Elle Atechsy

From my experience, it seems the more one moves up the ladder the less hands-on s/he gets. So I cannot understand how architects must have hands-on experience in the technologies he architects with. As the years move forward, and technologies change, and architects cannot be expected to have hands-on experience in all of them. Of course, any real architects out their please correct me if I'm wrong, as I am not one, and therefore is very curious about he answers to the following questions.

---So how do architects survive in their chosen career paths?
---After a solid fundamental background, for example in web applications or mobile devices, can just understanding concepts & methodologies be enough?

So what would anyone recommend a candidate to do if in their current company they will not be given the chance to grow their repetative skill using the proper methodologies, but they understand the proper methodologies very very well.

However, when looking out for new job opportunities every single job description request 3+ years of the experience that the candidate knows s/he could do very well if just given the chance.

Junior positions seems to be rarely available.

Hi Everyone,

I'm searching for the best way to keep up with new technologies. I would appreciate some suggestions of web sites, magazines, etc. on where to keep up with new web application technologies & best pratices.

For example, after assisting with development on a fairly complex application with pure JDBC, someone later suggested that we should have used something like Ibatis or Hibernate. That it would have taken half the time and probably much more efficient & reliable. How could I have found that out without asking someone because our team thought we were doing the right thing at the time?

All suggestions are very much appreciated in advance.

Elle

Thank you for the response.

No I wouldn't make the same mistake again. I guess that is what I should hold on to in regards to continuing as a lead developer.

As for burning bridges, I hope I did not. I do believe I sometimes reacted to the stress of being blamed & belittled by everyone in a way that I would not react if I was put in those situations again. The time constrait was tight, I was forced to work very long hours, 7 days a week for entire summer. At times it was all unbarable & those times I didn't handle certain things well.

I never cursed anyone, or disrespected anyone like that. Most times I tried to be very helpful to most, even while doing lead duties I still had to jump in & do a lot of hands on as well. I Think my frustration began to show after a while, so I just do not think anyone respects me anymore, and I'm not sure what they will say to future employers. And now I don't even think they want me there anymore. It's a horrible feeling when you think that people you worked with for 6 years very well, does not seem to want you around now. Of course they do not say this aloud, but it comes out in snide comments.

Hi Everyone,

I've always found JavaRancher responses very helpful. Hopefully, some will be able to help me find my way.

I did not come from CS background. I've been in web development for approximately 9 years. Began coding in Java about 4 years ago. I have been a lead developer for most of my career, due mostly to great work ethics, egarness to learn, and positive attitude, as I am not mega technical. However, now most of that spark has burned out when it comes to coding or leading developers (which requires a lead to mentor on coding). Although, working with a team, since starting Java, as a lead, I made some bad decisions which caused some grief for us.

The biggest bad decisions were:

1 - being too enthusiastic & re-inventing the wheel by writing a content management system from scratch for a firm that only used the system to present pretty much brochure ware. It was not the company's business product.
2 - this was done without knowing who or when to ask for help from more experienced people regarding what to use to make it a simpler job. No one on team was experienced enough to implement Java design, so I did the best I could in leading a collabrative design with a team of unexperienced Java developers.

Later after initial design implementation, some more experienced developers joined team, but some times I felt that others on team knew better, and allowed me to make wrong decision anyway by not speaking out. Other times, the recommendations that I made, that were correct, were ignored, even by managers. Projects work, but was not implemented in the best way so causes lots of problems.

Now, fingers are pointing ONLY at me, and managers have no faith in my skills anymore. People in my team have made it very clear that they think the whole project was one big mistaken mess.

Now, I am looking for another job. But,

#1 I am too afraid to look for a Senior/Lead position. I don't want to experience this again.
#2 I don't think anyone at my current company will give me a decent recommendation.
#3 I'm beginning to feel that "implementation" may not be my best skill. So, I have considered
>> Project Management, but don't think I would enjoy it much because I do not like budget handing or personnel management in terms of performance reviews/hiring/firing.
>> Business Systems Analysis (the more technical positions), but everyone wants experience, and I know I require some training for some things. But for many of the positions I find, I truely believe that I can be successful at this given my technical background. It requires understanding technical concepts, but I would not have to know how to implement anything.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? If yes, what did you do?

If anyone has suddenly changed paths, what is the best way to go about doing so?

What can I do if I cannot obtain a decent recommendation? I am absolutely positive that I am NOT that bad, I've seen worse on my team, but they weren't the leads. Besides, who ever thinks of themselves as bad employees. That's why hiring managers ask for references.

Please help, I am at a loss here. I feel the career I worked so hard to obtain & maintain is slipping away from me.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Subversion? If that is the same as code versioning software, yes I believe they do have that, but they are too sly to tamper with something that would leave a trace. He has thought of reporting his suspicions, but cannot gather the information on his own. Do you think it's worth taking it up with higher ups & risk getting hated even more just because he did that?

Has anyone been in a IT job & been forced to quit by co-workers, managers, and such, sabotaging the applications you were responsible for?

A friend has been at a company for quite a few years. He has always tried to do his best, kept the team a float during new technology spurts when no one else stepped up. Manager was always dependant on him, and he always came through.

Recently, he's been suspecting teammates/managers of application sabotage and/or setup for failure. He's been trying to look for jobs, but he's not quite sure what he wants to do. For he has not been the majority of hands on Java due to taking on other lead/management responsibilities. But none of these responsibilities are enough to obtain a full PM job (that's not quite what he wants to do anyway). He's always been a self-teacher, but has had no real guidance towards what he actually might be good at most. So, his skills sounds scattered.

Please give some advice, for I have run out of helpful suggestions. And he is really feeling like everyone hates him, and he is not quite sure why. The situation sounds quite immature from the side of the others doing these things to him. He never did anything to anyone like what's being done to him at that job. He cannot afford to quit without another job. It's one thing when it is only gossip, but it's a whole other ballpark when it's turned it to actions against him.

Thanks for any suggestions on what to do or even thoughts on why such things may be happenig to him.

Hi,

This posting was inspired by the posting titled

I need opinions on career development project!

Glenn's idea to better himself is very good, and I would like to do something similar. However, I'm concerned about how to balance my career and personal life.

Please provide some advice on how to do this in the IT field. Not to discount advice from Men (please DO post some advice), but I would greatly appreciate any advice from Women, in IT, who have successfully been able to find time to keep abreast of changing technology, have personal liesure time, take care of family (I don't have a family, yet, but indeed want one), and still remain sane.

Thanks!!

Hi All,

Can anyone tell me how code scope within ear & war files? Or, can you tell me where to find the information.

Ex. of what I want to do.

1. Maintain only 1 EAR, but have many WARs that share some common code.
2. Since, multiple WAR files need to use common code, can I place the common code in one WAR's class folder (or is JAR better? if so, where should it be? in the WAR's lib or can it be directly in the EAR, outside of any WARs?)

Thanks for any assistance in Advance.

Thanks,
Keili

Hey Everyone,

Wow! This topic has really generated many many interesting responses.

Originally posted by M Easter:
(1) if developers are being pulled in many directions, to fight fires, fix production systems, etc, ...

This is my case most of the time, along with multiple projects going on at the same time. Or, while developing version 3.0 of a project, working at the same time to apease the client in the interim with version 2.5, until the rewrite is released 4 months later. I'm almost ready to leave my current position because I, dispite requests for help, I don't seem to get it. Either the managers won't give me anyone or when they do, the people they give me are not dependable, and the items they are assigned to do drops behind schedule. And, they don't want to put in the extra time to get it done on schedule. I almost feel like I'm in it alone eventhough I work in a group of 8 developers. So, I was wondering how close to my situation are other people's experiences, hence why the question was posted.

Originally posted by william gates:
If you get into management, you are no longer a software engineer. Yeah maybe you want to be, but the fact is, many people outside of IT go into management. So saying somebody in IT can work there way into management is nice, but so can a secretary and so can anybody else. Management isn't engineering, it's a whole different ball game.

And those that are making seven figures, are good at politics, selling, negotiating, and other things rather than Engineering.

I have to agree with those statements. I believe as long as a managers teaches themselves technical concepts, and understands how the technology can benefit business, that's all they need to know, and general management skills can pick up the rest. As a matter of fact, even if an IT person does progress into management, eventually, after time goes forward, technology changes, and they are no longer experts when it comes to technical knowledge. They only learn the concepts of the new technology.

Hi Stan,

Yes, your comments help very much. I would like to confirm that your fill-in phrases mean document only what the developers need to know so they can execute the appropriate steps to construct the app. The 2nd phrase, however, is tailored more to an individual.

If I understand correctly, because I have not read much on the Agile deveopment process yet:

Does developers design/write specs/develop each module as you go along with the project, and tailor each tech spec to the developer(s) who will construct those tasks?

Also, should everyone be involved in the inital design so that they understand the overall architecture, goals, etc? Or, is it that since, each piece is being designed as you go along, only the persons who will construct it needs to be involved in the design phase of that section of the project?

One more, using this process, how does it help adding new developers being added to the group in mid development cycle?

Thanks!

Hi All,

For most of my web app projects, I did not write tech specs, only functional design specs. I regretted not writing tech specs, because one time I ended up in the hospital for an appendectomy, and was therefore out of work for a week. I had spoken to everyone regarding their assignments, they took notes. Though, not thoroughly, so most were always at my desk with questions when I was there. Also, I believe some were starting new assignments that weren't explained yet. So, during that week everyone was completely lost. Not only that, but standard app framework was hard to manage bacause everyone did what they wanted to do.

This time around, with a few more experienced java developers, and 6 more coming next week, I tried breaking the project up in modules, and assigning leads to each module. Each of them, and myself are to write technical specs for our modules. That way the new developers that are coming can read/code, read/code, read/code, ask a few questions, then read/code, read/code, read/code again.

The problems are:

1: Most of the leads claim that they can write the code faster than to give so much detail in a tech spec.

2: Most, including myself, don't know what the format of the document should be, as I've never seen one until a template found by one teammate.

3: Although this template was used, we have tech specs for each module that looks very very different than one another because everyone wants to re-format to their understanding & only include certain information, that is, in my opinion, not enough.

Does anybody write tech specs?

If not, how do you control the confusion?

If yes, can anyone suggest a template that has worked well for them?

Thanks in advance!
Lulu
[ February 27, 2007: Message edited by: Lulu Carr ]

Hi All,

For most of my web app projects, I did not write tech specs, only functional design specs. I regretted not writing tech specs, because one time I ended up in the hospital for an appendectomy, and was therefore out of work for a week. I had spoken to everyone regarding their assignments, they took notes. Though, not thoroughly, so most were always at my desk with questions when I was there. Also, I believe some were starting new assignments that weren't explained yet. So, during that week everyone was completely lost. Not only that, but standard app framework was hard to manage bacause everyone did what they wanted to do.

This time around, with a few more experienced java developers, and 6 more coming next week, I tried breaking the project up in modules, and assigning leads to each module. Each of them, and myself are to write technical specs for our modules. That way the new developers that are coming can read/code, read/code, read/code, ask a few questions, then read/code, read/code, read/code again.

The problems are:

1: Most of the leads claim that they can write the code faster than to give so much detail in a tech spec.

2: Most, including myself, don't know what the format of the document should be, as I've never seen one until a template found by one teammate.

3: Although this template was used, we have tech specs for each module that looks very very different than one another because everyone wants to re-format to their understanding & only include certain information, that is, in my opinion, not enough.

Does anybody write tech specs?

If not, how do you control the confusion?

If yes, can anyone suggest a template that has worked well for them?

Thanks in advance!
Lulu
[ February 27, 2007: Message edited by: Lulu Carr ]

Since we are talking about work, then I mean 'career path'.

How many of us believes that willingness to work late & hard is based on if we consider what we do "just a job" vs. "a career"?

For myself, I consider what I do a career, and feel, if I want to move ahead, I need to convince my managers that I'm willing to do what it takes to get he job done, as long as it's not ridiculous. What I've noticed in my company is that people don't get noticed for just working 40 hrs a week, because that means that they are only doing what is requested, or not getting what is requested completely done. I believe that taking the initiative is taking on tasks that one is not necessarily assigned to do, so then it would require one to work overtime, at times.

Thanks, Mark. That has been my thought for a long time. I have a co-worker that teases me about working overtime because he refuses to do so, outside of prod releases & emergency prod support. So, certain things just don't get done or get done late.

The funny thing is he's married to a doctor. She works very many hours. I asked him one day, 'What is the difference between your wife working 80 hours a week as a doctor for humans and me working 50 hours a week as a doctor for computers?' His answer was that his other developer friends in other groups/companies don't work so many hours, so he doesn't understand why any of us should have to. Grant it, human life & well being is 100% more important than a computer program's, but society cannot survive without properly run technology, either.