Since we pride ourselves on being a true community-driven site for enterprise developers, it’s often useful for us here at Builder.com to know what’s on our members’ collective mind—especially when it comes to article topics. To that end, we’ve put together a technology use survey that should let us get to know you better and help us make our content mix fit more precisely with your needs and expectations.

Survey structure
Our survey consists of 35 questions about the technology you use in your work as a developer, and it’s a rather exhaustive list. It may take a few minutes to complete, so make sure that you don’t have any pressing engagements before you begin.

In the first 31 questions, we ask you to rate your knowledge of a particular development technology, placing yourself in one of five categories:

  • Never used: This one’s straightforward. Select this answer if you’ve never used the technology in question and have had no exposure to it.
  • Beginner: If you can write simple programs and grasp the basics of a particular technology, perhaps from a book you read once, then you belong in the beginner category.
  • Intermediate: If you have a solid understanding of a technology and can successfully undertake most common tasks, you can label yourself as intermediate.
  • Advanced: To belong in the advanced category, you should have an in-depth knowledge of the technology in question and be able to work through all but the most complex tasks using that technology.
  • Guru: You eat, drink, and sleep this particular technology, know it inside and out, and can answer all but the most arcane questions about it from memory. Having written in-depth (accurate, of course) technical articles, books, or even having worked to develop the technology itself will definitely qualify you for guru status.

In the survey’s remaining five questions, we ask you to indicate the technology areas about which you’d like to see more beginner or advanced content published on Builder.com. You’ll also have an opportunity to tell us which areas you’d rather not see us cover at all and share your thoughts on what sorts of products you’d like to see us review.

Survey rules
Before you head over to take the survey, we need to lay out a few ground rules. First and foremost, the information we gather here will be kept confidential and will be used only by the Builder.com editorial staff to align our content more closely with your needs and expectations. Further, we’ll be looking at this information only in aggregate—we won’t be seeing individual members’ answers. Second, while taking the survey, please be honest. It does none of us any good for you to claim to be a Java guru when your experience has actually been confined to a recent book you read on the subject.

So pop over to our survey area and help shape the face of Builder.com.