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Technology Wave

 
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Hi,
Steve McConnell in code complete says that your position on the tech wave matters a lot. I agree and sometimes I think that I should have started with Java a couple of years earlier. But it is always driven by outside forces. (?)
Could you please give brief contents of the book, maybe chapter names/summaries? And by the way, why the word 'tidal'? Is the word used to say something beyond the obvious?
 
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Amit, I'll reply to your questions in the "Taming the Technology Tidal Wave: Practical Career Advice for IT Professionals" thread -- thanks!
 
Amit kull
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Hullo Jacquie,
Thanks for the answer.
By the way I started with java around 2005. What I meant was that I should have started java some 3 years earlier. However, point taken. It is never too late.
Now a corrollary question:
Another thing: one of the tips says that you should be willing to start at the bottom.
Is it good to start at the bootom of a big thing or at the bottom of small thing. For example: If I were to suggest a new language to someone I would suggest one newer than java.

PS. Thanks Henry for the link to answer topic.
 
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Amit kull wrote:Hi,
Steve McConnell in code complete says that your position on the tech wave matters a lot. I agree and sometimes I think that I should have started with Java a couple of years earlier. But it is always driven by outside forces. (?)
Could you please give brief contents of the book, maybe chapter names/summaries? And by the way, why the word 'tidal'? Is the word used to say something beyond the obvious?



One nice thing about the tech wave is that if you miss it there's another one coming pretty soon. Java, Ruby on Rails, Rich Internet Applications, iPhone, Android, Google Wave....
The list goes on and on.

So you missed the start of the Java wave, get ready for the next one.
 
Jacquie Barker
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Amit kull wrote:Hullo Jacquie,
Thanks for the answer.
By the way I started with java around 2005. What I meant was that I should have started java some 3 years earlier. However, point taken. It is never too late.
Now a corrollary question:
Another thing: one of the tips says that you should be willing to start at the bottom.
Is it good to start at the bootom of a big thing or at the bottom of small thing. For example: If I were to suggest a new language to someone I would suggest one newer than java.

PS. Thanks Henry for the link to answer topic.



I wouldn't necessarily recommend something newer than Java, because Java is still by far one of the most heavily used languages in the commercial and government arenas. For example, take a look at http://langpop.com ...

Newer is not necessarily better.
 
Jacquie Barker
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Burk Hufnagel wrote:

Amit kull wrote:Hi,
Steve McConnell in code complete says that your position on the tech wave matters a lot. I agree and sometimes I think that I should have started with Java a couple of years earlier. But it is always driven by outside forces. (?)
Could you please give brief contents of the book, maybe chapter names/summaries? And by the way, why the word 'tidal'? Is the word used to say something beyond the obvious?



One nice thing about the tech wave is that if you miss it there's another one coming pretty soon. Java, Ruby on Rails, Rich Internet Applications, iPhone, Android, Google Wave....
The list goes on and on.

So you missed the start of the Java wave, get ready for the next one.



I personally believe that one should not try to tackle a new technology until at least a few years after it has arrived on the scene -- as discussed in "Tip 2: Don't Be the First Kid on the Block with a New Toy", it usually takes a minimum of two years from the time that a new technology becomes commercially available for it to settle in. First, everyone thinks it is the greatest thing since sliced bread; next, everyone becomes disillusioned that it isn't the "silver bullet" they were hoping for. Sometimes, a technology fizzles after this stage is reached, but for a few, people's expectations settle in to what is realistically achieved with a technology, and it becomes mainstream.

I may be in the minority, but I still think that Ruby and Rails are sorting out the details too rapidly for me to want to dive deeply -- I've gotten some initial training so as to understand the overall mechanism of both, but I'm going to wait a while before trying to become proficient.

Cheers,

Jacquie
 
Burk Hufnagel
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Jacquie Barker wrote:I personally believe that one should not try to tackle a new technology until at least a few years after it has arrived on the scene -- as discussed in "Tip 2: Don't Be the First Kid on the Block with a New Toy", it usually takes a minimum of two years from the time that a new technology becomes commercially available for it to settle in. First, everyone thinks it is the greatest thing since sliced bread; next, everyone becomes disillusioned that it isn't the "silver bullet" they were hoping for. Sometimes, a technology fizzles after this stage is reached, but for a few, people's expectations settle in to what is realistically achieved with a technology, and it becomes mainstream.

I may be in the minority, but I still think that Ruby and Rails are sorting out the details too rapidly for me to want to dive deeply -- I've gotten some initial training so as to understand the overall mechanism of both, but I'm going to wait a while before trying to become proficient.

Cheers,

Jacquie



Jacquie,
Do if I read you right, your suggesting that it may be worth playing with new technology but not really digging in to it until it's widely accepted in the business world. While I can see a benefit in that, I think it would be extremely difficult to pick up something new that looks interesting, play with it just long enough to get a good feel for it , and then put it down until it's gone mainstream. Especially if it looks like a good solution to a problem I'm trying to solve.

Do you feel that there's any occasion when it makes more sense to take the risk that a new language/framework/paradigm won't pan out and go learn all about it anyway?

Curious,
Burk
 
Jacquie Barker
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It all depends on your "bandwidth," Burk. Some people drive themselves crazy trying to become experts on technologies that disappear from the radar screen just about the time they master them ... I guess I'd use the analogy of investing money: there's only so much to invest, and different people like to take different risks with their investments -- some people "play the market," a few get lucky and many go broke; others invest in more stable, predictable investment vehicles to ensure a reliable return on investment.

Between my "day job," my volunteerism (I am a member of the Homeless Animal Rescue Team (HART)'s Cat Rescue Team -- http://www.hart90.org), my pursuits as an author, and nurturing my relationships with family and friends, I don't have a whole lot of extra time to devote to learning new technologies, and so I have to choose carefully ... for me personally, I've found that investing enough time to demystify something that looks like it might be on the verge of becoming mainstream, but waiting until -- IF -- I need to really learn the nuts and bolts before spending too much time on it, works best for me.

Cheers,

J.
 
Burk Hufnagel
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Jacquie Barker wrote:It all depends on your "bandwidth," Burk.



My problem is that I used to have more bandwidth than I do now, but I don't want to give up learning about all the cool new stuff that interests me. So instead of getting to dig deeply into it I just have time to play with it a bit - which does make it easier to pick it up at a later date if it turns out to be a winner.
 
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Burk Hufnagel wrote:

My problem is that I used to have more bandwidth than I do now, but I don't want to give up learning about all the cool new stuff that interests me. So instead of getting to dig deeply into it I just have time to play with it a bit - which does make it easier to pick it up at a later date if it turns out to be a winner.



How do you pick the "cool new stuff" ? There are 100s of them coming out every day.
 
Burk Hufnagel
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Vyas Sanzgiri wrote:How do you pick the "cool new stuff" ? There are 100s of them coming out every day.


Yes there are, but it also has to interest me which filters out a bunch. I'm mostly looking for things that let me build on what I know or like, so (for example) it needs to be something that is compatible with Java or the JVM, or web or mobile based. I have other criteria that both open it up and trim it down. I guess part of it is this: is whatever this new thing is a potential solution to a problem I currently have or one that I see as being critical in the future? If so, take a look at it. If not then maybe read an article or two to see if there is some other compelling reason to look at it.

I know it's vague, but that's pretty much how I do it now. Perhaps after reading Jacquie's book I'll have a better algorithm.
 
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