Upskilling myself

lukin

OK I know loads of people ask this but my question is more specific. I am working at the moment in ASP/C# development (Web Services, Windows Services, Windows Application dev). I am getting fairly good experience in my job but am underpaid (in my humble opinion).
I am looking for a new job but a lot of the interviews I go for ask me about things like MVC/JSON/JQuery etc.
I can only work within the confines of what my job entails, it's not my manager's place to be indulging my whims but I would like to bring in some stuff like the above to our development.
I could if I wanted (it's a small company, I can change things if I want, my boss is not involved in development).
I was considering doing the 70-536 exam but ideally I would prefer to get real practical experience of developing something so that is why I want to change our product to something more up to date development-wise (ie change from ASP.NET to MVC).
It's probably not needed as our app works fine as it is, but I could say to my boss it is needed and he'd probably believe me.
I just want to know if there are any managers reading this then can they advise me whether to do some certification or bring in some new technologies to my everyday work. Which is more impressive?
I think I know the answer, I just want to know for certain.

syklops

Its very simple. You got asked about MVC/JSON/JQuery in an interview, then all you need to do is play with them in your spare time long enough that you have an opinion on them.

Don't try including any of them into your current assignments unless they are a good fit to the project requirements. Otherwise your project wont be as good as it could be, your boss will be unhappy with you, and you still wont have a job to go to.

As an experienced developer you will be able to pick up a lot of the idiosyncrasies very quickly, write some apps involving those methodologies, or contribute on open source projects involving them, and you will have everything you need to be able to talk authoritatively on the subject.

Malice

I'm not a manager but I have been in a similar situation in the past. If you can demonstrate a clear benefit (in plain English) to introducing jQuery or JSON or whatever into a project then it can't hurt to let management know. Customers aren't going to want to pay for switching to ASP.NET MVC just because you want to learn it but if a switchover can be planned as part of a maintenance update along with other functionality that they do want then it becomes easier to convince them.

You can also bite the bullet and develop some small applications on your own time to get familiar with the technologies you want to learn about which will help with interviewing. For example I found a simple project reading and displaying data from the Northwind and Adventure Works databases and then doing things client-side with jQuery very beneficial.

Unfortunately maintenance development can be mind-numbingly dull at times and I've only found two solutions to getting out of it - you complain to your manager and get re-assigned to another project or you complain to your manager and get re-assigned out the door.

advise me whether to do some certification or bring in some new technologies to my everyday work. Which is more impressive?

There are pros and cons to both so could you not do both?

lukin

Malice wrote: »

There are pros and cons to both so could you not do both?

Don't have the time; I spent a fair bit of "free" time in my last job doing a website that helped me get this job so I don't really want to have to do that again.
I know it's a bit dishonest to put something/change something in a work project app just for personal benefit but it's not entirely selfish. I could improve the functionality of our product and learn some new stuff myself along the way.
To be honest I am getting a bit bored with the way we do things here.
MVC seems to be what they all ask for instead of ASP.NET and AJAX is kind of old hat too now.

Malice

lukin wrote: »

Don't have the time;

I don't mean this to sound harsh but I can't find a better way of saying it so I'm just going to say it so please don't take offence . If you don't have an opportunity to learn these technologies at work and you don't have time to learn them outside of work, when will you learn them? If you really want to learn them then it's pretty simple, you'll find the time somewhere.

lukin wrote:

I spent a fair bit of "free" time in my last job doing a website that helped me get this job so I don't really want to have to do that again.

I'm sure most people on this forum have written applications in their own time. I know I have . I do it partly to work on areas I don't touch in work and to keep my skillset up to date but also because, fundamentally, I enjoy programming.

lukin wrote:

I know it's a bit dishonest to put something/change something in a work project app just for personal benefit but it's not entirely selfish. I could improve the functionality of our product and learn some new stuff myself along the way.

Like I wrote in my previous post, if you can elaborate to your boss on exactly how the functionality of the application could be improved then you might get exactly the opportunity you're looking for.

lukin wrote:

MVC seems to be what they all ask for instead of ASP.NET and AJAX is kind of old hat too now.

Who is they?

syklops

lukin wrote: »

Don't have the time;

If I used that attitude I'd still be in tech support.

I spent a fair bit of "free" time in my last job doing a website that helped me get this job so I don't really want to have to do that again.

Does not compute.

lukin

Malice wrote: »

Who is they?

Employers.

lukin

syklops wrote: »

If I used that attitude I'd still be in tech support.

I know; I got out of a "kind of" tech support job by upskilling myself in my spare time. I'm just saying I'd rather upskill myself and work at the same time.
I like finding out about new stuff; I suppose I will have to get to work on something up in the evenings/weekends. I don't think I'll do the 70-536 though, seems a bit too rigid, if I do something I can choose myself it'll be more fun.