Roz Clarke
roz.clarke at donnslaw.co.uk
Mon Feb 21 09:05:59 CST 2005
OK, I'll try to give you a bit more flesh ;) I am 'senior systems developer' in a law firm, and I lead a team of 4 developers (not including me) and 1 trainer. I no longer do very much hands-on technical stuff, because although I am officially a team lead, I also do all the project management and most of the business analysis. And I've tried to recruit people who are better than me, so it's easy to let them get on with it :/ The company uses a few 3rd party applications and my team spends the bulk of its time customising these applications, and writing reports / reporting tools querying the back end data, which is in SQL Server and Informix. We only rarely get to develop ground-up applications, but when we do we use a combination of SQL Server, VB.net, ASP.net and Access, providing interfaces with the 3rd party stuff, Excel, Word and Outlook. I came into development the same way as many others here; as a self-taught user of MS Access 2.0. My first development role revolved around building intelligent reports, and I joined this list soon after starting in that job, around six years ago now. With the help of the good folk of AccessD, I made good progress and started to think of myself as a real developer, though never a guru. Some of my team have certifications and others do not. I have studied for the MCSD exams, and the firm has paid for everyone here to have external training, but we have not placed much emphasis on the exams themselves. I never managed to pass the sample tests (not giving it enough priority) so I never took the exams. Perhaps my experience as a recruiter would be useful to you here. We do not specify that someone has to be certified when advertising for a position, but it can make a difference. If their experience in the relevant areas isn't very recent, for example - if say, someone has taken a year out or worked in a different job role and is returning to development - an MCP or 2 helps you to believe that they are serious about returning and about keeping their skills current. If however they have recent and solid experience, certification is just icing. If I were looking for a 'proper' development role now, I would want to take some exams a) to prove to myself that it's something I want to do and can stay interested in and b) to demonstrate the same thing to potential employers - because it will be fairly clear from my CV that I am not a full time hands-on developer at the moment. I hope that's helpful. Feel free to do what you will with it. Looking forward to reading the article Roz -----Original Message----- From: Steve Erbach [mailto:erbachs at gmail.com] Sent: 21-Feb-2005 12:44 To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: What are you lot doing now and then? Roz, Gustav, John C., Gary, Jeffrey, Jim D. Doris, Debbie, Brett, Charlotte, Ken, Mark, John B., Stuart, William, Rocky, Jim L., Jim H., Andy, Randy, and Tom, Thank you all very much for your responses. Our glorious leader, Mr. Bartow, has asked me to write an article for the newsletter based on the responses you've given. So I'm asking if any of you have any objections to letting me abridge your responses for that purpose? It would also be helpful if those of you who already gave an "abridged" version for the survey could flesh out your responses a bit, if you have the time. I would appreciate it. Everyone has an interesting story to tell about his or her own growth in the computer field. I'm so glad that 21 of you have responded so far. Any others? Steve Erbach Neenah, WI www.swerbach.com/security On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 09:27:17 -0000, Roz Clarke <roz.clarke at donnslaw.co.uk> wrote: > 1) Currently management and development of workflows in a rather nasty > legal application. No proper coding at all. :( > 2) Used to do a lot with Access & Office integration, and reporting > from various back-end data sources (informix, oracle, etc.). The shift > is really down to moving into management and not being able to do that > and maintain/ improve my technical skills at the same time. > 3) Company (law firm), 250 employees, Tom's team leader <waves> > 4) No > > Roz -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -------------- next part -------------- The contents of this message and any attachments are the property of Donns Solicitors and are intended for the confidential use of the named recipient only. They may be legally privileged and should not be communicated to, or relied upon, by any other party without our written consent. If you are not the addressee, please notify us immediately so that we can make arrangements for its return. You should not show this e-mail to any person or take copies as you may be committing a criminal or civil offence for which you may be liable. The statement and opinions expressed in this e-mail message are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent that of Donns Solicitors. Although any files attached to this e-mail will have been checked with virus protection software prior to transmission, you should carry out your own virus check before opening any attachment. Donns Solicitors does not accept any liability for any damage or loss which may be caused by software viruses...