What Tool Should You Learn Next?
As a follow on to yesterdays editorial about keeping your skills current I wanted to consider how to choose what skills to keep current.
I have been following a thread regarding which language is better, C# or VB.net. I don’t have an answer, and none of the responders to the thread had any definitive answer either. There are a lot of reasons to consider any language.
I think we can all agree that, regardless of the specific language, any language that helps you build good software development practices is a better choice. If you prefer work in languages that are more procedural, then you won’t benefit from Object Oriented language skills as much. If you find you prefer Object Oriented languages, then be sure to choose a language where there is a lot of examples of good practices and patterns.
Anyone who has been working in software for a few years knows that languages are fresh, new and important one day, and obsolete the next. I can’t tell you how many languages and tools I have worked hard to learn, only to have become obsolete, and never touch again.
Here are the tools I used years (ok, decades) ago that still have life or influence today.
RBase – had a very good implementation of ANSI SQL. Query syntax I learned back in the 80s is much the same today.
Visual Basic – There are still a lot of products out there today that have a version of VB script for automation. I found the syntax move to C# to be extremely easy because of having a VB background. If I had learned more Java, I would have been a better object oriented programmer much earlier.
RPG – RPG is alive and well. It is not the same as the RPG I had to use, but the syntax is similar, and the foundation doesn’t hurt much.
COBOL – COBOL is alive and well. There are many shops that continue to use COBOL effectively. Primarily those companies that have large batch cycles.
PL1 – Still a strong contender in the Mainframe World.
That’s just my experience. There are many other languages that others have experienced that are either going strong today, or assist them in transitioning to other languages.
Here’s the bottom line…languages have a limited lifetime. There are a lot of languages I have used that are no longer relevant in many ways. You are not only valuable for what you know today, but also what you are capable of knowing.
So, when trying to find those tools to target look for those that have the potential for longevity, have a good foundation for developing good skills, integrate with products for software development, and support solid patterns. If there are open systems projects in which you can participate, this helps you even further when developing language skills.
How have your legacy skills helped you today? Do you have other things to look for when selecting a targeted tool set our readers should consider? Send your ideas or experiences to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben
$$SWYNK$$
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