Falling behind on technologies - what to do?

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Raithlin

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I'm becoming a dinosaur - my worst nightmare. 2 Job opportunities have slipped through my fingers (the last one very desirable) in the last year due to what can be summarised as follows:

  • has not been exposed to the technologies we as a company make use of
  • Lacking in key C# / OO / EntityFramework / WebAPI / data structure fundamentals
I have been working in .Net since it was in beta. I write applications for a living - with a few gotchas I need to get around.
  • In my current position I am unable to experiment. Well, I can experiment, but in my own time (no time to research due to tight deadlines).
  • Old apps that I update are using old technologies - WebForms, Linq2SQL, etc. I have no time to convert said apps.
  • If and when I use new technologies, the result is either sub-par (lack of experience here), and/or I end up supporting it myself due to lack of other developers' knowledge in this area.

So, where do I start? Any ideas as to how I can get back on top? Home projects / open source projects etc. can certainly help me get some experience (gonna have to be at home), but I think perhaps I need a refresher course or something...
 
The first thing you should do is go through the tutorials on http://www.asp.net to familiarise yourself with the latest changes and tools in the .NET framework.

Once you've done that start thinking of some cool projects you can work on from home in your spare time to apply that knowledge. You're not alone though. I know lots of .NET developers stuck in a time warp through no fault of their own due to employers still sticking with old frameworks and methodologies. The only way forward is to get stuck in and teach yourself.
 
Make an MVC web app that makes use of Entity Framework to connect to the database. Do that and you will have caught up with many of the latest technologies.

And do this as a home project. Something that you are interested in so that you'll enjoy doing it.
 
Solitude said:
Make an MVC web app that makes use of Entity Framework to connect to the database. Do that and you will have caught up with many of the latest technologies.

And do this as a home project. Something that you are interested in so that you'll enjoy doing it.
Click to expand...

Already done this at work for a production project. It turns out it isn't enough. Of course, Web API wasn't around then, and I've only recently updated it to the latest version of MVC / EF.
 
Raithlin said:
Already done this at work for a production project. It turns out it isn't enough. Of course, Web API wasn't around then, and I've only recently updated it to the latest version of MVC / EF.
Click to expand...

Well good news is that in .NET 6 WebAPI and MVC are basically unified. So it's really the same thing. To me it sounds like you already worked on the new technologies.
 
Sounds like step one is carving out some spare time. Without that you're going nowhere.
 
Look, it sucks that you were turned down for those two jobs but the only way you are going to become proficient with new technologies is to work with them in a professional environment.

Keep looking for new job opportunities and be clear in the interviews that you have informal knowledge but the reason you want to move is because you are stagnating. You are going to be declined from some positions but there are some people out there who will hire you if they can see that you have the drive to improve yourself.
 
Best thing you can do for yourself is to expand your own horizons and make time for self improvement. Cannot expect an employer to do that. Do little code katas. Try new things. Spend 1 or 2 intensive hours a day on new stuff. You will catch up quickly. This is your own responsibility and you owe it to yourself. Think ahead. Think long-term. Strategize. Maybe focus on cloud technologies. See where the market is going and pitch yourself there.
 
HavocXphere said:
Sounds like step one is carving out some spare time. Without that you're going nowhere.
Click to expand...

I've set aside Fridays and Saturdays to try and keep up with new tech. Soooo much stuff out there. I've installed nx* on my laptop and have a VM on my desktop. And I do dev work using no M$ tools, get to work in M$ stuff from Mon - Thursday.

What I find irritating is getting a balance in keeping up with good patterns and practises vs. playing around with some new nifty JS lib or some odd tool.
 
Build a public app with a registered domain and the source code on github. Think of something small: time logging, exercise tracking etc.

Build the initial app with MVC Web API using EF to talk to a DB. That's POC.

Then, add the security layer using OAuth and the UI bits with something like Angular JS + Bootstrap. That's V1.

Next, refactor the domain layer to use the service/repository pattern. V2.

Now try and pull out the dependancies of the services/repositories into an IOC container (Unity, Structure Map, SimpleInjector, etc). We're now on V3.

That alone will give you all the necessary skills and foundations needed to build any large enterprise application encompassing SOLID design principles.

Then blog about all your learning and show it off on your CV and LinkedIn. It would probably take you months since it seems you are really pressed for time. However, I would find it hard to believe if many employers would then turn you down after putting in all that effort. If they do, you're better off.

EDIT: to answer your questions about courses - do some reading on asp.net and perhaps some youtube videos. I spend a lot of time watching videos from pluralsight and lynda.com where I then try to implement at work...
 
Last edited:
Well, an easy "exercise" to always do is write a config server: Key, Value, Category, ActiveFrom

Get data, set data, serve over Http as json

Write it in whatever language you want to play with: .net, java, node, go, python

It's not difficult at all but it does give you a chance to play with the languages and see how they and their package stores differ.


Personally, "keeping up" has never been something I actively do. Learning new tech is easy (for me at least) and all I really do is make sure I'm skilled in one main stream language (c#) and grasp at opportunities at work to play with something else.
 
Raithlin said:
I'm becoming a dinosaur - my worst nightmare....
Click to expand...

I think I'm already a dinosaur. I left the dotnet world after 10 years due to the pace it changed and frankly I could not keep up.
Now I'm in a 'boring' ABAP world (suits me) :P
 
Dan C said:
I think I'm already a dinosaur. I left the dotnet world after 10 years due to the pace it changed and frankly I could not keep up.
Now I'm in a 'boring' ABAP world (suits me) :P
Click to expand...

That's a good thing to do! Specialising seems to get one a really good salary plus stability. Ain't nothing wrong doing something like that.
 
What I do is watch a video from MVA, Pluralsight etc. Instead of watching a movie or whatever.



I also do small projects with the best stack for the task so I learn something new at the same time.



Also remember to follow blogs from other devs like Jerry Nixon etc.
 
shauntir said:
Build a public app with a registered domain and the source code on github. Think of something small: time logging, exercise tracking etc.

Build the initial app with MVC Web API using EF to talk to a DB. That's POC.

Then, add the security layer using OAuth and the UI bits with something like Angular JS + Bootstrap. That's V1.

Next, refactor the domain layer to use the service/repository pattern. V2.

Now try and pull out the dependancies of the services/repositories into an IOC container (Unity, Structure Map, SimpleInjector, etc). We're now on V3.

That alone will give you all the necessary skills and foundations needed to build any large enterprise application encompassing SOLID design principles.

Then blog about all your learning and show it off on your CV and LinkedIn. It would probably take you months since it seems you are really pressed for time. However, I would find it hard to believe if many employers would then turn you down after putting in all that effort. If they do, you're better off.

EDIT: to answer your questions about courses - do some reading on asp.net and perhaps some youtube videos. I spend a lot of time watching videos from pluralsight and lynda.com where I then try to implement at work...
Click to expand...

Good solid advice this... ^^
 
Thanks for all the advice, folks. Had a good chat with the SO last night re: time, etc., and I have her support. Hurdle no. 1 overcome. I'll be taking all your responses to heart, and I've also had a positive response from current employer about subscribing to PluralSight. Definitely looking at doing a web app (shauntir, great concrete advice) on the side, and implementing new tech (TypeScript, anyone) in my upcoming projects - as soon as I have a grip on it.

@Skimread, with respect, I'm not about to post my salary on the forum - but if you are genuinely interested (and have a possible offer) then PM me.

Time to head over to the development learning thread. ;)
 
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