Talk about code Rot as another TechRepublic article mentioned!

I'm sorry to say this but this article is full of horrible suggestions for any IT manager to follow. An IT manager's task is to manage, not code. Period. Unless he/she is not really a manager but merely a programmer in charge of a couple of other programmers in a small shop. In that case he should already know whatever he needs to know!

A manager needs to be a) ensuring that his staff is performing efficiently and productively at the approriate tasks for the given time and b) making sure that his staff is getting their training needs satisfied - NOT learning to program in languages such as the ones mentioned herein. Personally I never heard of any of them, but if the manager is in a shop where these things are not already in use, then he certainly should not be bringing them in for his own personal use. How silly - a manager programming in something that nobody else in the unit understands! What a legacy to leave behind should he/she leave for greener pastures.

If the manager's role is clearly management, then learning to program is the Least of his worries. In today's IT shop there are so many more concerns than coding, I don't see how a manager could even consider devoting one second to learning anything more about coding than he/she already knows. Stick to what you are supposed to be doing and let your programming staff do the coding - in languages that facilitate the kind of work being done and that others are going to understand.

BTW - I'm a retired IT manager myself so I know of what I write.