Duffbert's Random Musings :: Is Your Career with Lotus Notes Safe? (Part 2) (from Mr. Greyhawk)

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Category IBM/Lotus
From Intranet Journal: Is Your Career with Lotus Notes Safe? (Part 2)

As always, John Roling nails the truth in his latest article:

In the Notes and Domino world I've seen a lot of specialization over the years. Many people are just Notes developers, or just Domino administrators. These people tend to be experts in that one aspect of Notes while eschewing most other talents. Nowadays, that is a huge liability as many companies are looking to get more out of their employees for less.

This means that you need to learn more things BEFORE your company asks it of you. If you are developer in Notes, you should really learn AJAX web development, Java and up-and-coming technologies like Adobe Flex.

Granted, you may not need it now, but what happens if you are let go? Only knowing Domino will really limit the amount of jobs you are qualified for.

I know it's hard to find time to learn new skills, but if you don't you WILL pay for it later. Turn off the TV, step away from Facebook and start playing around with other technologies. Learn as much as possible, and it will help you immensely in any job hunts you may have to endure.

This is so right on so many levels...

You could pretty much apply paragraph #1 to my previous 13 years. Good in Notes/Domino, eschewing many other talents. I'm fortunate in that I've been given the opportunity to learn new stuff *without* having to switch jobs or get laid off, and I really need to make the most of that opportunity. Yeah, I've had to rethink many of my prior stances, and I've had to say (on more than one occasion) that I wasn't fully informed on the entire technology picture. Basically, Microsoft doesn't suck as much as I thought, and Notes/Domino isn't as perfect as I always felt it was. Ultimately it comes down to "are you delivering value to the companies and customers you work with."

That's why I can't tell you who is on American Idol, I don't know where Survivor is being filmed this year, and Dancing with the Stars is a complete mystery to me. Ok, I *do* know that NCIS's Ziva David is played by Cote de Pablo... Cut me some slack. :) But the drive to learn *is* why I have piles of books around my basement, and why I tolerate my obsession with reading.

Great article, John...

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Comments

1 - great article... been living it for far too long.... saw many 'old' school senior notes developers (not willing to enhance their web skill-set) cut while I kept my job... rarely watch TV but I'm pretty good with XFDL, XML, ajax, dojo, ext.js, Notes composite application development, and of course up to date certifications..

I'm a Lotus JOAT SME.... Emoticon

Posted by Annonymous Notes Developer... At 20:02:16 On 14/04/2009 | - Website - |

2 - Agreed - the days of the dedicated Lotus support (Admin or Developer)employee are gone. I have given up on ever finding another gig like the one I had for the past 10 years and am now spending 90% of my time working on technologies that don't involve Notes. I could rant about how IBM let this happen, but it HAS happened and it is very unlikely for the trend to reverse at this point.

Posted by Pasty Geek At 02:41:38 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

3 - This reads a lot like the kind version of "Notes is dead, move on"!?

Posted by Henning Heinz At 05:54:26 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

4 - @3... I disagree. It's an acknowledgement that Notes jobs are not as easy to find as they used to be, and relying upon that as your only skillset is dangerous.

And regardless of whether your platform of choice is on the up- or down-swing, it is *always* good practice to keep adding to your skill base.

Posted by Duffbert At 06:05:08 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

5 - I wouldn't say the Notes jobs are hard to find, I would say that jobs dedicated to any one technolgy niche are hard to find. I do Netware, Microsoft, & Linux server admin, EDIR & ADS directory services, DNS, DHCP, Domino Admin, Domino Development (tinkering level only), switch & router infrastructure, etc.

Posted by Bruce Currier At 06:24:36 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

6 - You said it. As it is *always* good practice to keep adding to your skill base it reads like a kind version of Notes is dead to me.

Posted by Henning Heinz At 07:17:39 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

7 - With Notes 8.x there are plenty of "reusable" technologies you can learn that can be leveraged in other spaces:

- J2EE Web development
- Web services
- Eclipse programming (SWT, Java, etc)
- Composite Apps - (anything goes here, native, C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, etc)

Just getting the eclipse bandwagon alone will give you a whole new market for tools and add-ons.

Posted by Bob Balfe At 07:45:55 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

8 - I've actually been spending my free time expanding into "crazy" stuff like Python, Django, Google's AppEngine, cloud computing, etc.

It has zero application to my day job, but I have not had this much fun with technology in many years. And hopefully some day I can use it professionally somewhere.

Posted by Dave Armstrong At 09:46:38 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

9 - YES, YES,
Time for us old dogs to learn new tricks. In my first 10 years of IT type jobs, I dabbled in more than one technology with no problem or worry. The last 11 have been dominated by Lotus Notes. Maybe it's because Lotus Notes is a cool, useful platform that can do a lot for a lot of folks? I don't know but that's the way it's been and I've enjoyed the ride. Never thought I'd be doing it for this long.
@7 I like the 8.5 dynamic to use Eclipse and this is the place I'd like to grow in the future. Working on it now, slowly.
Rock On and keep working!

Posted by Curt Stone At 10:17:11 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

10 - I agree with @4 wholeheartedly as someone who has changed platforms and roles on several occasions. Keep your skills up to date, but learn new things without jumping on the latest fad du jour. Employers want to hire those with a proven track record and not necessarily those individuals who can only talk in the latest lingo.

Posted by Marie Scott At 10:25:32 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |

11 - I tend to reach to outside technologies quite a bit, but almost always to interface with, or compliment Notes in one way or another.

I would be pretty bummed if I couldn't stay in the Domino Environment for some reason.

Mostly because I might be 'good' at other languages, but I only really 'rock freakishly' at Notes.

Posted by Tim Paque At 15:33:11 On 15/04/2009 | - Website - |