Great analysis
This is a great analysis of the WebSphere/Domino world in the DominoPower. I agree with everything you said in that analysis. I have been saying this to the colleagues I work with but I was disappointed till now, that no one from the industry is writing about the big picture.

Keep up the good work.

Nathan Balagopal
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

Kudos
Just wanted to take a few moments to compliment you on your DominoPower article. That article is "spot on" with what I see almost every day in the IT company I work for. A lot of people fear change and innovation. What strikes me as weird is that "techie" people are usually the first ones to explore new gadgets and technologies. I am riddled as to why Lotus/IBM developers have such a hatred for Microsoft produces. MS developers feel the same about IBM/Lotus. The Linux people in our group hate both IBM and MS. I get a chuckle out of it.

I've done Notes/Domino development for 7 years. I've done ASP and SQL development for 4. I've recently crossed into the Java development arena. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, but instead to drive home how beneficial the variety of environments and languages have been to me. Each environment has complimented the other and has made me a stronger developer overall. I try to instill that same level of excitement in other developers on my team, but it often falls on deaf ears. I guess some people are just too set in their ways.

Anyway, just wanted to send some kudos for the article. I forwarded it to my colleagues.

Rich Puskarich

The shame of it all
You should be ashamed of yourself for writing and publishing such a condescending article. Using profanity on top of that just makes you look juvenile. Are you really the Editor in Chief??

Your article just made fun of the natural concern people have for their jobs, especially in a time when IT is threatened with extinction due to offshoring within the next 5 to 10 years. Talking to us like we're children only makes me want to get rid of your stupid newsletter and spread the word to every techie I know that receives them.

And for God's sake, quit telling developers to "go learn" Websphere, .NET, or anything else. 99% of us are limited to what our companies are currently using and what they will pay for our training on. Unless you have genuine job-related experience in these other technologies, they are worthless on a resume. Reading a book or tinkering at home aren't going be judged as worthy of line on the resume.

You should issue an apology to your readers. That was insulting and unprofessional. Next time, do some more homework, writing something of substance, and encourage your readers with positive information.

Julian McMaster

David responds to Julian's letter
You're not limited to what your company is providing. There are tons of free resources online for you to learn about these tools. Our magazines are just one example. Last week, in WebSpherePower, we ran an article about 10 free resources for folks who wanted to use WebSphere. Books are also inexpensive, and most companies offer free downloadable evaluation versions, which will give you a few months of hands-on time.

You've got to take charge of your future. You can't rely on companies to do so. And while you're welcome to be insulted (you don't really want to wait tables, do you?), you can also find ways to make yourself more valuable. Nothing -- nothing -- will make you more valuable than learning new things.

Frankly, after chuckling, I thought about ignoring your letter. But it really bothered me that you'd already found a bunch of reasons why you wouldn't get what you wanted, instead of creating reasons why you should.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the average per-capita income in the U.S. in 2002 was $28,546. Most IT folks make 2 to 3 times that amount. If you want to keep making 2-3x what most Americans make, you're gonna have to work just a bit harder, don't you think?

Stop whining, stop finding excuses, stop expecting your company to guarantee your future, and take charge of your own life.

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise, has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com.