Implications of Sharepoint, BizTalk, Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft CRM for a .NET developer

Question

As a programmer, I am first and foremost interested in Architecture, Data persistence, analysis, testing and programming. You get the idea.

I happen to like Microsoft's tools for developers, like .NET, VS and ASP.NET MVC. I have used SQL Server a lot. I also like other tools like Java or MySQL.

But when I look at jobs at .NET shops (because I like the MS stack), this stuff is also mentoined alot:

"You will develop solutions based upon Sharepoint, SQL Server, BizTalk, MS CRM and MS Dynamics."

I have worked with CRM a little bit at an internship. Which allowed me to model my own data entities with a built-in editor.

And my supervisor at the time told me I could fully implement a custom system using "Javascripts" and said custom entities. He had no clue, because after a few weeks I discovered the Webservice API for .NET for myself. I tried to hack together their custom system they wanted, but I left because of lack of benefits (and a 25 mile drive). The system I made was a mess of custom entities, stuff in IFrames and Javascripts clumsily calling a web page to do logic implemented in .NET.

Thinking of that time, I revere in horror when I hear "Microsoft CRM".

I have no clue what Sharepoint, BizTalk, CRM and Dynamics do. And I have no clue what this means for me as a programmer. Does it mean I just have another set of API's to talk to? Or does this mean I am "modeling" applications with non-programmer tools? What role do these tools play in a .NET developers life?

Answer 1

It means that as a programmer, you'll have to learn to live with the endless bullsh*t from the marketing department of the big companies. Or even face HR departments or recruiters who know even less.

Scarepoint, biztalk and the like are going to be gone in a few years. Concentrate on something that is worth your time. Learn .net, c#, java or ruby and forget about the hype.

Answer 2

I disagree. Most programmers (and I'm one) should stop pondering persistence and testing strategies and start worrying about their clients needs. Using the products you mention and leveraging them correctly, I could start solving clients problems while you were still mulling over whether you should stick to SubSonic for persistence or try out that new Entity Framework stuff that you heard about on .NET Rocks.

(The above is greatly exaggerated, just trying to get the point across).