This was the question posed to me recently, and typically a difficult question to answer in the realm of computer science.
If a manager is hiring for a junior java programmer position asks, they're actually wondering if you've ever had a job as a Java programmer. If James Gosling asks, he's wondering "Can you list the standard java classes from memory - by package, alphabetically?".
And the question gets even more vague when we move to Salesforce.com. Why? Because Salesforce does NOT require a high level of technical expertise to be successful. Depending on the organization, the definition of "Development" on the Force.com platform can range from "Can you create formula fields?" to "Can you write an Apex Trigger?". Because the Force.com platform allows us to create sophisticated applications with ZERO code, most of the administrators out there have never THOUGHT of writing a trigger, and are rather amazed by someone who can.
"I met this Force.com developer - he was nuts! He wrote, like, 5 triggers, and even had a Visualforce Tab in his app! What an incredible developer!"
Any programmers reading this are chuckling to themselves. "Anyone impressed by a 'mere trigger' isn't a PROGRAMMER! They don't understand the DEPTH and COMPLEXITY of CODING!"
True. And the fact is, you don't need to know such things in order to develop very sophisticated custom applications on the Force.com Platform.
And it's this very dichotomy that makes it a difficult question. But it helps to know who's asking the question: System Administrator asking? "Why yes I am - I've written over 20 triggers" would suffice. Senior Java Programmer asking? "Why yes I am - in fact, I just wrapped up writing the unit test coverage on a 1000-line Apex class - man, those static methods were driving me NUTS!" is the entry level response.
And me? The 1000-line example is a true story, so yes, I am. Those with 20 years of C programming may disagree. But that's the beauty of Salesforce - expert development is available - without 20 years of C programming experience!
Let's take a step back from productivity for a moment, and consider that other software will be moving to the Cloud as well. Case in point - rather than spending $500 on that brand new next-generation video game console, or upgrading your PC's graphics card, what if all you needed was a broadband connection?
Onlive, a startup in Palo Alto, CA is trying to do just that. The MIT Technology Review reports:
"Today the company announced a service that lets any computer run the sorts of graphics-intensive video games traditionally reserved for high-end gaming systems. Games can also be played on a TV using a small device offered by the company that connects a television to a broadband Internet connection."The founder, Steve Perlman, was part of the team that developed Apple's Quicktime compression algorithm, and he's brought his expertise to bear in this venture, to ensure there is no lag between pushing the button and seeing the response on-screen:
"Games need to be very responsive to user so when you push a button, that game better react instantaneously; the big technical problem is when you push a button at home and it's actually running at a computer potentially thousands of miles away, there's going to be a lag," Dolbier says. "Solving that problem has been a major challenge that Rearden has been aggressively tackling for some time."Has he solved it? He seems to think so - Onlive has had 16 games up and running at its conference trade show booths and is planning to launch in late 2009. For more information, check out their website, see the demos, and sign up for the mailing list.
And yes, as a Cloud app, it will be a subscription model. Whether you consider that a good or a bad thing when it comes to your video games, it certainly beats shelling out hundreds of dollars for the next-generation video game console!
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