Things are beginning to look grim at my job recently. Not that I fear I’ll lose it, but it seems I’m now the lead programmer of a non-evolving product. In the last three months my team has been downsized from 4 to 1, which means I no longer have a help-desk person. I realize the job market is slim right now, so I’ll take what I can get, but I don’t plan on working a help desk for the rest of my life, even if I am drawing a programmer’s salary. (Actually I’ve had quite a bit of time to read and post here, as some of you may have noticed, which has been nice. I don’t, however, want this privilege forever).

I have really great skills in Delphi (not just drag and dropping buttons, but true OO stuff), but I’m beginning to feel the pinch. Unfortunately I’ve not been spending a great deal of time learning new things, and while I don’t want to jump ship with from a great product, it is clear that M$ is pushing windows development toward .NET. I know Borland has its own .NET product in the works (which most likely will be fantastic), but since I’m on a project that has no reason to move to a new compiler, much less a whole new framework, it will be difficult for me to learn any new skills here in the workplace. We have a few other tasks with which I can get involved, but they all amount to Oracle database development, which sounds awful to me.

My question is: where do I go from here? I don’t want to get stuck working in a language that will be dead in a few years, yet the job market isn’t exactly bursting at the seams right now, especially for Delphi programmers. I’m sure that I could pick up C# in less than a week (actually I know I can since I’ve already read a book through on it), but when I was looking for a job last time people didn’t care if I could program or had read a book; all they were interested in was if I had experience in C#, C++, etc. I do have five years part-time experience in C and have aided a professor in teaching C++ at my old University, but this wasn’t enough for most employers last time I was job hunting: they wanted to see full-time work experience in C++.

I suppose I need to start learning some new technologies on my own, but what and how? And even if I’m able to pick up new skills, how can make new prospective employers take them seriously if I don’t have work experience? Any insights out there into how I can make sure I can stay marketable and sane would sure be appreciated. My biggest fear is that I’ll soon be joining the unemployed when the client decides not to fund my project any more now that it’s “finished”

where do I go from here?

That'd depend on what you're interested in. Are you interested in sticking with Windows? Developing GUIs? Database stuff? Is there an industry that you're interested in that's booming that isn't traditionally thought of as "IT"? If so, look and see what sort of IT work they need -- for example, programming for the visual effects industry can involve anything from Perl to C++ to proprietary languages, database work to signal processing. Once you've figured that out, then pick a project you can do that you can later shop around in demonstration of your abilities.

The only other advice I can think to give is to learn Linux/Unix, if you don't know it already. It's not going to take over from Windows anytime soon, but it is snowballing...

Thanks for your response. I really like developing desktop application, though I wrote a device driver a few years back and that was fun. I loathe scripting languages, which means I haven’t done too much web stuff. I suppose my real question, is .NET going to become the only option for windows development soon? I suppose if it is I’ll have to bite the bullet and get involved in some kind of side project in my spare time to gain experience.

As for Linux, I'm running Linux at home for my desktop (just to gain exposure), but haven't really had any real reason to write anything for it (other than a small financial app for my personal use).

Jeff,

I didn't jump to respond because this isn't an area I am very knowledgeable in. WRT:

"I suppose my real question, is .NET going to become the only option for windows development soon?

While most of the .NET vision seems unrealized, as a development tool set I'm not sure how much competition it will have (how much is left?).

I *do* see .NET-specific jobs being advertised here. Mostly by body shops, though, and this is MSFT's home turf, so some local businesses like a few insurance companies have deep-rooted MSFT platform loyaties. I would bet that .NET becomes the dominant framework for Windows development just because of MSFT's ability to drive that part of the market. What I wonder, though, is what success MSFT will have *overall* in advancing the .NET model, such as it is, in a market that is gowing increasingly wary on a lot of fronts (licensing, price, security).

In your place, I think I would be trying to pump up resume bits that are cross-platform and would spread your bets. C++ springs to mind (well, you said you hated scripting languages, so I had to come up with something!!) and somehow working more Linux into the resume with Windows, if you can find a way, couldn't hurt.

Oh, an almost complete tangent, but I just saw something really bizarre in the Seattle PI newspaper and I had to ask this cautionary question:
Does working with .NET make you drink the grape Kool-Aid?

From the linked article:

Federal prosecutors dropped the case against him after his death.

Phooey. Could have been turned into a "Weekend at Bernie's" Reality TV show. Would have been a hit for some network, I'm sure...