Still a Domino developer?

Ed Brill follows up on recent Domino Developer unhappiness related discussions here. I like the tone of the post, however I think the wrong people are going to respond - namely, existing and frustrated Domino Developers. He asks the questions:

My ultimate goal in asking is to help find ways to evolve Domino developer skills to continue to be relevant in the market, and to attract new developers. How can we get there?

The market relevance thing is obviously something that existing developers have opinions on. Keeping up with current trends (and I'm sorry, webservices are hardly a 'new' concept) is important to any developer. We need to feel that our skills are transferable to other platforms and projects should we need to adapt.

However the main question is around attracting new developers (and I strongly believe that if you're attracting new people, then you'll be creating buzz, and if you're creating positive buzz then your existing developer base will be happy / happier). I read a great quote on Gaping Void about employee satisfaction - the greatest way to keep your employees happy is to make them really feel like they're a part of something great. Well, I believe that's the same thing to an extent for a developer community. When there's great positive stuff going on in the media about the technology you develop with, then you're happy to be there. When you're talking to other developers and they ask "Domino? What the hell is that?", then after the 10th time of hearing it you're starting to think about retraining.

Positive vibe isn't something you can build overnight, and developers can be fickle in terms of trends and an ever changing list of what's hot / what's not. One thing that never changes is this: developers always like seeing cool stuff. Show me cool stuff, and I'll want to come play at your house. It really is that simple.

 Print | Posted on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 11:45 PM |