SOA Forum required

[Devendra Dave]

Hello all,
I am interested to see the new SOA forum on the javaranch where one can discuss regarding the SOA. Please let me know your thoughts and will request some moderator to immediately start the SOA forum on Java ranch. Currently things related to SOA topic are scatters across various forums like web services, other certifications etc.

Hope every one likes this.

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

In general, we start new forums when and if we start to see a lot of posts on a topic that don't fit anywhere else. You can't create traffic out of thin air just by starting a forum; the posts have to be already coming in.

I searched the Saloon for the word "SOA", and found 8 posts for all of December so far. Three of them were your cross posts of this message (don't do that, please; I deleted the other two for you.) Of the other five, one is a resume in Cert Results, one is a job spam now in the Trash Can, one is an IBM 699 cert result report, one mentions SOA in a the context of a broader Web Services question and one mentions a book called "SOA Security" because the poster asked about Java security.

That makes a grand total of zero questions about SOA in the last ten days. It would be a mighty quiet forum!

[Ulf Dittmer]

SOA as a field has been way overhyped. The fact that it's not much talked about amongst practitioners here probably reflects that. But the Web Services forum is perfectly fine for questions about it.

[Jimmy Clark]

Service-oriented computing is very important. It is also very difficult to comprehend and is clouded by marketing and advertising jargon and web content. Everyone in the world wants to use the terms "service" and "SOA" in articles and product advertisements for SOA-related features. There are also business aspects and benefits that are typically not understood in the "geek" world. Moreover, these aspects get overshadowed by advertising and product content.

Service-oriented architectures are complex designs that required significant investments, both in time and money. If not executed properly, attempts to build a SOA fail terribly. This failure falls upon the oranization, not the design concept. Organizations that take their time and begin slowly typically are better off and closer to achieving the benefits. Organizations that first address the business case and perform feasibility analysis from business perspectives are in good shape.It is important to note that an SOA is an evolving creature that lives and grows with time, and the business. It is not a "project" that has a completion date.

Since this is a "programmers" forum and SOA is mostly a business concept, there probably would be little participation/content in a SOA-based forum.
[ December 10, 2008: Message edited by: James Clark ]

[arulk pillai]

Since this is a "programmers" forum and SOA is mostly a business concept, there probably would be little participation/content in a SOA-based forum.

I don't see JavaRanch as just a "programmers" forum, but as an educational forum for Java/JEE professionals. I might be wrong.

In the current market, programmers need to have good non-technical skills to succeed. Technical skills alone can be easiliy replaced. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a small section for non-technical skills. Many programmers are interested in their personal development any way.

Just having a whole section on just certifications make programmers misconstrue that certifications alone will help them fast-track their careers. It is evident from the career forums.

The increased global competition and the changing nature of most technical jobs have made soft skills more than simply �nice to have�. These skills are �must have�. Your prospective employer would prefer to employ someone who has adequate technical skills combined with the necessary soft skills (i.e. a balanced candidate) to get expensive and mission critical projects done.


My suggestion would be to have a non-technical section with the following forums

Business skills

Personal attributes

Soft skills

Marketing skills

These forums can help fellow professionals share their experiences.
[ December 10, 2008: Message edited by: arulk pillai ]

[Gregg Bolinger]

But this is a technical site and focused on Java. Those forums would be great, but not here. We don't have that kind of audience.