Skills and Best Jobs for 2011

According to the recently published CNN Money Best Jobs in America 2010, Software Architect is #1. Being an architect myself, 2010 has been a good year. I am not sure what the CNN Money criteria is and knowing that surveys are dependent on statistical sample populations, the results should be taken at face value as published. However, it is nice to know that software engineering is becoming a bright spot again after several years of economic downturn.

The outlook for 2011 even looks good according to this source "11 Hot Skills for 2011". Project Management skills and a broad range of experience that spans systems engineering, security, and business acumen are critical. Architects must have demonstrated technical competence and be highly creative which earns a baseline respect among peers and customers. These attributes as well as highly tuned skills in project managements, leadership, and most importantly the ability to communicate well and work with diverse sets of people on every task are essential for success.

We shall see how 2011 and the next few years evolves. For now, this is a bright spot and being an optimist I agree with the surveys and assessment.

Whiteboard Warrior

From an agile modeling (AM) viewpoint, the Whiteboard Warrior moniker as dubbed by Scott Ambler is suitable for the modern agile world. Modeling is not just about using specific modeling or CASE tools. It is about techniques, communication, and abstracting ideas into graphical form that can be translated into working technology solutions that happen to have a software component.

Over the past twenty years of having used paper, whiteboards, drawing tools, diagramming tools, flowcharting tools, then CASE tools, then modeling tools (lightweight and heavyweight) etc., the one common denominator has been the ability to visualize graphically my ideas. The tools and notations tend to evolve over time but the modeling intent remains consistent. The one tool that has stood the test of time has been the whiteboard, paper, and pencil/marker/pens technique. They can be done anywhere, and at anytime. Even when you don't have the paper or pen, you can do it in the dirt/sand or on napkins at a restaurant/bar.

Many innovations and breakthroughs have been conceived and communicated on napkins.

Apache Shiro has Graduated from the Incubator

Apache Shiro, the Java security framework, has officially graduated from Incubation. This actually occurred in September but took a few weeks to get its main web page updated.