what next for Powerbuilder developer -- Java or .net

[Former Member]

Hi guys,

I have been working in Powerbuilder tech for last 10 year and now I find myself at a cross road to upskill myself as jobs have dried up in UK for powerbuilder projects. I have got another year before I hit the job market. I am totally confused as which direction should I go. Java world or .net side. Most companies in UK are moving away from PB product and jobs on offer are with little dev work and more of patch work. It looks only dev work happening in PB is in US.

Guys any suggestion will be really appreciated

thanks,

Viresh

[Former Member]

Hi Viresh,

Sounds like there are many legacy systems end-of-life-ing. You are in exactly the same bind as a lot of us. I asked myself the exact same question five years ago and my bet was on Objective-C and a future in App programming. Before actually learning the new language I found myself back in maintaining a legacy pfc based system to be kept alive for another year or two. Objective-C would have been a gamble for me and I would now have to transition forward to SWIFT which has replaced it.

PowerBuilder; with still unsurpassed datawindow technology; with XML; with WEB Services; with added Appeon WEB and Mobile plus a dose of very positive road map; is the basket I am putting all my eggs in;

The skills you have would not only be PowerBuilder. You would have SDLC. Agile maybe. You are most likely database designer and developer. You would have domain experience. Business Analysis. You probably know how to elicit requirements. Whilst Crystal Reports and Jasper are inferior to the datawindow, you can easily transition to either. If you want to be a lower level programmer; take on Java in your spare time. From job adds you can see the buzzwords.  Google them.

Lars

[Former Member]

"Objective-C would have been a gamble for me and I would now have to transition forward to SWIFT which has replaced it."

This sums it up for me, these modern technologies do not last very long which in my opinion says a lot about them. Within 2 years Objective-C was replaced by SWIFT which could be another short term trend.

To be honest it cannot predict what is gong to be the next big thing as there has not been one for many years now.....

I believe that there are more lines of Cobol used in production systems than any other language..... What does that tell you!?

David

[Former Member]

That's it  .... Micro Focus Object Oriented Cobol ... Visual COBOL | Micro Focus      

[Former Member]

Objective-C is not a modern technology, it has been used commercially since 1988, when NeXT licensed it and within Apple when they bought NeXT