The Internet seems to be the latest battleground for the computer age-old struggle between Microsoft and open source solutions. For some reason, many web developers like to engage in holy wars over various web site hosting solutions and development platforms, fiercely defending their beloved vendor’s suite of products. They battle over their particular setup so much they block out any new ideas they might gain had they kept their minds open to how things are done on the other side of the castle walls.
Different platforms are developed by different groups, each with their own mindsets and ways of doing things. If you take the time to step outside your own world, you might be able to learn new ways of doing stuff you never would have if you stuck to the familiar toolsets of your current platform. Take PHP and ASP, for example. Although very similar in nature, much of the “nitty gritty” implementation details are considerably different.
It’s actually in a developer’s best interests to know the best of both worlds. The Internet is heavily intertwined, with many companies seeking out cloud hosting solutions while integrating more than one vendor’s product. Besides, whether you like it or not, Microsoft maintains a huge presence in the computing world, and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Plus with today’s mergers and acquisitions, many companies are no longer homogeneous with their technologies even if they originally started out that way. Knowing more than one technology would put you in a good career position for interfacing and merging new in-house technologies.
In today’s lackluster economy, what’s more important to you anyway: platform snobbery or job security? Let’s say you’re working in a code shop that’s totally dependent upon some open source LAMP flavor. But one day that place, like many dot coms of recent past, goes belly-up. It sure would be nice to be able to immediately jump ship to another place dependent mostly on ASP.NET, wouldn’t it?
So break out of the mold. Stop thinking whatever IDE you’re using is the best thing since pre-sliced bagels. Besides, “real” programmers don’t cling do their toolset. Real programmers don’t brag about how good they are at using “x” text editor or “y” compiler. Real programmers aren’t clueless like the recruiters who land them their jobs, mindlessly performing keyword scanning for the latest technology buzzwords. Real programmers are supposed to know how to determine/evaluate requirements, design systems, and write the code necessary for the task at hand, finding the right tools for the job instead of turning every problem into a nail for their only hammer.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post not written by the blogger.
Please leave your thoughts on this, and whether you found it an interesting read in the comments. I wanted to publish this one to see how it works out. Depending on your comments I may or may not run more sponsored articles.