I’m a fairly active member of a forum focus on VB development, XtremeVBTalk.com (formerly VisualBasicForum.com), I also happen to be a moderator, and carry the “Expert” skill-badge. Well, today they gave me quite a surprise.
Back 2003 I posted this on my site at the time:
** 12/01/2003**
Expert! The folks over at VisualBasicForum.com just voted to give me an Expert badge!
Today, a similar honor has been bestowed. By a vote of the forum leadership I’ve been given the status of Guru – the highest skill acknowledgment available. This was quite a surprise, and really quite an honor as this is a status given to only a select few. This makes me the 26th to receive this, of the 91,348 current members.
I really do appreciate this, to be judged so by a group that I hold in such high regard really does mean a lot.
Recently a programmer I know decided that it was time for a career change, leaving the IT field entirely. This gave me cause to think; what does it take to be a great developer. Many people go through school believing they have what it takes, only to receive a rude awaking once they enter the real world.
Before I go on, I think it’s important to define what I mean by developer, and the differences between a developer and a programmer.
To celebrate 15 years of Visual Basic, a quick glance to the past:
Microsoft Announces Visual Basic at Windows World ‘91 General-Purpose, High-Productivity Programming System for Microsoft Windows
ATLANTA — May 20, 1991 — Microsoft today announced MicrosoftR Visual BasicTM programming system at the Windows World ‘91 industry trade show. Visual Basic is a graphical application development system for Microsoft WindowsTM graphical environment version 3.0 that combines visual design tools with a powerful, general-purpose programming language and Windows .
I’m a developer, and I love what I do, it’s a great industry, and a very exciting field to be in. If you read my blog often, you’ll see I take every opportunity to mention how great this line of work can be, today I offer a somewhat different, less sugar-coated view.
The Pressure There is a constant pressure on developers to be better, to do more, to produce more, sometimes more than is possible.
Over the next three months or so I plan on more-or-less rebuilding all of my computers, and the network they sit on. This is going to be a fairly time consuming process, though I expect should be well worth it. This includes the addition on a couple new computers, as well as new hardware for the existing ones. Among the various changes is the move to a rack-mount environment, away from normal tower cases.
I really enjoy what I do, and though I work in a chaotic environment, I really do love my job. Being in the Software Development industry has some really nice perks, being a developer in today’s world really is a great thing. Development isn’t easy though, it is quite mentally demanding; clear focus is of paramount importance. Without absolute focus, progress will only be a dream. This fact is a key player as to what makes being in this industry so great.
