Advice required: Joining Development role for web services

Dear All,

I have 2.5 years Exp in Java technologies; Mainly Core Java, JSP, Servlets working in UK on a european research project (collabaration of universities and research companies).

Having some knowledge of Java Web services; I have now managed to get a Software Engineer job on another european research project, that involves Development of an new SOA based architecture for handling biological data. I do not have indepth understanding of SOA based architecture, and technolgies used in it. My role being a Software Engineer would involves coding, testing, deployment of it.

Briefly the work would involve development of Web services, front-end for accesing those services.

As its a contract project for 18 months, I am not sure what propects I might have in the future.

As I am a naive to the SOA domain and its related technologies, Could anyone please give some suggestions on whether I should go for it ?

Should you have any queries, then please do let me know.

Kind regards,
Hardik
SCJP 1.5

If your current job is a permanent position, why not stick to that?

@Jothi: Thanks for your response.

Well, my current position in UK is also on a contract basis, which is due in a month
So I am wondering, whether to go for this european project option or look for options in India, as the market seems to be going great, these days in India.

As its a contract project for 18 months, I am not sure what propects I might have in the future.

By this I meant, the technologies that I would learn through the 18 months, what prospects would that bring for me later on in India, as I am quite new to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) domain and its technologies.

I guess you should go for it. 18 months is just ample time to prove to your current employer that you are worth to be considered for a permanent position with them.

@Jothi:

I guess you should go for it. 18 months is just ample time to prove to your current employer that you are worth to be considered for a permanent position with them.

Well its a european government funded research project, and positions in such sort of projects are always on contract basis...

But I would appreciate, if you or someone else could please provide thier opinion on my main question,

By this I meant, the technologies that I would learn through the 18 months, what prospects would that bring for me later on in India, as I am quite new to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) domain and its technologies.

As a developer you don't need indepth understanding of SOA. Have a good high level over view of what a SOA is? Architects are the ones who need to have indepth understanding of SOA. All you need to have is

-- goood undesatnding of XML based technologies like XML, XSD, XPath, XQuery, JAXB, etc.

-- Good understanding of Web Service technologies like SOAP, WSDLs, XSDs, developing Web Services using Java, bottom-up and top-down approaches, SoapUI tool for testing, etc.

You will learn quickly if keen enough.

Hardik Raja wrote:So I am wondering, whether to go for this european project option or look for options in India, as the market seems to be going great, these days in India.

We're all different, of course, but are you really basing decisions about where you might spent the next part of your life on something as trivial as 18-month contracts, or whether or not SOA might have more or less of a future?

(Cue Monty Python chorus: Yes, we are all individuals! :-)

@ arulk: Thanks for that introduction to SOA technologies, It would be nice for me to know more about them.

@Ulf: That was a good question, and I should rather focus on how this project would help me in increasing my expertise in java technologies.