I have been a programmer for years - since the age of 13 (and now I’m 37). Being of this age group, one can almost immediately assume that I learned how to program on a Commodore 64 or other 8-bit computer of its era. I rarely hear about programmers who learned how to program on an Atari 800, though I do have a cousin who attempted it. I remember writing some code for the Apple IIe for my first high school computer class - using medium resolution graphics, I created an animated movie of a guy robbing a bank, and accidentall setting off an alarm. It ended with his car going off a cliff and exploding on impact, after a police pursuit.
As many programmers my age, I eventually learned C (Borland Turbo C++ was a great compiler for this purpose). This required some retraining. It was then that I realized that whatever programming language that I was going to learn in the future, they would all have some fundamental ways to handle input, output, conditions, functions, and loops. Once I realized this and approached a new language with this in mind, the first things I would set about learning were how to do these actions in the new language.
These days, the BASIC language that I now use is Visual BASIC .NET and VB 6.0 (notice that BASIC is rarely written in uppercase, anymore?). I had to write programs in Visual C++ for my online college classes, as well. Nonetheless, I now find myself at a crossroads of deciding whether to continue my career as a PHP web developer or start learning C#. There are not as many PHP job offerings in the market, these days, here in Michigan. Plus, as I work for an auto parts supplier, I think there is a strong possibility of some layoffs. I might be spared since I am the company’s only web developer, but it is still not a good situation to see fellow IT workers disappear from lay-offs.
I have done my best to keep up with learning new things. This past year, I spent my off hours programming for a Flash designer, writing applications that utilize Actionscript 3 and Flex 3. I also wrote some applications in JavaScript which I applied in my workplace - utilizing the Ext JS framework for DOM manipulation and AJAX. I also learned how to use Prototype and Scriptaculous, and am thinking about learning more Dojo and some advanced Actionscript. But I have to be careful with how I spend my time, because with impending doom approaching, I think I should sharpen up my understanding of C#. Nonetheless, I believe that my AJAX understanding will be very helpful, as I use C# for web applications. I have also considered learning how to write applications for mobile phones like the iPhone and Android.
So my recommendation for other programmers - always continue to learn new things, and be flexible and open to new technologies, at all times. Do not become complacent and believe that your current skills will always be enough to get you by, in the future. The current languages that seem to be sticking around in the marketplace are Java and C#. PHP, and Ruby on Rails seem to be coming in behind as languages that consultants will use. Flash/Flex, Silverlight, and Javascript AJAX libraires, will also become strong contenders as more businesses turn to focussing on Web UI or Rich Interface Applications (RIA). I am grateful for the time I spent learning Ext JS, utilizing the whole library and extending some of its classes. I am also grateful for learning Flex 3 this year. Now I think that C# and Silverlight will complete my “Jedi’ programming skills, and I’ll be ready for just about anything that comes my way.
Entries (RSS)