Goodbye to Sydney

It’s been more than a year I have not updated my blog. This is due to my move to Australia. I have been so busy with work and life that hardly could squeeze time to blog.

It was a great experience to live and work in the land of Sun, Sea and Sand. I remember attending Colin Moock’s workshop on Actionscript last year in Sydney where he was comparing 'Sydney' as a city which is rendered on Maya. I do agree with Colin. It’s a beautiful place to work and live life at the fullest. I used to stay just a walk able distance from the beautiful Manly beach and harbor which gave me the chance to go for fishing. I will miss all these activities Manly has to offer. I will be missing webdu this year. My ticket was already booked for this event.

Well, there is always an end of everything and we learn and grow in this process. I have been working on some exciting projects in automobile industry here. It was indeed a wonderful experience. During these days, I was instrumental in setting up the test driven development environment (TDD) and also have worked with some talented flex developers.

It’s time to go back to my country and say goodbye to OZ. So, what I am taking along with me? I am taking along with me all the beautiful memories and my experience. Now, what next on the journey? I am looking for my next challenging project on flex. If you have a challenging project/ job, do let me know.I am open to contract/full time flex development work.

Should Flash/Flex Developers learn Java/PHP/Ruby?

Try this search query on flexjobs list
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexjobs/msearch?query=java&charset=utf-8

There are around 325 job posts for Flex Developers by the time I have posted this entry. Out of these 325 jobs, I have noticed 322 jobs require Java or any other server side technologies as a skill.

In most of the job posts at flex jobs list, I have found the following key skills and attributes for Flex Developer requirements:

• CF, .NET, PHP, JAVA, or Ruby experience
• Knowledge of MS SQL and/or MySQL
• Extensive background in Java or C++.
• Java 1.3+, .NET, C#, JSP 1.2+, Javascript,
• DHTML, ActionScript, CSS, Java Beans, XML, Struts, Servlets 2.3+, ASP,
• 4+ years JAVA programming experience required,
• J2EE/EJB3 experience preferred.
• Knowledge of back-end technologies such as PHP and Ruby on Rails
• Strong object-oriented development skills (Java, C++)

If you closely notice these requirements, you will realize that most of them are for Java Developers (or any other server side technology), who can work on Flex too. That means Flex is not the primary skill but a nice to have.

Yakov Fain has a nice and interesting post under the topic
Should Java developers learn Flex - mixed feelings
I have also experienced this at my work, where Java Developers are embracing flex not because of the love for the technology but for the pressure from their employer. Big companies are adopting RIA extensively as their future technical direction and trying to make use of existing developer base. It’s all good. Learning a new technology is always fun. The success story of Flex as a technology lies mostly on this mass migration of developers. But what about the existing flash developer base? Should they also learn server-side technologies and upgrade themselves for the demanding market? The job requirements trends at flexjobs suggest us to learn and have a very good command over server-side technologies too. Being just an Actionscripter or Flex Developer is not going to fetch good fortune in today’s competitive market. Now flash platform is no more restricted to client side technologies. Gone are the days, when we used to have timelines, Movieclips to create nice and fancy looking animation and intros using flash.To become successful in flash platform, one has to have very good understanding of Eclipse IDE, Adobe LiveCycle, Servlets, JMS, J2EE architecture and the list goes on.

Urgent Flex Developer requirement at Kanbay !!

Urgent Flex Developer requirement at Kanbay (Capgemini)

There are some urgent open positions for Flex Developers at Kanbay (Capgemini) with onsite opportunity!

If you are interested please send me your resume to dzacharjee[at]kanbay.com or deb.flash[at].gmail.com.