.Net may top list of job skills in demand

ZDNet ^ | January 2, 2003 | Andrew Swinton

[Willie Green]

I remember my dad bringing home an HP35? calculator that actually had SIN & COS functions back in 72 or 73. They cost about $400 back then IIRC.

That sounds about right.
Handheld calculators certainly existed when I graduated in '74, but since most students couldn't afford them, they were strictly verboten for quizes and exams as an unfair advantage. It wasn't until the following year when I entered grad school when the university altered policy and made them a mandatory requirement when taking certain courses. I shelled out $200 for a Rockwell/Unicom that had trig/financial functions.

That was still a LOT of money back then for a student, but it worked great... at least until a year or so after the warranty ran out. Then the #7 button went kerflunky -- just touch the button and the entire display filled with 7's. Made me ill because of what I had paid for the dang thing. But by then I was out of school and working with a desktop calculator provided by my employer, so it really wasn't necessary to pick-up a replacement until prices for a full-featured handheld dropped to a more reasonable $25~35. Never had a need for the fancier, fully "programmable" models.

[VOA]

bump

[Bush2000]

Then add a non-deductable sum to their corporate income tax equal to the wages they pay every foreign worker employed by them or a contractor (to punish companies like Nike and the Gap) if the percentage of their foreign labor accounts for more than 20% of their general labor force and 10-15% of their white collar labor force. Look, something has to be done.

You don't seem to get it: Protectionism doesn't work. The cost of goods (textiles, semiconductors, etc) are low now because there are no protective tariffs. So, if you essentially put tariffs in place (and let's face it: a corporate tax on foreign labor amounts to a tariff on goods and services), the cost of goods will go up and thereby reduce demand. The reduction in demand will likewise cost jobs because inflation has a ripple effect across the economy. Economics 101.

[hchutch]

The answer is not to heap more abuse on companies that are fleeing overregulation and an out-of-control lawsuit culture. The fact is, bashing big business migth sound cool, it might be a thing that will score points with the little people, but when Big Business decides it's had enough of the hostile business climate, and decides to move to a friendlier one, whatcha gonna do?

[tm22721]

So when will FR start applying Six Sigma to increase the quality of posters/postings ??

BUMP

[Arthalion]

Significantly, .Net skills are appearing on the must-have list alongside Java and XML

I don't see it. I took some time out about a year ago to get up to speed on .Net, and since then have become very skilled with C#, J#, and VB.Net in a variety of programming scenarios. As an experienced programmer predating the boom days, my resume still brings in a lot of calls from headhunters trying to place me in new jobs. Do you know how many proposals I've had for jobs requiring .Net skills? Zero. While some employers would "like you to know it", the in-demand skills are still C++, Java, XML, and VB6. I have seen suprisingly little interest in the .Net platform at an enterprise level. It's really a shame too, because I actually enjoy programming C# (C# programming is VS.NET is nearly painless).

[Bush2000]

So when will FR start applying Six Sigma to increase the quality of posters/postings ??

LOL! I would settle for a "Do not show this poster's comments to me" checkbox.

[Bush2000]

I dunno. This study was largely derived from surveys with businesses. Needs change over time, and it's certainly possible that the differences in technology deployment could be regional.

[john316]

I guess my CNE won't get me far this year..

[Arthalion]

I dunno. This study was largely derived from surveys with businesses. Needs change over time, and it's certainly possible that the differences in technology deployment could be regional.

Possibly, but I only live 90 minutes from the Silicon Valley and that's where most of these job offers have originated (I used to commute there regularly, but gave it up for a local job 10 minutes from my house). While the Valley is definitely suffering a major downturn right now, a HUGE percentage of new software still originates from the area, and it's usually on the leading edge of new software trends. It's also worth mentioning that I also recently saw a survey done of the major job boards evaluating the "in demand" skills among actual positions open today. IIRC, C# was 9th or 10th on the list...behind even JavaScript and Cobol. I think this will change over the next few years because it's such a good language, but there isn't a whole lot of activity with it today.

[VOA]

bump