Well….it took all of two posts for me to decide I needed to change the name of my blog. Yes, I develop in java — and yes, I plan to write a fair amount on that topic — but no, I’m not just a java programmer and I have lots of things I want to talk about that have nothing to do with java.
It reminds me of a recent job interview (where I did get the offer). The hiring manager was looking at my resume and asked “are you a java programmer or an oracle programmer”? It struck me like the scene from the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy was asked “are you a good witch or a bad witch”. Unlike Dorothy, I’m not going to say “I’m not a programmer at all”. For I am a java programmer and I am an Oracle programmer — but neither label describes me.
I’ve been developing software professionally for 24 years. I’ve developed in languages that don’t exist anymore. I will be developing tomorrow in languages that don’t exist today. So what am I….what do I consider myself? I develop software — I’m a software developer.
I can promote myself and my company — I can bring in business. But I’m not just a salesman. I can talk to the business clients who have a need and help them understand how we can bring technology to bear to solve that need. But I’m not just a business analyst. I can take the business requirements and develop a solution, choosing the appropriate technologies and strategies. But I’m not just a technical architect. I can design data models for data marts or transactional systems but I’m not just a data modeler. I can create all the tables, stored procedures, views, and triggers — but I’m not just a DBA (well, I’m not a dba at all, but a database developer). I can develop the logic whether it’s in pl/sql or t-sql in the database or in java in the middleware….but I’m not just the one or the other. The web is the latest “front end” I’ve developed in — via HTML, javascript, ajax, jsp, asp, php, or cold fusion — but I’m not just a web developer. I can test with the best but I’m not just a tester.
What am I? I’m a Software Developer. Technologies come and go. Just having freshly gone through the job search process for the first time in six years….I was struck by how many employers are look for a “java programmer” or “an oracle programmer” — or even much more specific than that (java with beehive and tivoli on sun systems…). Some, however, the kind that were most interested in me — were looking for software developers. The person whom projects depend on. The guy that can “get it done”. The girl who’s value isn’t in what she did last year but what she can do this year as business and technology both change at such a rapid pace.
What you will find on this blog are the writings of someone who is deeply involved with and interested in — software development.