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Subject:Re: TW to Development... From:Charles E Vermette <cvermette -at- juno -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Nov 2002 16:24:23 -0500
Marguerite Krupp asks Chuck Vermette:
<<<Chuck, are you truly interested doing in software development
(programming, testing, or whatever), or are you just thinking that there
are more jobs there? (There aren't.)>>>
He answers:
Yes, I truly am interested in software development. I have been for a
long time. De Facto, I seem to wind up in it whenever I'm contracting.
I'm just getting up the nerve to get into it full steam.
One of my motivations is seeing:
-some really poorly written code (commercial code that contains errors I
wouldn't allow in my tutorials), and:
-hacks fake their way into jobs with even less experience than me!
<<<Financial services firms come to mind. A writer friend of mine has
recently been designing an information system for a large bank...>>>
This used to be S.O.P. in the 80s - plenty of folks learned COBOL at low
rates in training programs, worked for three years, and went on to better
things (I feel very old all of a sudden ::::Mary Hopkin singing 'Those
were the days':::::::)
<<<So, the long and short of it, figure out if you really want to do
programming (or whatever). Talk to people who are actually doing the
work. We tech writers can give you some insights, but you really need to
talk with some programmers or software engineers. You could go to an ACM
meeting, for example. There is - or was - a Boston chapter. Check their
website. Ditto IEEE. Before you commit that much of your personal
resources to making the change, find out what's out there and whether you
might like doing the work.>>>
Damn good advice. Thank you. I was a Contributing Editor at Boston
Software News, and covered some of these groups...
<<<HTH...Marguerite>>>
It certainly does!
Chuck
Charles E. Vermette
85 Washington Park Drive, Norwell MA 02061
781-659-1836
e-mail: cvermette -at- juno -dot- com
web: http://www.charlesvermette.com
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