I'm 42, and employed as a Java software developer (in the UK). Recently I've been contemplating my future, and wondering if my employment prospects may become limited as I get older. I'm worried about the trend in off-shoring development work, and conscious of the fact that I will be increasingly competing with graduate developers and mi...
I am looking for some help here. I have 5 years experience in desktop support and a number of desktop support certifications (MCP A++ MCDST etc), but I am going back to the University for a Computer Science degree (I have one degree in Marketing now), so what I am looking for is a bit of advice: How is the best way to move from desktop...
A guy I work with is outstanding at programming. He gets the job done quick and always has an answer to any question you may have. However, I was recently going through some of his code and found it to be really sloppy. He uses variable names like ulc and td, and he mixes instance variable declarations between method declarations. I ask...
I was wondering if managers/developers out there had any opinions on the best places to find freelance/contract developers? Over the years my company has utilized contractors and freelance developers (both in the U.S. and offshore) for many projects. We've tried sites like rentacoder (horrible experience), and also utilized our own net...
Hi All, I have been working on java/J2ee for the past 3 years. My job included working on JSF and Axis web services and a bit of hibernate too. The IDE that i use is eclipse, with project mgmt tool as ant/maven and JBOSS as my application server. Because of this recession, I have been asked to move to a new team that develops software on...
First, let's me explain my situation. I am 25 years old. I have been a junior programmer for two years and this is my first job. I am an active person and I like the challenge and the satisfaction of solving problems. Although my responsibility is to develop software, I have done many things beyond my job description: increase team colla...
I'm currently a software engineer in India and have been working for 3,5 years. Before recession started I decided to study further and planned for a Master of Science degree in computer science in Fall09, since I want to explore more of this field. I have got an admission in Univ of Texas @ Dallas. I am confused about whether I should ...
If you want to read the back story and specifics of my current situation, feel free. But I posted the "quandary" first in case you just want to see the question. THE QUANDARY: Is it fair to keep a contractor over an employee, even if the contractor is providing more of a benefit to the organization? THE BACK STORY: I lead an Applicat...
Some background about me, I work for a financial organsation, in a support job. Where we work 10-11 hrs a day in supporting applications, which doesn't require any new additional skill. But my work also demands me to spend 6-10 hrs of java (servlet/jsp) coding per week. But after 9 yrs of experience, I feel passionate about programming ...
This past year I completed college and gotten nowhere in terms of the job search, so meanwhile I have tried to expand my knowledge base as much as possible. All I seem to achieve though is to increasingly understand that I know virtually nothing. It's an unrealistic goal for anyone to have insight into every facet of development and al...
Who's your favourite webcast/screencast presenter? I've spent the last few weeks getting up to scratch with all the latest technologies and practices - I feel like I'm becoming a real programmer again - so I've been watching an awful lots of webcasts and screencasts. I find myself really attracted to those technologies that are explaine...
At present I am into a very good organization. I am planning to shift because I am not happy with the work that I am getting now. I want to work under a different Manager, but my Manager and team is more dependent on me. I tried so many times, but couldn't change my team. So, I started planning to switch my company. Everyone is asking ...
I've recently become active on SO, mainly because it's a lot more inspiring than the deadline for the big wodge of documentation that no one's ever going to read that is looming ever larger in my headlights. I'm wondering why I'm risking discipline/unemployment more as each hour slips by, especially when the Global Financial Crisis is s...
In some downtime at work that's coming up, I plan to sharpen and round out my development skills a bit. I've been pretty heavily into web development for the past few years, right out of college, and I've learned a lot. I was going to focus on WinForms WPF for a bit, but I've been reconsidering it. Given the current trend toward 'clou...
I've been talking to some computer science students lately who've asked me what they should know after university. They fear to have the wrong skills and knowledge to start a career in programming. What do you consider essential skills and knowledge to get a good start into a programming career? What do companies demand? Some other que...
I've worked for a few organizations during my career, ranging from small to gigantic. In my most recent company, I've encountered something that is new to me: our CTO codes. Codes heavily, codes often. [This is not a small company]. Are any other SO users in situations where the CTO actually performs coding duties? If so, is this a go...
Could you please share your experience as to what has REALLY become a reason you were fired? Not just imaginary reason that could lead to it, but real experience that has happened to you or maybe your ex-colleagues. Either software bugs you "implemented", some rules you didn't follow or just some stupid things that happened. EDIT: Has a...
I'm learning C# right now. In my second semester of it. I'm new to all of this. I tend to not like stuffy atmosphere's and want to enjoy my work. I'm not a "nerd" gamer type that spends all day playing games, though I enjoy them. Recently I just realized that some use .NET C# for game programming, though I'd likely need to get into c++ t...
I am constantly involved in a debate about this. When hiring a developer, what do you put more emphasis on and find more important: Communication skills or technical skills? I argue technical skills. If I write an app with security flaws, that can be a sackable offence. The only thing which is going to secure my future is my technical s...
As part of my career plan it has been my intention to infiltrate a number of different employers over an approximate 6/7 year time period, so that I can broaden my depth of knowledge and experience as much as possible. Many often prefer to stay with their employer for the long term which is fine. However, to my way of thinking I do not ...