XML.com: Nobody Asked Me, But... [Aug. 27, 2003]
This article rings true, as I'm busy (re-)sizing up which piece(s) of the grand world of XML are for me (these days).
I've long now said (two years, maybe?), XML is like ASCII. Saying, "we do XML" is like saying, "our product does ASCII." Yes, of course it does; nobody asks that anymore! The question is _what_ are you doing with XML? (and the legitimate replies can be myriad; hence the "grand world...")
Wm.
by John Simpson
"A few years ago, I crammed my head with everything XML-related that I could find; it all used to fit -- if not in my head, at least between the covers of a 300- or 400-page book."
"At work nobody knew anything about XML, and non-XML project priorities couldn't wait." [...so I was a leading XML generalist...!]
"It's true that there are people -- many if not all of them participants on the XML-DEV list -- who are apparently profoundly smart about nearly everything going on in the XML world; many of them grew up with and are still fond of SGML, Smalltalk, Lisp, and awk, yet are equally at home discussing Java, XML Schema, Unicode, web services, Perl, the Campaign for Real Ale, and the handling characteristics of the Segway. Face it, though: you are not one of those people" (emphasis added)
"There's just too much going on, and it's going on in too many places at once, for you to get it all."
"Select a specialty. Go deep instead of broad."
Posted by William in category: JobSearch at August 29, 2003 05:42 AM