.Net gravy train switching tracks?

[oracleslave]

If only I hadn't spunked away all that dosh when I could have been saving or investing it, I wouldn't have to worry about keeping my skills up to date.

Spent on booze and hookers and the rest you wasted?

[PAH]

For real clumsiness you need Cobol.Net.

Surely that's more a hobby/nostalgia language than something you'll ever find in commercial use? There certainly aren't any jobs that require it on jobserve!

[bogeyman]

What happend to the term you can't teach an old dog new tricks? I have that as my motto.

If only I hadn't spunked away all that dosh when I could have been saving or investing it, I wouldn't have to worry about keeping my skills up to date.

Well how old a dog are you exactly? I'm 49 this year and still up to my balls in technical stuff I need to learn and keep on top of.

I think it's quite important to actually know your business when you're charging clients substantial daily rates.

If you're over 60, fair enough!

[PAH]

Spent on booze and hookers and the rest you wasted?

Yeah, I went to the George Best school of financial planning. I always thought I'd end up dying young anyway, so why bother with a pension, savings, mortgage.

The government will bail me out won't they? A nice cosy bungalow, meals on wheels, the odd bed bath, and a few hundred quid a week to spend on internet bingo.

[xoggoth]

Just write VB.net and stick semi colons on the end. Sorted.

[bogeyman]

Just write VB.net and stick semi colons on the end. Sorted.

You got a VS plugin for that?

[PAH]

Well how old a dog are you exactly? I'm 49 this year and still up to my balls in technical stuff I need to learn and keep on top of.

I think it's quite important to actually know your business when you're charging clients substantial daily rates.

If you're over 60, fair enough!

Not quite that old, but after 20+ years of the same old programming lark, even if the languages are slightly different, I wish I'd done something about a plan B long ago. It all gets rather tiring slogging over the same stuff year in year out. I can't quite get enthused when they roll out a new set of clothes for what is essentially the same underneath.

My only hope is that there are still easy contracts out there that aren't as demanding as those earning top rates. I can live with that.

[ASB]

Surely that's more a hobby/nostalgia language than something you'll ever find in commercial use? There certainly aren't any jobs that require it on jobserve!

There is quite a lot of usage of it. It's very useful in a number of migrations etc. Depends on the value people put on their existing code base, can get good leverage under certain circumstance. Of course whether trying to preserve an existing code base is sensible is a very different thing.

You could (careful choice of word ) use it to code an entirely new winforms app.

[bogeyman]

Not quite that old, but after 20+ years of the same old programming lark

Suppose it depends on the type of programming. If you're just a coder drone and work from someone else's spec all the time then I can see your point of view.

The rewarding (and £££) work is where you have a designer/architect role but can still keep a finger in the details and do infrastructure code yourself then hand off the boring work to the coder drones.

Such roles are quite rare but do crop up often enough to make a viable career choice - especially if you work in vertical market apps or odd platforms.

[PAH]

Suppose it depends on the type of programming. If you're just a coder drone and work from someone else's spec all the time then I can see your point of view.

The rewarding (and £££) work is where you have a designer/architect role but can still keep a finger in the details and do infrastructure code yourself then hand off the boring work to the coder drones.

Such roles are quite rare but do crop up often enough to make a viable career choice - especially if you work in vertical market apps or odd platforms.

Yeah, doing some designing would make a change. Unfortunately the only ladders I've been offered were towards team leader stuff, where you just end up getting harrassed with meeting upon meeting, so I prefer to stick with coding.

I was once offered a technical architect role and thought I'd made it, but it turned out the gimps were only after a technical author really, so quickly moved back.

What's the natural progression up the rate ladder for a coder? Should I be able to blag my way into any different roles by already having many of the skills needed?