Technology Switch - Advice Needed

[Sriram Kannan]

Hi All,

You might have heard this (whining :-)) before. Pardon me to bring it up again :-)

I joined as a fresher and has been working as a Domino Developer (Lotus Notes Client/Web Applications). It's been almost 4 years and I have worked quite a number of projects.

For the past 1 - 1 1/2 years, I have been growing more interested to work in Java/J2EE. I studied a lot about it and worked my way through certifications as well and cleared them (SCJP, SCBCD and SCWCD).

I am in a very confused path at the moment, not sure how to proceed further. I took steps in the company trying to get some smaller assignments to changing my technology, but getting rejected every time with the argument of "You have to compete with freshers if you are starting afresh". I do not mind to take challenges as long as I am learning and in touch with the technology.

I have no 'hard' feelings about being a Domino Developer, in fact am good at it too. I am planning to pursue a technical career and thinking Java/J2EE would be a better ground to expand my proficiency and experience.

Also, all these learning with 'no working' brings me the fear of losing what I have learned. Though I am trying to keep myself working on 'mock' assignments, this do not raise my hopes further.

My problem is not able to decide "Next What ?". I am not thinking of switching companies because I know there are good projects in my own. Also, even if I try to switch, the same 'Domino Profile - Java Position' problem arise.

If anyone can clear my doubts or give me an idea, I would very much appreciate that.

Thanks a lot :-)

[Deepak Bala]

You have to compete with freshers if you are starting afresh

You have to learn something new at some point in time anyway. Dont let something like this stop you from taking up J2EE.

If you try a switch for J2EE, that might be a problem since you have no real world experience on that area. You can work on the new assignments and then decide what is best for you.

You are trying your hand at J2EE today. It could be BIRT / Php / My Sql / Linux tomorrow. Dont let that stop you from learning or taking new assignments. Everyone goes through that

[Joe San]

Try participating in some OpenSource projects which require Java / J2EE skills. Through this you could get some real time experience.

[Sriram Kannan]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:Try participating in some OpenSource projects which require Java / J2EE skills. Through this you could get some real time experience.

Thanks for the idea, I was thinking about it too. But, dunno where to begin with. Can you please let me know some details of where such assignments can be found ?

[Rohan kanade]

www.apache.org. This foundation runs vast numbers of Java projects as well as other projects too.

[Sriram Kannan]

Thanks a lot Rohan :-) I ll check immediately. Thanks everyone for your time in replying me.