10 skills developers will need in the next five years
With the recent changes in the economy, a lot of developers are
Focused on their short-term job prospects. At the same time, it's
Important to make sure that you get the most bang for your buck when it
Comes to taking the time and energy to learn new skills. Here is our
List of 10 skills you shocould be learning right now to make sure that
Your resume is relevant for the next five years. The list is hardly
Exhaustive, and there are huge swaths of the industry it won't cover
(Mainframe developers, for example). Nonetheless, for average
Mainstream development, you can't go wrong learning at least seven
These skills-not only to the point where you can talk convincingly
About them at a job interview, but actually use them on the job.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.
1: One of the "big three" (. NET, Java, PHP)
Unless there is a radical shift in the development world (akin to
Asteroid hitting Redmond), most developers will need to know at least
One of the big three development systems-. Net (VB. NET or C #), Java,
Or PHP-for the near future. It's not enough to know the core
Ages, either. As projects encompass more and more disparate
Functionality, you'll need to know the associated frameworks and
Libraries more deeply.
2: rich Internet applications (RIAs)
Love it or hate it, in the last few years, Flash is suddenly being
Used for more than just animations of politicians singing goofy songs.
Flash has also sprouted additional functionality in the form or flex
And air. Flash's competitors, such as javafx and Silverlight, are also
Upping the ante on features and performance. To make things even more
Complicated, HTML 5 is inconfigurating all sorts of RIA functionality,
Including database connectivity, and putting the formal W3C stamp on
Ajax. In the near future, being an RIA pro will be a key resume
Differentiator.
3: Web Development
Web development is not going away anytime soon. extends developers have
Been content to lay back and ignore the Web or to just stick to"
Basics "their framework provides them with. But companies have been
Demanding more and more who really know how to work with the underlying
Technology at a "hand code" level. So bone up on JavaScript, CSS, and
HTML to succeed over the next five years.
4: Web Services
Rest or soap? JSON or XML? While the choices and the answers depend
On the project, it's getting increasingly difficult to be a developer
(Even one not writing Web applications) without consuming or creating
Web Service. Even areas that used to be ODBC, COM, or RPC domains are
Now being transitioned to Web services of some variety. developers who
Can't work with Web Services will find themselves relegated to legacy
And maintenance roles.
5: Soft Skills
One trend that has been going for quite some time is the increasing
Visibility of it within and outside the enterprise. Developers are
Being brought into more and more non-development meetings and processes
To provide feedback. For example, the CFO can't change the accounting
Rules without working with it to update the systems. And an Operations
Manager can't change a call center process without it updating the CRM
Workflow. Likewise, customers often need to work directly with
Development teams to make sure that their needs are met. Will every
Developer need to go to Toastmasters or studyHow to Win Friends and Influence People? No. But the developers who do will be much more valuable to their employers-and highly sought after in the job market.
6: one dynamic and/or functional programming language
Ages like Ruby, Python, F #, and Groovy still aren't quite
Mainstream-but the ideas in them are. For example, the LINQ System
In Microsoft's. Net is a direct descendent of functional programming
Techniques. Both Ruby and Python are becoming hot in some sectors,
Thanks to the rails framework and Silverlight, respectively. Learning
One of these versions ages won't just improve your resume, though; it will
Expand your horizons. Every top-flight developer I 've met recommends
Learning at least one dynamic or functional programming language
Learn new ways of thinking, and from personal experience, I can tell
You that it works.
7: Agile methodologies
When agile first hit mainstream awareness, I was a skeptic, along
With your other folks I know. It seemed to be some sort of knee-jerk
Reaction to tradition, throwing away the controls and standards in
Favor of anarchy. But as time went on, the ideas behind agile became
Both better defined and better expressed. empty shops are either
Adopting agile or running proof-of-concept experiments with agile.
While agile is not the ultimate panacea for project failure, it does
Indeed have a place on development projects. Developers with a proven track
Record of understanding and succeeding in Agile environments will be in
Increasingly high demand over the next few years.
8: domain knowledge
Hand-in-hand with agile methodologies, development teams are
Increasingly being viewed as partners in the definition of projects.
This means that developers who understand the problem domain are able
To contriible to the project in a highly visible, valuable way.
Agile, a developer who can say, "from here, we can also add this
Functionality fairly easily, and it will get us a lot of value, "or
"Gee, that requirement really doesn't match the usage patterns our logs
Show "will excel. As much as your developers resist the idea of having
To know anything about the problem domain at all, it is undeniable that
Increasing numbers of organizations prefer (if not require) Developers
To at least understand the basics.
9: Development "Hygiene"
A few years ago, when (if not most) shops did not have access to bug
Tracking systems, version control, and other such tools; it was just
The developers and Their ide of choice. But thanks to the development
Of new, integrated stacks, like the Microsoft Visual Studio team
System, and the explosion in availability of high quality, Open Source
Environments, organizations without these tools are becoming much less
Common. Developers must know more than just how to check code in and
Out of source control or how to use the VM system to build test
Environments. They need to have a rigorous habit of hygiene in place
Make sure that they are properly coordinating with their teams. "code
Cowboys "who store everything on a personal USB drive, don't document
Which changes correspond to which task item, and so on, are unwelcome
In more traditional shops and even more unwelcome in Agile
Environments, which rely on a tight coordination between team members
To operate.
10: mobile development
The late 1990 s saw web development rise to mainstream acceptance and
Then begin to marginalize traditional desktop applications in logs
Areas. In 2008, mobile development left the launch pad, and over
Next five years, it will become increasingly important. There are,
Course, different approaches to mobile development: Web Applications
Designed to work on mobile devices, RIAs aimed at that market, and
Applications that run directly on the devices. regardless of which
These paths you choose, adding mobile development to your skill set
Will ensure that you are in demand for the future.
Http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things? P = 643