Working at inRESONANCE taught me a number of things about software development that I hadn't learned as an independent developer. As an independent you are responsible for everything - business development, project specification, design, coding, testing, bug fixing, installation, support, billing, and everything else you never thought of. If you're not proficient at one or more of those things, say billing clients for work you've done, you're not going to last very long.
Recently I had breakfast with fellow iR alumnus Andy Chase. We talked many things, tried not to talk too much about iR, when our discussion turned to the pros and cons of Joomla and Drupal. Both are full featured content management platforms with active developer communities. The primary difference between the two, and what we surmised makes Drupal the clearly better platform is architecture.
Andy has an appreciation for software architecture I haven't seen in many, let alone a self-trained developer. It appears that in the time since I received my degree in computer science many schools have decided the "science" part isn't worth the bother and are instead turning out degrees in computer training. No comparative languages, no algorithm analysis and design, and no compiler design. Sure, there are a few schools that continue to teach those archaic and dismal arts but it's quite possible to get through without them. Colleges seem to be turning out fewer architects and more builders.
Andy is anecdotal evidence that those courses aren't really needed. Architects don't need to be made, they can be born. As another iR alumnus once told me, software architecture is a "temperament." Architects appear to have an innate interest in and appreciation of the seemingly mundane concerns of software development. Things like performance, scalability, stability, and extensibility. It's not enough that the application works, it needs to work reliably.
Software architecture appears to have a bad rap among some developers. Frequently I've heard the charge (occasionally leveled at myself) "let's not over-architect this." Funny I've never heard anyone say, "let's not under-architect this." Looking at the penalties for each, it's surprising to me that more people aren't concerned about under-architecture. I've recently had the pleasure of looking at what I would consider an under-architected FMP application. FMP isn't particularly well-suited to developing "large" applications. In my opinion, having a well-architected solution becomes even more important with FMP. Large systems without well-defined architecture have a tendency to become "brittle." I can recall one application where temporarily changing the storage of a calculation field cascaded through the application and broke unknown and untold functionality.
As an independent developer I never had an appreciation for software architecture. Too often the major constraint was time, and that was nearly always because I had underbid the project or my attentions were necessarily diverted by the many other things required in running your own business. In my current employ I am working with a team who, happily, have an appreciation for well-archictected solutions. It is what has allowed us to work remotely and have the different modules reliably work together. Not every team member needs to be an architect, but it is important that they see some value in the art. There is still the danger of "over-architecting" something (the penalty for which, by the way, is spending too much time designing and not enough time building) but the other team members help keep that tendency in check.
Corn I see that you are certified by reading the proofgroup site, but isn't the certification as such more a builders test than an arhitects dito. I can't help finding certification as such a fad, I once worked for company making hoose joints - it was back in the ISO 9001 haydays, and was asked for certification at a trades fair. He answered the request by handing a joint to the person, and told him if I owned a marked stand selling bananas could i be certified if I made the rule only 3 brown spots on each banana sold.
--sd
Posted by: Søren Dyhr | May 07, 2007 at 11:51 AM