IT skills - what's hot / not / always useful?
Discussion
I'm feeling the urge to learn something new. I'm also looking for a new contract.
However, my hunting is throwing up more unrecognised terms than I expected. I've seen a few jobs for NoSQL & Apache Cassandra, something which I've not really come across. NewSQL is another similar idea. Other terms which I think are probably just fancy new words for old ideas (BigData anyone?). Maybe my previous permie life made me lose touch, but then I wonder how much of it I may unwittingly know.
So the (perhaps eternal) question is, what to learn? And how much?
I know PL/SQL. It seems a solid base, as SQL variants have some similarity, but is it really worth going up to the full on Oracle DBA route, having a little experience in several varieties or exploring some newer technology? I can't see vanilla SQL dying out but I'm beginning to wonder how many other technologies compete with it.
What about Java? I think It's still popular and worth knowing, but would anybody bother learning a language such as C++ anymore? What about the older languages such as Fortran - are they just a few roles limited to grizzled veterans? COBOL? Pascal? And so on. And are "niche" languages such as F# really used anywhere? (It's probably more popular than I think.)
This then raises the question of walking into a contract with these skills. I don't think you could self-learn C# and walk into a job, but if you had 5 years of Java behind you would you stand a better chance? What is necessary to show an aptitude to pick up a new technology with no prior experience, or are you better off hoping that you can go sideways whilst in an existing contract? Permanent staff probably stand a better chance at this point.
I know some people are probably thinking about how long a piece of string is now, but I think the question is whether to use twine or rope. So I'm curious to know what other PHers think constitutes always worth knowing, what they no longer use and what they would learn given the chance.
The early bird catches the worm and all that.
However, my hunting is throwing up more unrecognised terms than I expected. I've seen a few jobs for NoSQL & Apache Cassandra, something which I've not really come across. NewSQL is another similar idea. Other terms which I think are probably just fancy new words for old ideas (BigData anyone?). Maybe my previous permie life made me lose touch, but then I wonder how much of it I may unwittingly know.
So the (perhaps eternal) question is, what to learn? And how much?
I know PL/SQL. It seems a solid base, as SQL variants have some similarity, but is it really worth going up to the full on Oracle DBA route, having a little experience in several varieties or exploring some newer technology? I can't see vanilla SQL dying out but I'm beginning to wonder how many other technologies compete with it.
What about Java? I think It's still popular and worth knowing, but would anybody bother learning a language such as C++ anymore? What about the older languages such as Fortran - are they just a few roles limited to grizzled veterans? COBOL? Pascal? And so on. And are "niche" languages such as F# really used anywhere? (It's probably more popular than I think.)
This then raises the question of walking into a contract with these skills. I don't think you could self-learn C# and walk into a job, but if you had 5 years of Java behind you would you stand a better chance? What is necessary to show an aptitude to pick up a new technology with no prior experience, or are you better off hoping that you can go sideways whilst in an existing contract? Permanent staff probably stand a better chance at this point.
I know some people are probably thinking about how long a piece of string is now, but I think the question is whether to use twine or rope. So I'm curious to know what other PHers think constitutes always worth knowing, what they no longer use and what they would learn given the chance.
The early bird catches the worm and all that.
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