[AccessD] OT: What are you lot doing now and then?

1) What's your main line of work these days? 

Currently immersing myself in Sharepoint portal server along with developing management reports using ASP.NET/VB.NET.

2) How does your work today differ from what you were doing a few years ago? Is it only that you're using newer versions of the same tools, or are you doing entirely different development work?

Started off learning spreadsheet technology (Good old Symphony from Lotus!) and learned about its database capabilities and then decided that it would be good to learn about "real databases" and learned dBASEIII in my spare time. Got so intrigued that I moved on to learn Clipper and Turbo C programming. When Windows came into the picture I abandoned my development skills because I figured that learning Microsoft Foundation Classes and OOP was too complicated. A friend introduced me to Microsoft Access ver 1.0 and I learned how to develop using "event driven programming model" and moved on to ver 2.0, A97 and A2000 and A2003.

My first major Access development project was for the company that eventually hired me on to "take it to the next level". I developed an application for the business using Access 97 and in the process learned VBA and naturally progressed to ASP/VBscript development. The application grew from a stand-alone business app into a web-based app and finally migrated to SQL server 2000. Along the way I honed my skills in VB6 and SQL server. When an opportunity to work on a project using .NET came along I dove right into it and all my current development work is now based on .NET technology.

3) Are you independent or do you work for a company? If you work for a
company, what's the size of the company and where do you fit in?

Currently working for a company along with a team of two other developers, a SQL dba, a network admin and two technical support analysts. We have about 500 employees with 5 regional processing centers.

4) Do you have any Microsoft Certifications? If so, do you keep current with them, and/or have they made any difference in your current position?

I do not have any M$ certifications to validate my 15 yrs experience in networking, database management and application development. I do keep my skills honed and up-to-date by taking on projects that require new technology (like .NET and Sharepoint) and by taking on development projects on the side. I don't believe that M$ certification has made any difference at all except for the requirement by M$ in order to continue taking advantage of their partner program (read as almo$t free $oftware).





                                                                                                                                                                      
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