc. (3) Knowledge to write custom components and renderes and using advanced properties of components. (4) Knowledge about Design principles.

Also, are there some FREE online tests/certifications etc where one can test his/her flex/as skills ?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

For FREE tests/certifications i have given some example links here, just use a search engine and you will surely find other one :)

Answer 2

Someone who has been coding with Flex daily for 2-3 years should have a pretty deep knowledge of the framework. They shouldn't just know how to use the framework but also how the framework itself works and how to extend it. If they don't, you probably don't want to hire them. :)

Advanced Flex developers should understand how UIComponent works and be able to explain the purpose of all these methods:

initialize
stylesInitialized
createChildren
invalidateProperties / commitProperties
invalidateSize / measure
invaldiateDisplayList / updateDisplayList

setActualSize
getExplicitOrMeasuredWidth/Height
validateNow
getStyle / setStyle / clearStyle

They should know what the Flex "invalidation model" is and how it affects the "invalidate" methods and their counterparts. They should also be able to discuss a few of these topics:

• How does container layout work? How does a Box container decide how to position and size its children?
• How do Lists display their data and what makes item renderers special? How is a List different from a Repeater?

It's impossible to cover all of the things that a Flex dev should know in a short post here but having a deep understanding of UIComponent, its lifecycle and the invalidation model is super important.