I have some very different opinions:
1) If you are a hiring manager, what do you look for when filing a cold fusion position? *I always look for someone who has a strong mind for logical thought. Also, I will not hire someone who does not have a relatively broad scope of knowledge. I always want someone with a college degree (I don't care if they majored in underwater basket-weaving) to prove they know how to learn and that they have the ability to stick with and finish something. These are the basic qualifications I look for regardless of what level programmer I'm hiring. Also, NO WYSIWYG development, *NONE*, and that goes for all levels as well. If you're going to get a job as even a junior developer, you should be working with code. 2) What do you need to know before trying to learn Cold Fusion? *First and foremost, logic. I mean *REAL* formal, analytical, algebraic logical thought. It's very important to know, also, how and why the internet works. Know HTML and understand how, in general, server-side scripting works. You also would be very well served to already have a good grasp on SQL and know how an RDBMS stores data. 3) What do you find as the best way to learn Cold Fusion? *As with most things in life, books and formal education can be great learning tools, but there is no substitute for experience. Even if you have to make it up, do project work. Dream up a problem and work out a solution. Get other developers to share their code with you, set it up on your own server and mess with the code to understand how and *WHY* everything works. 4) What is most important when learning Cold Fusion? *The most important thing to concentrate on is learning how to use Cold Fusion to efficiently interact with your data. The overriding importance of using an application server is to allow easy access to and control over data. Most of the actual CF code someone will ever write will be accessing and/or manipulating data. Next most important, I would say for the same reason, is learning to use control structures and conditional logic in an efficient manner. 5) How important is it to know server information if you are only going to be using Cold Fusion Studio? *If you're asking how important it is to know how servers work and to know basic TCP/IP... I think it is vitally important. If you don't really understand what's going on under the hood, you're not a good candidate to work on the car. I would hire someone with strong technical/networking knowledge and a sharp, easily educated mind who knows little about CF, before I'd hire someone who is already somewhat proficient in CF, but knows little about how all the systems work together. 6) How long did it take for you to really know Cold Fusion? *That's tough to say, because I thought I was the master after 6 months, only to find I really didn't know much. At a year I was doing very well and could do most any project I was handed in a respectable amount of time, but there were still some things I had to ask questions about that seem (in hindsight) sort of simple. After two years I was answering far more questions than I asked and was really beginning to write some applications that not only worked, but worked well. After three years I was writing applications that worked very well, and more importantly, very efficiently to boot. Now, after 5 years, I still find myself learning new ways to do things in CF. Hell, Ben Forta's still finding new ways to do things and I think most people would say he "really knows" Cold Fusion. Any other relating information would be much appreciated!! *I would like to add that the type of mind, attitude and work ethic that a person has lead more to my hiring decisions than their actual CF knowledge (assuming we're talking about full-time junior to mid-level developers). I always love to find someone who just can't learn enough to make them happy and is willing to bust his/her hump to get the job done. Ken Ferguson 972-987-7505 (sat - tues) 630-252-6749 (wed - fri) [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Jeremy Ridout [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 6:42 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: Cold Fusion Research Cool! A sounding board for all those little pet-peeves. comments inline... -----Original Message----- From: Shirley Cooper [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 5:47 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Cold Fusion Research I am currently conducting training in Cold Fusion and wanted to do some research to help my student? 1) If you are a hiring manager, what do you look for when filling a cold fusion position? We're a small shop here so I'm typically looking for a "hired gun" rather than a junior developer. However, important qualities are: - thinks like a programmer, - can works through a problem without running to the list or a coworker for help--but who knows when to do so, - wants to learn more and get better Im sure there are most, but I can't think of them right now. Oh yes, and I think that certification would be a good thing. It's not required. But they'll have to show competency without it. 2) What do you need to know before trying to learn Cold Fusion? HTML and SQL. You can learn SQL as you learn CF, but there aren't many dynamic Web sites out there that don't connect to a database. JavaScript and DHTML are moderately useful, but certainly not required. XML will start making this kind of list in the next year or so. 3) What do you find as the best way to learn Cold Fusion? Write code and get a good book (Forta's Web Application Construction Kit was my bible that first year). I've always found it difficult to learn a programming language if you don't have a program to write so find a project and learn as you write it. 4) What is most important when learning Cold Fusion? Loaded question... One of the simplest and most common things to do is go to a database, get a list of something, choose one of those somethings and display a detail, make changes to that something and update the database. As web programmers, most of what we do derives from this basic task. If you can't do this without looking in the book or asking help, then you need more experience. 5) How important is it to know server information if you are only going to be using Cold Fusion Studio? Im not sure that I understand the question--what do you mean, "server information"? If you are going to be building something that reads or writes files on the server, you certainly have to know a little bit about the server. CGI variables tell you things about the environment, including the server, and it helps to know what they mean. Datasource connections are set up on the application server so you have to know those. And you can't develop an application without knowing whether and how you can use application variables. I think Im beginning to understand the question--do you mean, "Does one have to know how to administer CF in order to program in it?" The answer is no. But it certainly helps to know what a datasource is, what the different debugging options are, and how persistent variables are/can be set up. Many of the questions on the CFUG list are answered by knowing how the server configuration places limitations on what you can/can't do. 6) How long did it take for you to really know Cold Fusion? For me, I think it was about one year... a light bulb suddenly came on and I closed my Forta book forever. Before that, there was a lot of sifting through the language reference and the online help to do things that today are second nature. As with any language you'll never completely wean yourself from the documentation. I'd probably have to look up how to use a cfhttp or cfregistry tag since I rarely use them. It also depends on how much you put into it. After that first year, I started browsing the forums, reading community discussions, reading articles on the Allaire site, etc. You get better quicker if you do that. 7) Any other relating information would be much appreciated!! The CF documentation is actually pretty decent. Strong recommendation to read the docs. The language reference is good in a pinch, but the other docs give you insight into how things fit together. Finally, get a methodology. Ill stop short of recommending one (Fusebox--cough!) but it definitely makes your world 10 times easier if you can have a GOOD standard way of doing something. Jeremy ---------------------------------------------------- Jeremy Ridout Internet Services Director American College of Emergency Physicians www.ACEP.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This email server is running an evaluation copy of the MailShield anti- spam software. Please contact your email administrator if you have any questions about this message. MailShield product info: www.mailshield.com ----------------------------------------------- To post, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe / unsubscribe: http://www.dfwcfug.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This email server is running an evaluation copy of the MailShield anti- spam software. Please contact your email administrator if you have any questions about this message. 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