But really the whole IT community is negative right now. The dot com
implosion being what it was...going from "we can wear shorts and sandals and
get free soda and foozball and work whenever we want" abruptly changed to
"we have to adhere to the dress policy and pay for our snacks and punch a
time clock". That's for those who were lucky enough to stay employed.
And for those of us who were, the salaries were likely drastically reduced.
We all remember ads that were more than happy to offer $60-$80k for *just*
HTML and a server-side language of choice (be it CF, ASP, PHP, etc). I see
ads today asking for not only that, but Java, full-blown DBA qualifications,
.NET (these are not "or's"...these are "and's")...and offering half the
salary. Hell, I'm currently trying to fill a position that's looking for
HTML, _javascript_, CF, Java, PhotoShop, Flash... and as a "would be nice" any
XML/.NET/Java experience. The most I'm allowed to offer is $43k.
There's also that outsourcing of jobs issue that seems to have people's
panties in a bunch.
So yes...as a whole, IT workers are fairly negative at the moment.
Drill down to CF. I do believe it gets worse.
I think that among our "peers" (developers of other languages), we're looked
down upon because we don't use a "real" language (it can't be real if it's
tag-based, apparently). And of course the 'developer' vs 'designer' civil
war that was fueled (IMO, of course) by MM dropping CF Studio.
I'm not going to debate who's currently 'winning' the server side
programming war. I have no idea and I'm not going to venture a guess. The
numbers can be skewed too easily in any direction. Between .NET, PHP, and
CF tho...I see a lot more job offers for ...well, anything other than CF.
It's certainly evident where that would/could cause a knee-jerk reaction for
those of us who rely on CF for our livelihoods. If the reason for this
perceived lack of CF jobs is anything other than just that...MM should
definitely employ some damage control and get the word out. If, to Sean's
point, CF is "extremely popular for Intranets"...that fact should be more
widely publicized. Whatever it takes to dispell the (apparent) myth that CF
is dying.
Agreed 100% that removing the CF Community Manager positions was not a good
thing. Very shortly after it happened, I was part of a discussion with a
fellow developer where we both felt the impact immediately. It was
absolutely like there was a very noticable void.
Bottom line is whether it's true or not...whether the concerns are unfounded
or not...the 'rumors' of CF's imminent demise surface on a regular basis.
Obviously, somebody somewhere is not doing something right...or we wouldn't
be subject to the rumors as often as we are.
How to make us more 'positive'? That's an uphill battle. First off because
of the aforementioned 'gloom and doom' mentality around the IT field in
general. But I think some steps would be:
1) CF specific community managers who interact more frequently with the
community (whether via mailing lists, CFUG meetings (even if it means
travelling and showing up as a guest...not necessarily a guest
speaker...just a guest), etc).
2) Addressing the designer vs developer issue. I hear rumors that this may
be happening...but right now they're just rumors. But the current solution
(package HS+ with DW with absolutely no marketing or mention of the product)
doesn't make us developers feel warm and fuzzy.
3) To Michael's point in the MM-Talk thread...keep us informed. Let us know
about patches and hotfixes. You've got us as a customer...yet most of the
correspondence I receive seems to be of a sales nature. Stop preaching the
the choir and help me get the most out of the product I've already chosen to
use and purchased.
And on a side note...I really can't imagine that Sean believes the community
sees him speaking as 'just a CF developer' as opposed to a MM employee. I
think we all know he's not talking 'officially' as an MM employee...but I
for one don't see him as 'just another CF developer'. It's even more
difficult to do so when his site is PHP :)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judith Dinowitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Community" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 10:32 AM
Subject: Positive Outlooks in the CF community
> Sean Corfield made a remark on this thread on Macromedia-Talk about the CF
community being one of the most negative technical communities around.
(Meaning we're always talking negatively.)
>
> http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=m:28:34:134
>
> So what do you think? Do you think he's right? I would love to bring him
ways in which the CF community is a very positive community.
>
> Judith
>
>
>
>
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