Too many platforms / programming languages = fewer skilled developers?
 

I was thinking that the more platforms, languages and skillsets that are needed to develop applications, the fewer experts there will be.

I mean, between sharepoint, linux, PHP, C++, dreamweaver, photoshop, css, cakephp, C#, java, javascript, mysql, postgres, facebook apps, mobile, iphone apps, etc, etc, etc...you will simply have fewer people that can be absolute experts at any one/combo of those technologies.

What do you think?

Well yes there is tons of programming languages now,i see every time when i check programmer jobs how except main requirement like java or c requirement is also some thing for which i never heard.I wonder how those people ever find any employee.

On the other hand, a programmer in general learns a "language" pretty fast. The language itself is not the issue, it's more the changing technologies, standards and that sort of things.

PHP and nothing else.

i dont care about "better languages" i just want to be able to work with the dam code.

Decent perl coders, those are hard to find...

I agree,and this is one of rare things with which i agree with metaman :upsidedow
But the fact is,if you want to be qualified for programmer job,then you need to know more languages.

I like platforms. Much better than all the first person shoot-em-ups you get these days.

Donkey Kong FTW

Nope.... find a local perl mongers group.

A good programmer would probably have some experience in several languages, or at least have tried things out in different languages just for kicks. And most programming languages are not that vastly different from one another.

It's all the other stuff that helps separate the experts from the novices... i.e subversion/cvs experience, agile methods, database experience, scaling and failover, linux/unix knowledge, shell scripting, development lifecycle and design methodologies, etc, etc.

i get depressed with this. as i get older i feel the old coder strain where i cant learn as fast as new guys.
in my world you have to keep up with everything, learn NoSQL , Ruby on Rails.
But for sr developers it still seems all java.
for web developers you need to be up on your html5, know jquery like the back of your hand, know php5 and understand all design patterns and how they relate to php and ruby on rails. and python if you want to work at google.
lots of people dont seem interested in letting you learn on the job anymore and they want an expert in what they want, but its impossible if you dont know it all.
I think that newer programmers fresh out of college are able to boast their expertise in all programming languages but as you get to be more seasoned you understand that htis is not possible so you have a hard time telling people you are an expert in it.

how the hell can you compare css with photoshop with javascript with mysql with "mobile" with iphone with linux :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

because of morons like you the more terms the experts will continue invent just to charge you extra.

P.S. I do all my CSS in paint like any other pro
Besides I need a pro to help me sync postgres to facebook

Definitely gets harder as you get older. I love learning new stuff though, but the most frustrating thing about using new technologies is maintaining backwards compatibility and trying to degrade nicely.... I'm lazy I prefer to say fuck 'em... let them change/update their browser... lol

I rest my case.

It's been 40 years since I wrote my first programs.

So I've seen it go from the "computer guy" who did everything, to dozens(maybe 100s) of overlapping specialists.

Perhaps the best occupation for comparison may be the doctors. The "general" practitioner who used to do everything, has been gradually replaced by different specialists, who are themselves being split into many sub-specialities(eg. pediatric cardiologist).

Perhaps we are moving to the point where different "specialities" become somewhat interchangeable, like object oriented programming. Masters of their own little speciality with just enough in common knowledge to interact with others.

Some programmers are not even capable of that :pimp

I guess it depends on your situation.

If you are a freelancer who specializes in a few languages and have plenty of work/clients consistently flowing, you only rarely need to learn new/additional languages.

If, however, your plate isn't full and you want to find as many potential clients as possible, then yes the more you know the more chances you'll find work.

If you plan to offer services, I believe it's best to form a team (or partner with fellow freelancers whose skills complement your own), such as Tanguy (myneid above) does, who each specialize in a specific language or third-party software. This way you can appeal to a large base of potential clients, without sacrificing expertise/quality.

here here!

if you want a full time job you also need to know and understand the academia of computer science for some reason. You better go into the interview understanding singletons, polymorphism, abstract classes and interfaces. Even if you use these daily without knowing the names it will hurt you. If you want a job its more important to understand these things and every design pattern (which i do not agree with) but if you want to consult and do contract work you have to be more functional and be able to get the work done without stalling your wheels reading about the next design pattern some java coder pulled out of his ass