Thursday, May 29, 2008

who is the ideal flex developer? Flash dev or Java dev or DHTML/Ajax dev?

Alright!! I know the topic is a little stupid , May be I should-phrase it to "who should I hire ?"

Whatever it be , I am just trying to figure out who would be my flex developer ??! . Is it the graphics guy Joe who had done numerous animations for web sites based on flash MX, spendign time on the timelines and frames using action script just a little to prevent the headaches that can happen later OR is it the java guy who was creating windows/Desktop applications with java swings and felt miserable with lack of flexibility (Think UI,colors,themes,god looking apps). Thank you sun! OR Is it the web developer who was toiling and moiling with the ugly browser quirks and the so called Ajax hacks and frameworks that are growing at tons per second.

Who would I hire If I had to ?

Well.Lemme try to summarize what command over flex really means and my opinion on who excels in which aspects?


1. OOPs principles
  • Java Guy - It goes without saying that the java guys excels here.The java masters know how to apply a structured approach to problem solving. Picking up somethign like Cairnghorm will be a piece of cake if one is a proper Java developer. The event model is something that all java developers would find to be very very inituitive. Last but not the least, Java guys are almost always familiar with design pattenrs.Though these folks may have a tendency to write really large code, they structure the solution properly!! They Scale.
  • Flash guys - Well ..How Object Oriented is actionscript? Most flash guys of 2000 - 2005 were working with actionscript2.0 which really did not have much to offer from an OO perspective
  • Web Developer - Web developers are so to hacks that they are never really allowed to do oops with javascript . Thanks to lack of Mature Object Oriented aspects in javascript, no web developer really knows to crack a tough problem by breaking it into objects, if not rare.
2. Interface Design
  • Java Guys: These folks are a little dumb here.. They never value the coolness that a tool like flex can bring to ones interface. They like simple interfaces lot more! Though using mxml will be very easy thanks to their familiarity with xml based frameworks like jsf
  • Flash Guys: These folks will harness the power of flash animations to the fullest.just try giving them a login page as a sample. You will fall in love with flex on first sight. :-)
  • Web Developer: These folks can do a decent enough job , but will surely take more time.. Reason. They are so to frameworks like prototype , SCriptaculous that it takes a bit of time for em to get rid of that "div" thing :-)
3. Product Engineering Capablities

  • (Will be continued)