Welcome to the Dark Side

That is what shils told me when I asked her for learning materials for .NET. It is not that .NET is something dark or sinister, it's just an old office joke implying that Opensource is good and Microsoft is, well, bad.

I have began my first few steps in learning .NET. Right now I am reading a book entitled "C# for Java Developers", the very same book that Kristian and shils read as they wrestled their way in learning the "witch craft" -- the Microsoft Magic! So far, every concept that I have encountered is easy to grasp. After all C# and Java came from the same Object Oriented Programming concepts. But this doesn't stop in C# since I still have to learn the more advanced topics like ASP.NET, Web Services, Remoting, etc. before I can say that I am ".NET-ready".

Why the sudden shift of force (dark force ala Star Wars)? I am not actually changing my specialization. In fact I am currently a project manager and is not doing any programming task. I just wanted to broaden my expertise and industry exposure and also to prepare for .NET projects that I might manage in the future. But the main reason for the motivation was Topcoder. I wanted to be able to join a broader range programming competitions and of course increase my chances of winning!

Man! I'm into reading and studying lately! Aside from my .NET endeavor, I am also beefing up my knowledge in Requirements Engineering with the book Software Requirements as my guide. I have also just finished researching and reading about the Google Calendar API which I mentioned in my previous blog. Unfortunately I found out that while it is possible to embed a Google Calendar in a web site, feeding Blogger feeds to it is still not yet possible. Perhaps when Google mashup is ready for public consumption, that is the time when my goal will be realized. And while in the office, I am studying about the tool JIRA - an issue tracking tool that is quite powerful!

Call me a nerd or a geek but in today's world, good looks and a nice ab will not land you a good and stable job. Perhaps it will land you to a rich widow's lap but not on a niche way up that you can always be proud of.

Cross train, expand your reach, experience, learn.