We get asked a lot about what technology is “dying” and what we suggest. New and veteran developers ask, trying to get a feel for how one solution is perceived vs another. Just a hint so they can start coding if it interests them – in a new more “progressive” language.
There’s many benchmarks to analyze popularity. Brad Wood recently tweeted that CFML still ranked high on the “Code2015 list”. There’s many other languages there too. But is a code’s ranking enough to “adopt it”? Not always.. but sometimes.
Similarly when Hostek plans it’s yearly goals. We know people are still interested in Windows VPS hosting, ColdFusion VPS hosting and rising strongly cPanel VPS hosting. But we still have to ask hard questions like what service can we add that will provide customers with maximum impact for their goals – getting in the “Ground zero” mindset.
Where to start @ Ground Zero
How could someone determine “where to start” no matter what they want to accomplish? There’s a few questions to ask:
- Is there an objective or “goal” to reach?
- If so what gives me an advantage to get there (which tool or language)?
- What’s the next best option (popular)?
- Be 100% committed.
- Start coding.
Warren Buffet said he will invest in what people are buying. Meaning – if the world is buying lots of widgets, he’d invest in something dealing with those. And on the flip side, he said to sell when people are selling.
You can apply this to the process to start coding too. This may not be a popular idea with hard core coding crowd. (i.e. Many developers are in love with their language of choice – but that’s not always best.) But I’ve seen the “buy when hot” method work for developers like Ben Nadel. He’s been writing about ColdFusion for years, but recently endeavored to start coding in Angular. What makes Ben a bit different? He doesn’t do or write anything 50% committed. He’s all in – you should checkout Ben Nadel’s blog.
Lets say for example – Jane wanted to code but never had before. She wanted to eventually take over her companies web-design. They use a CMS called Kentico.
- First I might search “How to design Kentico templates” (read)
- Then search “Kentico templates” (find popular ones)
- Download and try Kentico for myself (this might require shared .NET hosting)
- Then start coding.
Just start coding something! Jessica Able writes about the process of having lots of ideas and no action – this calling it idea debt.
Now if it’s Jane’s goal to become a web-designer in general. That would be a different approach. She might then jump straight into WordPress Theme Development. Why? Because the world is buying WordPress skills.
If it were to be a developer and get a new job. Start coding with .NET, PHP or javascript – because these are mainstream. And there’s almost 100% guarantee that if you dive into these areas and get good (even a little) you’ll get hired.
The key.. start coding, give it 100%. We hope you do – and once you get really big don’t forget to buy the best web hosting from Hostek 🙂
Tags: VPS Hosting, Windows VPS HostingCategories: Developers