.

NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

Authored By: Bob Tabor, President of LearnVisualStudio.NET

Introduction

Ok, so what is the action plan for 2010?

This action plan is specifically tailored for two audience:

- For those with little or no .NET experience, and ...

- For those with programming experience, but who feel like their skills are deteriorating
or becoming stale

It's the beginning of a new year and for most people it becomes a period of reflection
and planning. If you haven't started that process yet, this document should (1) provide
inspiration to do so, and (2) provide some helpful suggestions for developing a plan or
learning path specifically for .NET developers.

2009 was a unique year for .NET developers. While most companies were shedding
jobs and much of the media's attention was on the 10%+ unemployment rate, they
largely ignored the growing demand for experienced, knowledgeable software develop-
ers continued to see a strong interest in their skills inside the United States as well as
abroad. Without a doubt, .NET developers were not completely insulated from the
overall economic malaise, however much less affected than most.

2009 was also unique insomuch as the wave of new revisions to .NET (4.0) was an-
nounced and early adopters began the process of mastering (and even adopting) the
new features as quickly as possible. Beta versions of Visual Studio 2010, .NET
Framework4.0, C# 4.0, Visual Basic 9.0, the Entity Framework, ASP.NET 4.0 and all the
related technologies (WPF, Silverlight, WCF, WF, etc.) arrived and were quickly dis-
sected.

What should we expect from 2010? The same. Experienced, knowledgeable develop-
ers are still hard to find, still commanding large salaries. Anecdotally, friends of mine
who faced layoffs were still able to find jobs with salaries in excess of 100k. To be sure,
some .NET developers will find themselves in the unenviable position of making a
change, however we believe that will be due to the plight of individual companies, not
an overall trend.

w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

1
Fortunately, Dice.com, a popular job board used by many in technology fields, at the
time of this writing boasts almost 6000 openings for .NET developers in the United
States, including these metro areas:

792 in New York

247 in Los Angeles
226 in Chicago
198 in Seattle
183 in San Francisco
161 in Atlanta
153 in Dallas

While this number is down as much as 25% from peak periods (such as 2005-2006), it's
still extremely strong when compared with other professions.

Of the 6000+ openings for .NET, more than 4000 are looking for web-development re-
lated technologies, and over 3500 are looking for C#. Combine that with trends from
the larger world of software development … more demand for web properties consumed
via mobile browsers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20091223/tc_infoworld/105207

Meanwhile, the pace of new tools, techniques and processes being released (both from
Microsoft as well as trusted third parties) has continued to explode. It is often a difficult
choice to be specialized or a jack-of-all-trades, however soon it may become necessary
to focus on mastering a subset of .NET related technologies and keep a general work-
ing knowledge of all others.

So, what does all this mean for developers? Allow me to address two separate audi-
ences:

- For those with little or no .NET experience

- For those with programming experience, but who feel like their skills are deteriorating
or becoming stale

w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

2
For those with little or no .NET experience …

I'll assume your goal in 2010 is to either (1) change professions (from, say Human Re-
sources, Finance, Customer Service or Systems Engineering to become a .NET Devel-
oper), or (2) move from another language or platform to .NET (from, say PHP or Java)
because your entire organization is doing so, or (3) graduate and find your first pro-
gramming job … you are a college student about to face the cruel realities of the current
economic situation.

The good news is that .NET development, for the most part, is a meritocracy in which
those who work the hardest on building their personal knowledge are (usually) re-
warded. College degrees and certifications matter, but perhaps less than in other pro-
fessions. Unlike other professions, soft skills matter less than memorization and com-
prehension of process, techniques, memorization of classes and keywords, etc. The
ability to be a team player or to communicate are difficult to demonstrate during an in-
terview. What isn't difficult to convey is whether or not you "know your stuff." During an
interview, the interviewee is typically "tech-ed" by members of the development team …
they probe your knowledge looking to understand what you know (and where there are
holes in your knowledge). Afterward they give their recommendations to the hiring
manager.

In many cases, the organization is looking for people who can "hit the ground running"
and contribute. Therefore, they are looking for someone who can build an entire appli-
cation and require little training or "hand holding". Even if they are looking for an entry
level programmer, they will still want to see what projects you've been involved in (or if
you've taken the initiative to build something, anything!) This is why it is imperative that
you always have a project that you're working on, even from the very beginning. It gives
you (and the interviewer) something to talk about during the interview. More about this
in a moment ...

Here are three action items that you should focus on in 2010:

(1) Focus on learning the software development process and how to write solid code.
Download the Visual Studio 2010 beta (or one of the Express Editions) and use that.

(2) Spend as much time as possible every day "in the tool", preferably building some-
thing of value to someone. (See more about this below.)

(3) Focus on learning in this order: C#, Object Oriented Programming basics, HTML,
CSS, JavaScript, ASP.NET, SQL Server, Linq. Learning as much as you can about
these technologies -- almost to the exclusion of everything else -- is your fastest path
towards being productive and finding an entry-level software development job OR to
building "the next big thing".

w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

3
Having a hard time getting that first job? One of these strategies should help:

(1) Build an application for a company or an organization (even if it is pro bono). My

nephew is currently learning to become a software developer. His "day job" is a cus-
tomer service manager at a regional office for a tractor equipment manufacturer. Nights
and weekends, he's building an application that tracks the repair tickets as they make
their way through the repair process. He is working on this "on his own time" and who
knows … perhaps his company will never actually use the application once it's com-
plete. However, it is a problem domain that he is familiar with, and he can explain what
he built when he goes on his first interviews for a .NET developer position. I recom-
mended this course of action because I took the same tact over 15 years ago to land
my first job.

(2) Contribute code to an open source project … CodePlex.com is a Microsoft sup-

ported open source repository for software development projects. Many times, the pro-
ject was started by a single developer and he or she is looking for active participants to
add features, fix bugs, etc. Actively participating in this does two things … first, it gives
you exposure to the developer community. Secondly, if an organization is hoping to use
an open source project, knowing that you are a subject matter expert in that area will go
a long way towards landing your first job.

(3) Build something public, in a similar vein, build something, anything … a web-based
game, a free service that requires the skills and talents of a programmer … finish it, and
put it out there for public consumption. Gather feedback and bug reports and refine it.
It would be impressive to me as a potential employer to hear that you built a service
used by 50,000 people (which is not a large number by internet standards, but sounds
impressive.)

(4) Write something … research one area of .NET and become the expert. In the sum-
mer of 1999 I read about this new .NET Framework that would soon be published by
Microsoft. I immediately focused on just one area of the framework, "SOAP Web Serv-
ices". I registered a domain name by that same name, and then began to learn all I
could about it and write articles about it. Within a month, Sams Publishing contacted
me about writing a book about it. With the new 2010 wave of technologies coming out
from Microsoft, there's room for you to carve out a niche for yourself -- learn everything
you can about it, create a small community about it, blog about it, introduce yourself to
the developers responsible for that feature (they will find you) and insert yourself into
that community.

The goal is to demonstrate your skill, and in demonstrating it, further developing it … the
reward is two fold … it will drive your knowledge, and will demonstrate your knowledge
all in one fell swoop.

w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

4
To help you achieve the goal of becoming gainfully employed and productive as a .NET
developer in 2010 we are re-writing virtually our entire curriculum to do the following:

(A) Focus on building entire applications. In the past, weʼve taken a very academic, or
rather, reference style approach to teaching .NET. However, beginning in 2009 we
began to switch to a more hands-on approach to explaining each aspect of software
development, the Visual Studio IDE, the programming languages, the APIʼs, etc. by
keeping it in the context of a complete project from beginning to end.

(B) Focus on re-recording all video content in Visual Studio 2010, with increased em-
phasis on utilizing the shortcuts and techniques of experienced developers into your
own personal workflow. Visual Studio 2010 has many shortcuts that when em-
ployed can help you build your vision more quickly, with fewer bugs.

(C) Integrate feedback and lessons learned from the past 10 years of creating excep-
tional video instruction. We are refining our offerings to improve our approach, code
examples, topics, and more.

w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

5
For those who have programming experience, but feel like your skills
are deteriorating or becoming stale …

First off, let me assure you that many developers -- at some point in their careers -- be-
come concerned about their skills. Anecdotally, I've often felt insecure about my knowl-
edge, feeling as though there were just too much to learn. Microsoft is unique insomuch
that they have the man power to continually evolve their software development platform
… they also have the motivation to do so -- i.e., to keep distance between their enter-
prise platform and that of other potential vendors. Rallying developers is one way
they've remained dominant and profitable over the years.

I devote virtually full-time to that task and STILL feel that way sometimes. I sympathize,
but the wrong thing to do is to become disheartened or feel guilty for allowing time and
opportunity to slip away. Now (2010) is one of those rare periods of time when you can
devise a "leap frog" strategy … by focusing on key technologies and concepts.

But first, a few thoughts about the rapid degradation of skills, also known as the "knowl-
edge shelf life".

My nephew, a software development manager at a large government defense contrac-

tor, left his previous job because they were still supporting and doing active develop-
ment on "classic ASP" and "COM", which was prevalent ten years ago. After banging
the drum that they should be moving the codebase to .NET, he grew tired and left. Ac-
tually, I feel sorry for the developers at an organization such as this because they put
their career in great peril.

In the Dallas area where I live, there are many Cobol developers from EDS now working
at Home Depot. A few weeks ago, a former Cobol developer (who happens to be a
friend of mine), in his mid-50's, asked me for a job since he had been out of work for the
past 9 months. I began to ask him about his skills, and I was a bit shocked to learn that
he had spent the past six months -- doing nothing. I secretly wished he had asked me
for advice, for a book, for some videos … and not a job. The moral of the story is that
software developers must keep abreast of the latest developments. This becomes a
tiresome chore to be sure, especially as you get older and important people and things
in life make increasing demands, but you must not become complacent. You must keep
your skills updated, and find good sources of information.

w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

6
Here are five action items you should focus on in 2010:

(1) Decide that you will carve out a little time each day, or at a minimum, once a week,
to upgrade your skills. Keep a visible list of the topics you feel you need to focus on.
Keep a list of articles, books and videos you plan to watch, then keep track of your
progress against the plan.

(2) Find a way to consume as much information as possible in that short time you've al-
lotted yourself. Oftentimes itʼs not the amount of time you spend, but the “compact-
ness” of the information you consume, that delivers the quickest results. And here's
where our service comes in: we feel our unique approach and attention to detail in a
concise video format is one of the best ways for you to consume a great deal of in-
formation about .NET in a short amount of time. We focus on distilling the vast
amount of information in the .NET sphere, reducing it to focus on just the most im-
portant, most widely used techniques and technologies.

(3) Keep a pet-project around at all times. Always be developing something "on the
side" … perhaps with no aspirations beyond an exercise for your mind and your skill
set.

(4) Focus on those technologies that provide the biggest bang for your buck. Assuming
you have already mastered the eight core topics (C#, Object Oriented Programming
basics, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP.NET Web Forms, SQL Server, Linq) then we
recommend pursuing these additional topics which provide the most perceived
benefit from other developers ... jQuery, ASP.NET MVC, WCF, Entity Framework,
and Unit Testing. While other APIʼs (WPF, Silverlight, etc.) draw much of the promo-
tional efforts from Microsoft, weʼve yet to see these gain enough traction in the mar-
ketplace to warrant a deep investment in your time.

(5) Focus on learning to develop for mobile devices. As a .NET developer, we have the
unfortunate situation of being "on the wrong team" when it comes to mobile devel-
opment, since the Windows Mobile Platform accounts for less than 10% of the global
smartphone sales in 2009. Perhaps the easiest way to re-purpose your existing
ASP.NET skills (without having to learn a new language such as C++, Objective-C or
Java) would be to leverage your CSS knowledge into learning WebKit, the frame-
work for building iPhone (and other smart-phone) websites.

(6) Think "rails" … develop a personal framework for productivity. In this context I'm de-
fining "rails" as a set of tools and technologies that I'm very familiar with, even if they
are not the cutting edge tools or technologies from Microsoft. Microsoft provides a
dozen ways to do just about everything which is both a bane and a blessing. At
some point, you have to focus on what you know best, don't feel guilty that you are
selectively ignoring some new technologies that seem to be all the rage, and just
use what you know to build as fast and efficiently as possible. Using this exact ap-
proach, I recently churned out a very large project in less than 40 days … a project
w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010

7
 that I thought would take double the time. Support your personal “rails” philosophy /
approach with custom snippets and T4 Templating.

Your goal is productivity and confidence in your skill set, and following this action plan
will go a long ways towards accomplishing exactly that.

To help you achieve the goal of becoming more productive and confident as a .NET de-
veloper in 2010 we are re-writing virtually our entire curriculum to do the following:

(A) Focus on building entire applications. We feel that demonstrating the context and
proper usage of a given technology is as important -- if not more so -- than simply
approaching the topic academically, that is, in theory, without the benefit of using it in
the context of an entire application.

(B) Focus on re-recording all video content in Visual Studio 2010, with increased em-
phasis on the latest features in the latest wave of releases that can improve effi-
ciency and conciseness in your code.

(C) Integrate feedback and lessons learned from the past 10 years of creating excep-
tional video instruction. We are refining our offerings to improve our approach, code
examples, topics, and more.

(D) Focus on certification topic matter. While we do not believe certification is right for
everyone, weʼve witnessed (in organizations weʼve worked for in the past) manage-
mentʼs perspective on those with and without certifications. It definitely can help
your career when combined with experience.

In closing ...

While I have my doubts that economically 2010 will improve dramatically, I do think that
each of us personally can take action and improve our own station.

Our goal this year at LearnVisualStudio.NET is to provide you with the tools and motiva-
tion you need to help you achieve your goals in 2010 and beyond. By creating this 2010
Developer Action Plan we hope that we’ve not only provided you with valuable insight
into what 2010 holds for you but also a clear indication that we are focused and ready to
help you achieve your goals.

Visit us today at LearnVisualStudio.NET to learn more. If thereʼs any way that we can
help you in your career, please do not hesitate to contact me directly
(bobtabor@learnvisualstudio.net).

w w w. L e a r n Vi s u a l S t u d i o . N E T! .NET DEVELOPER ACTION PLAN - 2010