uncertinity regarding technology..

[Nov Programmer]

Hi Guys

This post is regarding the dilemma in my professional carrier..

I am a VC++ programmer and the areas in which I have worked in the following areas:-

VB6
VC++
MFC
STL
a tad bit of boost libraries knowledge, ATL and COM.

The problem is that I am uncertain about the fact that where can I take further from here..
What technology's can I learn further.. I am a bit keen on JAVA as It can be easily comprehended given my OOP's background and moreover
because of the fact that Android development is a bit pacy and exciting these days..

But this doesn't mean that I don't like other technologies.

Basically I would like to support my current knowledge with some upcoming technology like .net, php, linux programming etc.

I am open to all constructive ideas and please do enlighten me with your thoughts and ideas...!!

Hoping to hear from you guys..!! :)

Thanks

[jsmith]

Not quite the answer you are looking for, but my two cents:

What do you want to do? You (as does any programmer) have two options. One is to increase your breadth of knowledge by learning other languages. The other is to increase the depth of your knowledge of the languages you already know.

There's only so much time, and unless you are the smartest person this side of Andromeda, you'll never learn enough to be proficient in every language out there. By increasing your breadth, you are essentially saying that you are happy with entry-level positions. You want to make yourself more marketable in a horizontal sense -- you want to be a match for more jobs out there. In other words, if you were a medical doctor, you'd want to be a general practitioner: knowledgeable enough to handle the basic sicknesses, but quick to refer patients to higher-paid specialists once you've narrowed down the problem.

The alternative is to specialize. This comes at the cost of narrowing your focus, so no, you won't be a match for half of the job postings online or in the newspaper. But you are now an expert in one or two languages. Somebody looking for a programmer in those languages, for example, would love to hire you since you are an expert.

The reality is -- and I can say this from personal experience since I have conducted many interviews myself -- listing twelve different language proficiencies on your resume doesn't help you. It means that you are knowledge of many and an expert in none. Besides, in my company, as I suspect in most, we have a primary language we use, and we have maybe two others that we use to a much lesser extent. In fact, when I see a candidate list a dozen languages, six different network protocols and four different platforms, the first thing I ask myself is: "is this candidate overselling themself?"

So my advice to you is to decide: breadth or depth. If you want breadth, then go for Java or Javascript or whatever. If you want depth and like what you are doing, then stay with the languages you already know.

[Return 0]

I agree with jsmith. It's best to be proficient in a maybe 2 compiled languages. It's fine to have exposure to multiple languages, but listing every language you've looked at is a bad idea. Java is a little more exciting these days due to andriod opportunities. How about learning an interpreted language like python, lua, etc...? I guess your next steps should depend on where you want to take your career as jsmith pointed out.

[Nov Programmer]

That's a pretty honest answer jSmith and lemme thank you for that ...!

Also a lot of thanks to Return0 too...

Upon reinventing my thoughts I think that I can extend the power of c++ by further learning python or lua and moreover extend it's usability on linux ..

I would really appreciate if you could help me provide some ideas or maybe extend my options on the same as you seem like the kinda person who could advise me well...!!

Thanks..!

[kbw]

You may want to think about specialising on a platform too. Clearly if you've chosen VB, you're doing that implicitly, but there's a lot of platform specific knowledge that gets picked up with C++.

[Nov Programmer]

didn't get you kbw, could you be a bit more elaborative..?

[kbw]

You can specialise in some language on Windows or Solaris or some embedded platform and so on.

[Nov Programmer]

ok buddy thanks a lot ...