Developers, eggs and baskets
I am currently handing over the system that I have worked on for the past three years. It is written in ColdFusion.
I have noticed two things:
- some developers are initially wary of something less familiar, while some are keen to embrace something new
- an implicit assumption is made that you must be wedded to that platform you work in: "I am a .NET developer so you must be a ColdFusion developer."
In actual fact, I see myself as just being a developer.
Someone actually remarked that they were surprised that my new employer made use of ColdFusion. They don't, of course. Do developers get typecast?
I develop in many different languages and frameworks. Java, mainly, but also C#, T-SQL, Python, Objective-C and Cocoa. Does this versatility make me a jack of all trades and a master of none? Some would say yes.
I just prefer to consider myself as someone who is not shackled to any particular platform. Us developers have transferrable skills which mature throughout our careers. Implementation languages and frameworks are only half of the story. I'm not saying that it is wrong to specialise and become expert in something. I am not saying it is wrong to specialise. I'm saying it's wrong to deny the existence of any other technology.
I understand why management favour a unified and supported technology path. There's less risk. It makes sense. If you have a pool of .NET developers available, in theory they should be able to maintain each others code.
It can, however, be a ball and chain, particularly in a mobile context.
Successful companies and individuals will think outside their bubble and comfort zones.
It's simple economics. It makes sense to write software for the iPhone because it's huge at the moment. The tooling and documentation for the iPhone SDK are excellent.
Does this mean I'll burst into tears as Android's popularity continues to rise and the iPhone's popularity inevitably wanes and Apple go bankrupt (despite the billions) if we are to believe many of people I follow on Twitter? Will I have wasted my life in Xcode, typing square brackets? Not at all. I won't have called myself an iPhone developer. I'll still have been just a developer - developing for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and ... whatever else.
Being a mobile developer in 2010 will be very different to being one in 2015, that's for sure.
