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Good things to learn with a month or two to kill.

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by daveo2000

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OK.

Let's say that you have a month or two to kill (part time) because of some event. Let's say, as a random example, that your company decides to send your job to a foreign country in several months, not that any companies would do such a thing, and has given you 2 months to transition your current responsibilities to whomever is going to take them over.

But given that unlikely event and you have 2 months of paid time to come to work and do stuff on a company paycheck (with reduced responsibilities), what technologies would you learn?

This could probably be divided into several branches since the theoretical person has the option of going in the Business Analyst role, Project Management role, Development Management role or (catching up for) a Developer role. Add in a limited depth of current Microsoft technologies, an indepth knowledge of some open source technologies (apache, perl, perl-xs), a budding interest in other open source related technologies (java, SOA, web services) and a heavy duty background in computer science including having written a number of language interpreters over the last 30 years, writing object oriented 'C' applications, full production systems in Perl, Rexx, etc. Hobbies possibly including having built up a small ISP just to see how it is done.

So, if this person existed, what would you suggest that he get into? And let's try to avoid the flame wars.

30 replies

by tony hopkinson

A different sort of language for me.
APL , LISP derivative or Prolog type (set
based)

Or may be some higher level maths, chaos theory or n' dimensional algebra.

by dr dij

I actually got an A+ in APL course at local college. But unless you have investment income to live on not terribly practical to put on the resume! And JPL uses LISP but not too many others.

by daveo2000

In a sense, I realize that some of my skills are considered stone-age by many of current technological skillsets. I feel that I need to increment my kit bag with some more marketable skills. I am aware that some financial firms have some small pockets of APL users doing stock analysis but you need to know where to look.

My hypothetical person here is looking at finding a job in the next 90 days or using up savings to put food on the table. Now, it may be that these obscure-ish languages that use Lots of Irritating Silly Parenthesis :) are marketable but I am not aware of that market. Are they?

by tony hopkinson

I get offered jobs for my VMS skills, fortran ones, even UCSD Pascal once. :D

Markettable is another story

.Net, J2EE (ughh).

Two months?, XSLT and surrounding techs would be my suggestion.

Lot's of on line help, good books and plenty of mentions all over IT specialisations.

by dr dij

Indian / international companies that have a presence in the US, such as IBM (which now has vastly more employees in India, China) did this,

I'd suggest:
biz analyst, in demand; you can download Intalio, Savvion, Tibco, ilogix, etc. bpm flow charters and modelers for free, good way to get into. My local university also has (paid) webinars and cert pgms for biz analysts.

proj mgmt is also in heavy demand. despite having good programmers, india can't manage to get projects such as freeway interchanges that carry the workers to the tech centers actually finished on time, or at all sometimes. so good for both tech and non-tech projects, or non-computer tech projects.

development: sw architechture level people are in demand.

DBAs are in demand also.

and if you can leverage technology such as the ironspeed database web page generator, you could probably write your own ticket.

also data warehousing and knowing how to setup or use data mining, reporting, olap tools would keep you employed.

by pmaina2000

You sound like an excellent programmer with all round balance of tech/non-tech skills.

Try build an app that does something useful and, upload it to CNET, build a marketing website for it, signup with Regsoft/Regnow/Shareit and sell it over the Net.

:-)

by dr dij

all the tech skills I need for that. I do have the ideas, I have two or more that would make great web service websites and /or software products.

I'm trying to get one of them done. Partly because it would be really cool for me to have and save me infinite time doing a complicated site. Then could be sold as service to others.

by shaun.brachmann

ITIL (I.T. Infrastructure Library) certifications are a quick way to stack a resume. Not too difficult but wayyy marketable at the moment.

Linux administration is another good area.

I'm presently re-learning Linux and starting to learn Russian

by bculligan

Currently, I am a NetWare administrator and our department is being outsourced. Fortunately I have a manager who allows me to devote time to projects that have no benefit to the company.

In the past year I have spent a lot of time with Linux, VMware, Linux clusters, iSCSI, OpenLDAP, NFS, Lotus Notes, Samba and open source NAS appliances.

Why? Two reasons - to improve my "marketablity" to the outsource company (and any other company) and to help my manager improve his knowledge of Linux (not that he needs it - he's an old pro at SCO Unix).

by pmaina2000

"Currently, I am a NetWare administrator and our department is being outsourced."

"Fortunately I have a manager who allows me to devote time to projects that have no benefit to the company."

Hmmm... and the reason they're outsourcing your department is?

by martin.swart

In this country the reason for outsourcing something always has to do with money, and not whether the people involved are doing their jobs or not.

Somebody higher up in the company probably wants more money in his pocket at the end of the month. Or the money saved will be going towards paying the salaries of people who were appointed to satisfy the governments political objectives (high paying jobs to people who do not have the skills required to do those jobs and no desire to ever acquire them).

Come and work over here for a couple of years to see for yourself, and then your opinion might be worth something.

by steffi28

I'm in kind of the same position, kinda, I got too much time on my hands in work atm, and although it is related to the job im doing atm, I've spent the last 2-3 months learning SharePoint, SharePoint Designer and ASP.NET

More and more of my friends that I speak to who work in the IT field are saying that their company is starting to bring in SharePoint. I know you said this "person" has "limited" Microsoft knowledge, so maybe now would be a good time to take a look and see what you think? It seems that more and more companies will be using this in the future, and theres no longer the sharepoint or wiki debate that there was last year as sharepoint 2007 now includes wikis.

Anyways, hope you find summit to do :)

by grobi43

In my opinion, there seems to be a strong focus on client-server and distributed network computer systems; hardly any of the young folk think about working on mainframe computers. I would consider mainframe computers and associated jobs that are needed to run one. A good mainframe programming language to learn would be COBOL, (it is NOT going away any time soon). There are good mainframe databases to learn about , such as DB2, and IMS. Consider learning how VTAM, VSAM and associated virtual methods work on the mainframe. Knowledge of mainframe hardware such as DASD, channel connections, and how they interface with newer technologies, (CISCO routers, etc....) is good to have.

by daves1

I'd strongly agree that good mainframe skills would contribute to one's marketability and are a key factor. I'd add anything one could learn about the z/OS operating system, MQ systems, Websphere Application Server, CICS, and Unix under z/OS would be a plus. There are a number of free courses for novice users at vendor web sites that are really good too!

by plexus it

I have enjoyed lerning more about virtualization using VMware server, Player and ESX 3, their eterprise class virtalization solution. There are enough old workstations here to create a very cool lab and, although ESX requires network storage to host the virtual machines, SANMelody enables you to turn any computer into a network storage device. It just took a couple of workstations and USB drives to learn enough to add the bullet to the ol' resume. My current efort is Sharepoint Server and its various iterations. I am also using Camtasia to create tutorials for users so that, in addition to troubleshooting printer issues and backing up Exchange, I can be of some value to my employer.
Next I am going to explore the project managemet cert or, who knows, maybe I'll finish my masters degreee online from the comfort of my office. :-)

by lost_in_ny

If I understand correctly, the person has project management experience. If that's the case, and the person's priority is to increase marketability/salary potential, I suggest considering PMI's PMP certification - this credential is always very much in demand and in some of the larger companies, the corporate subscription to an e-course service may provide the free training necessary to pass the exam. If you don't have that, many colleges offer PMP classes. Note that experience along with passing the exam is required to actually get the PMP certification. Here the URL that describes the PMI certs: http://www.pmi.org/info/PDC_CertificationsOverview.asp

Best of luck!

by wrfroelich

I've been wanting to start working on a fun side project for many of the reasons discussed here but the challenge for me is finding an idea worthy of the time.

I'd also be interested in collaborating on a project as well!

by pmaina2000

Hi,

Do you have dev skills to code freethreaded real time apps - e.g. interactive multimedia? Which languages?

...plus some database connected app dev skills (MS Access or some portable db) and really creative at GUI?

I have a couple of ideas - but no time on my hands!

by wrfroelich

I have been learning Ruby (and Rails) recently and am primarily looking for a good project to implement using Rails.

Unfortunately I do not have experience with interactive multimedia stuff so I can't help much there.

Like you time is always scarce which is in part why I'm looking for a good idea since I find that unless I have a good goal it is easy to become distracted and then the project falls off.

by tbear203

In this day and age - security is becoming huge. As a fellow mainframes with CS asperations - I have faced the same dilemma as you. I have ben able to take advantage of some training offender by my company leading towards a CISSP certification.

Security in all aspects will continue to be a growing area.

by pmaina2000

Ok, so this person has:

1. heavy duty background in computer science including having written a number of language interpreters over the last 30 years, writing object oriented 'C' applications, full production systems in Perl, Rexx, etc.

2. Hobbies possibly including having built up a small ISP just to see how it is done.

Conclusion:
- You like having some free time in your hands.
- You'd prefer being employed to going solo.

Recommendation:

- Teaching or teaching related career?

- Get part time contracts as a "hand-on consultant" i.e. Mr. fixit for various tech companies.

with 30yrs experience you *don't* need another regular fulltime job. This could be a BLESSING in disguise.

by daveo2000

but currently work in Manhattan with a NYC paycheck and two kids still in grade school. It will be a few years yet before I can really lay back and relax. Maybe I will have to find out where my kids want to go to college and get a job there for the tuition reduction! :)

by desd

grobi43 and dave1 (why is that post reported as spam?) mentioned the mainstream mainframe, but with your background and location, it should be possible to find an ISP with the sense to be moving millions of LAMP boxes to a few z900s running VM, and making the planet a little cooler in the process. (yes, you MVS old timers, I'm a VM bigot)
Look into mainframe VM, you'll love it.

by larry

I have been in this situation, as I am retiring soon. I wanted to build an electronic control device out of integrated circuits from the 1970's. After discussing this with an electrical engineering professor, I was introduced to field programmable gate arrays. I bought one for $70 total and downloaded from Xilinx.com the open-source (web-pack) development system to program it with. The relatively complex design I wanted to build took me about 4 months (part time) to understand completely and implement, but simple logic circuits can be developed rapidly, once this open-source software is understood, and there are many tutorials.

by breadtrk

VOIP

Mobile Computing

Sharepoint

Security

Any of the above should be doable in a few months and you can rest assured you will find a job you can live with.

by daveo2000

In our company, specifically, it is profit motive. The company has been saying for years that we have a premier IT staff, etc, stroke, stroke. Now, we are "redeploying" the jobs to "lower cost locations". Jobs are going from areas of high cost (US, UK) to areas of low cost (SG, IN) after reports of a record year. :(

by reyn.espc

These are some reasons why Outsourcing is good for your business/organization:

1. [B]Achieve more with less.[/B] Everyone in business is under constant pressure to produce ever-increasing volumes of work to generate more revenue using existing staff. With outsourcing, you can utilize your existing staff to manage outsourced projects. Your staff manages the outsourced team, thus improving the output of each staff member.

2. [B]Real-time access to skilled people. [/B]Business is not a steady, constant stream. You can never fully predict what situation the next day, week or month will force upon you. Outsourcing provides a certain level of scalability to help solve the enviable situation of significant growth.

3. [B]Focus on your core competencies.[/B] When your business grows, it does so because you successfully deliver a product the market demands.

4. [B]Flexibility when negotiating contracts. [/B]Pricing flexibility allows you to be much more creative in managing your budget when you can't afford higher-priced staff. In addition to each staff member's salary, there is the cost of taxes, health insurance, liability insurance, computers, cubicles and much more, depending on the perks you offer.

5. [B]Higher value per person.[/B] Maintaining the proper staff levels to meet the needs of your business is a difficult art to master. Outsourcing gives you flexibility when determining appropriate staff levels. You can hire a core team capable of meeting the demands of your business 80 percent of the time.

6. [B]Educated people with deep skill sets.[/B] Clearly language and cultural barriers exist. Just resist the urge to speak with increasing volume, and relax.

7. [B]Getting started is easy.[/B] If outsourcing sounds even remotely interesting to you, I suggest you take appropriate action. Notice I didn't simply say "take action." Getting started with outsourcing is as easy as finding a vendor and signing a contract.

by daveo2000

Everything you said could be true and probably is true in some rational corner of the universe. Unfortunately, it isn't often practiced that way in corporate America.

What seems to happen is that somebody gets told that they are having their budget cut and they can either lose heads or move some of their jobs to "centers of excellence". So, as a move of expedience, not of well thought out logic, the manager chooses to take the COE approach. Then, since all of his guys are now offshore, the upper management moves the manager positions off shore as well.

There are definitely some good use cases of off-shoring but when you have development in India, QA in Singapore and the users in New York, the development cycle gets a severe case of gridlock. Small changes have to flow around the globe and something that takes 15 minutes to fix and maybe a half hour to test will now take over 24 hours just for one cycle. That is how it was at the company that moved the group that I managed off shore. (Note: they moved the group, not the people)

Where I work now, I manage a group of developers that sits across the desk from the traders. We are imbedded Market Data IT. The client says "I need this changed" and we ask some questions and they answer and we write up some code and they test it and we fix it and it gets done EXACTLY as the client wants it in 1/4 the time it took at my last job.

Oh, and so you have some comparison, both companies are international investment banks.

Yes, there are some good use cases for outsourcing. This wasn't one of them.

by reyn.espc

This is a big YES. Companies do outsourcing to earn money. To start a business, money is involved, risking money for your business. So, to get back the money you pay to build a business. That's why many of the companies are looking for a country, for them to start outsourcing business. If it's cheaper to do business on that country, it will be a good choice.

by daveo2000

If you think with just your pocketbook and not your business function, you get the same as if you think with your pants and not your heart in dating. Seriously screwed but not better off.

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