Howdy all,
I see there are just 506 questions tagged SharePoint, out of 63,057 total questions. (as of 12/22/08 9:48am cdt.)
Who developes against SharePoint and is there anyone out there who would be called an Expert? (I think SP experts are like unicorns, mythical creatures that don't exist, but the world would be more beautiful if they did)
What resources do you use to answer the hard questions?
Keith
Hello,
A great resource is MSDN blogs. For example:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ekraus/archive/2008/12/15/sharepoint-development-wiki.aspx
Do a search on MSDN Blogs. Many of these MSFT employees are totally willing to answer questions, just don't take advantage if you can search for an answer first... I have my own blog on MSDN and answer questions frequently (as frequently as I get them, given I am a Microsoft Project Server developer).
HTH
Colby Africa
funny you should post this. i'm new to the site and trying to establish my rep as a sharepoint expert, so i've just started monitoring sharepoint questions.
guru is a strong word and i don't think i can self-apply, but i have worked with it a lot over the past 4+ years and am very very comfortable developing against it.
the #1 place i go for all dev related sharepoint questions is MSDN (WSS and MOSS). the quickest way i've found to get answers about a specific class is by googling "<spclassname> reference" the msdn page for that class is the first result
for administrative MOSS questions i use technet
and there a ton of good blogs and online resources
typically, if i need to solve a specific dev tidbit i google it.
Yes, there are people out there (if by out there, you mean, in the development world) developing SharePoint solutions. I used to teach SharePoint Admin and SharePoint Dev classes. Some of the experts I've talked to, worked with, or learned from include:
The tricky part is that SharePoint development can be such a broad range. For example, are you dealing with WSS or MOSS? Packaging and deployment questions? Custom List Development? Custom Workflow development? Dealing with Data Connectors? Going straight code, or using SharePoint Designer? Using the Object Model or Web Services (or even HTTP PUTs)? Forms or Integrated Authentication? Large Farm, or all on one box?
I do think there are enough good people on there to get you down the road, but in general, even with the experts I've had the chance to work with, if you ask broad SharePoint question, people are going to have trouble answering it.
One absolutely invaluable resource is the WSS SDK (available here).
Note that it is not perfect. There are some places that it is wrong, but for the most part, it does a very good job of explaining various concepts. (There's also a MOSS SDK that includes the WSS SDK along with documentation on some of the MOSS-specific pieces).
Well, I (for one) develop on SharePoint 2007, and it's actually a very powerful platform for exposing collaboration flows usually hidden in server shares and email threads. The problem lies in the fact that there's usually big business workflow mentality work that goes along with any migration to SharePoint.
I work with several SharePoint experts, and there are MVPs out there. Like most other development aspects, google is your friend, and it just comes down to knowing the right SharePoint vocabulary to plug in.
Beware anyone that calls themselves a SharePoint expert and yet spells it with a lowercase "p". :)
FWIW, Inside Microsoft SharePoint Service 3.0 is the best book out there for someone wanting to learn the platform (IMHO).
Hello,
I just want to add a name to the list of true experts: Sahil Malik. I've been fortunate enough to work a bit with him for the last couple of months and he knows his stuff.
His blog, although not very frequently updated, is at http://blah.winsmarts.com/
.b
I can't comment yet, but I want to say that I strongly agree with Greg when he says that the vocabulary is key. This isn't just for googling, but also when talking to clients/devs and admins. The platform is huge, and speaking about the various moving parts in the correct way (with the correct names) is so impoartant.
my $0.02 -- we're allowed to do that here, right?
jt
There are a number of independent, corporate, and consulting SharePoint developers out here. Blogs are an invaluable source of information for SharePoint development. FWIW here is my consolidated feed of blogs that I have tagged "Sharepoint": http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/15316012202766278764/label/sharepoint
The MSDN documentation of the object model is also (marginally) useful:
msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768559.aspx
For when that fails to provide useful info, I typically use Reflector to see what the code really does, though sadly many of the good bits are obfuscated.
Generally Google/Bing is your best friend - one trick I've learned for locating XML help is to simply search for the tag name followed by the word "element" - that typically results in the MSDN documentation being the first or second result - e.g.
Make sure you check out the SharePoint PodShow also which Rob, Brett and I try to push out a couple of times a month:
Also there are quite a number of SharePoint User Groups around which are great to get along to and speak to fellow SharePointers
Here is the MEGA site that I use. Most of the problems or questions i have can be answered by searching this sites Years worth of sharepoint blogrolls.
Hi,
I have developed a little agaist Sharepoint, as the application I was working on was designed to use lists, the following tool by U2U was extremely helpful
This will help you build you CAML Queries, save me loads of time. also lets you run them.
Book wise I use this book
Real World SharePoint 2007, written by a bunch of MVP's they tell you some time saving tricks of the trade. I found it an easy read, and now use for reference.
the other posts already have most of the usual suspects.
HTH
bones
The SharePoint developer community is still pretty small compared to other groups. I'm sure this will change as MS pushes SharePoint more, and as the next version comes out with the new Office line.
When you need info, Google is your friend... but not every SharePoint question can be answered that easily. Getting to know some of your local SharePoint MVPs is a big plus (they are out there!). You can always ask quick questions on twitter with a #sharepoint tag, which may lead you to meet some knowledgeable people...
Of course, there is always this site, stackoverflow. There seems to be a smart community of SharePoint devs here - even if there aren't many questions...