Where are the Access Developers?

[TC]

I'd like to open a discussion about the state of the industry. For the
past year, I've been unable to find competent Access developers
available for hire. I'm worried about that.

I think there's great demand right now, and that's keeping the good
developers busy, but that's not enough to explain the situation.
Whenever I post an Access job, I get lots of responses from .NET
developers, back-end database people, and web developers. They all have
the attitude that "I don't really do Access application development,
but Access is easy, so I can handle your job." (No!) The message I'm
getting is that people are choosing to build their skills in .NET, in
back-end database work, and in web development, even though the market
is well-served in those fields, but they aren't building their skills
in Access fast enough to keep up with the demand.

If that is indeed what is happening, I can't find a good explanation
why. Sure, Access has a lightweight reputation, and people don't see it
as a career-maker -- but that has always been the case, yet somehow
there have always been plenty of Access developers in the past. What
has changed now? I can't help but wonder if Access's star has faded to
the point where job seekers eschew it as old technology. That would be
a shame, because I think it will be a very long time before Access
loses its market niche.

Anyway, those are my comments. I wonder if other Access professionals
have made similar (or conflicting) observations.
-TC

[PC Datasheet]

For all who read this, gp back in this thread and read Lyle Fairfield's
response. He asks,
"Where did Dev, Keri, Pete, Rebecca, Dimitri, Clive, John, Radu, Gary,
George, Chris, Paul, Vanderghast go? Was their collective brilliance
ever replaced?"

A person whose name you see associated with many of the examples in
MVPS.Org/Access wrote to me not long ago and said "I rarely contribute to
the newsgroup anymore. I just got tired dancing with the pigs".

A frequent contributor to the newsgroup wrote not long ago to Arno R,
"If you have anything to contribute to the group, contribute. Your war
with Datasheet is simply pissing and moaning in the wind for the sake of
nothing. Grow up and get a life."

Later he referred to Arno R and some others as "losers" who contributes
little or nothing to the newsgroup.

The answer to Lyle's question is that Arno R, Keith Wilby, John Marshall,
Randy Harris, Rob Oldfield and a few others have driven the collective
brillance away from the newsgroup.
--
PC Datasheet
Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word Applications
Over 1100 users have come from the newsgroups requesting help.
re******@pcdata sheet.com
"StopThisAdvert ising" <StopThisAdvert ising@DataShit> wrote in message
news:43******** *************** @text.nova.plan et.nl...

"PC Datasheet" <no****@nospam. spam> schreef in bericht
news:Iz******** ***********@new sread1.news.atl .earthlink.net. ..

--
PC Datasheet
Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word Applications
Over 1100 users have come from the newsgroups requesting help.
re******@pcdata sheet.com

<snipped resume>
Before you believe all the nonsense that he wrote here look at:
http://home.tiscali.nl/arracom/whoissteve.html (updated)

Arno R

[Lyle Fairfield]

Since the 1970s I have regularly used (Asc("Z") - Asc(UCase(LastN ame))
+ 1) as the chief factor in determining who gets an interview.

[David W. Fenton]

"Lyle Fairfield" <ly***********@ aim.com> wrote in
news:11******** **************@ g43g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com:

I became a member of the group (Access Developers) when there were
many bright, capable and proud Access Developers, and when there
was pride in new ideas. I think the number of such persons is,
perhaps, less than twenty per cent of its peak, and the pride is
almost non-existent. Many of those remaining have little to
contribute except the same tired ideas they have repeated over and
over again, since they learned them from someone else who has
moved on, and some persons here with the strongest reputations
have never contributed an original idea to the Access community.

This is so much bullshit unless you name names, Lyle.

I completely disagree with it.

Solutions to a set of problems are unlikely to change over time if
the underlying application they are hosted in has not changed
significantly. Since A97, there have been no truly major changes in
the basic functionality of Access as a Jet client. Thus, solutions
that worked great way back when still work just great.

Now, Access has added many other features, but about the only one
that has any value is the use of ADO with SQL Server. Most all the
other new Access features (notably, ADPs) have been abandoned as
unusable even by those, like you, were their ardent defenders when
they first came out.

This means that a major core of Access development is still Access
with Jet back ends, and this has been the case for about 10 years.
It should not be surprising, then, that a lot of solutions that
worked in 1996 still work in 2006. Why would someone try to come up
with some creative different way to solve a problem just because the
known solution has been around for a long time?

Is this a part of your rusty code argument again?

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

[Tom van Stiphout]

On 19 Jan 2006 22:05:34 -0800, "TC" <go*********@ya hoo.com> wrote:

We vary our methods. We're about to try a different agency - this one
is a service that places online ads and screens them for our criteria.
Most of the time the screener is our receptionist. She will also do an
initial email follow-up (salary range, a few pages of source code).

-Tom.

I'm pleased to see so many thoughtful responses to my post. I must say,
however, that you guys haven't given me much reason for optimism.

Tom, I think I need to adopt a screening process like yours. Do you use
an employment agency?
-TC

[Tom van Stiphout]

On 20 Jan 2006 04:51:43 -0800, "Lyle Fairfield"
<ly***********@ aim.com> wrote:

I agree it's a black art, and I have made spectacular mistakes. We
often discuss our methodology, and seem to always come back to a more
rational approach. We probably look as much for attitude as for
knowledge.

-Tom.

Since the 1970s I have regularly used (Asc("Z") - Asc(UCase(LastN ame))
+ 1) as the chief factor in determining who gets an interview.

[Lyle Fairfield]

I think (Asc("Z") - Asc(UCase(LastN ame)) + 1) is quite rational.
I found that many of the A's who were (still) looking for work, had
been considered by my organization and others, but nor hired.
When there are a thousand applicants, we often start at the top as we
consider which we might interview. And the order is often alphabetical.
I found that many Z's had never had an interview or reply to their job
applications. Some seemed very surprised when contacted. And among them
were many stars.

When someone asks my advice about finding employment my first
suggestion is, "Change your last name to Aardvark."

[Wayne Gillespie]

On 20 Jan 2006 04:51:43 -0800, "Lyle Fairfield" <ly***********@ aim.com> wrote:

Since the 1970s I have regularly used (Asc("Z") - Asc(UCase(LastN ame))
+ 1) as the chief factor in determining who gets an interview.

Lyle

Sometimes I have no idea what you are talking about.
Sometimes I know exactly what you are talking about.

I don't know which worries me more :-)
Wayne Gillespie
Gosford NSW Australia

[rkc]

David W. Fenton wrote:

"Lyle Fairfield" <ly***********@ aim.com> wrote in
news:11******** **************@ g43g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com:

I became a member of the group (Access Developers) when there were
many bright, capable and proud Access Developers, and when there
was pride in new ideas. I think the number of such persons is,
perhaps, less than twenty per cent of its peak, and the pride is
almost non-existent. Many of those remaining have little to
contribute except the same tired ideas they have repeated over and
over again, since they learned them from someone else who has
moved on, and some persons here with the strongest reputations
have never contributed an original idea to the Access community.

This is so much bullshit unless you name names, Lyle.

I completely disagree with it.

This is a example of code that was thought to be so brilliant
by the pioneers of Access that it needed to be copyrighted.

'************** *** Code Start *************** ****
'This code was originally written by Dev Ashish
'It is not to be altered or distributed,
'except as part of an application.
'You are free to use it in any application,
'provided the copyright notice is left unchanged.
'
'Code Courtesy of
'Dev Ashish
'
Function fIsFileDIR(stPa th As String, _
Optional lngType As Long) _
As Integer
'Fully qualify stPath
'To check for a file
' ?fIsFileDIR("c: \winnt\win.ini" )
'To check for a Dir
' ?fIsFileDir("c: \msoffice",vbdi rectory)
'
On Error Resume Next
fIsFileDIR = Len(Dir(stPath, lngType)) > 0
End Function
'************** *** Code End *************** ******

[rkc]

PC Datasheet wrote:

The answer to Lyle's question is that Arno R, Keith Wilby, John Marshall,
Randy Harris, Rob Oldfield and a few others have driven the collective
brillance away from the newsgroup.

The "collective brilliance" were not opposed to ripping new comers
and dipshits like you a new one from time to time. There's nothing new
about that.

[David W. Fenton]

rkc <rk*@rochester. yabba.dabba.do. rr.bomb> wrote in
news:YO******** *************@t wister.nyroc.rr .com:

David W. Fenton wrote:

"Lyle Fairfield" <ly***********@ aim.com> wrote in
news:11******** **************@ g43g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com:

I became a member of the group (Access Developers) when there
were many bright, capable and proud Access Developers, and when
there was pride in new ideas. I think the number of such persons
is, perhaps, less than twenty per cent of its peak, and the pride
is almost non-existent. Many of those remaining have little to
contribute except the same tired ideas they have repeated over
and over again, since they learned them from someone else who has
moved on, and some persons here with the strongest reputations
have never contributed an original idea to the Access community.

This is so much bullshit unless you name names, Lyle.

I completely disagree with it.

This is a example of code that was thought to be so brilliant
by the pioneers of Access that it needed to be copyrighted.

'************** *** Code Start *************** ****
'This code was originally written by Dev Ashish

[snip]

But Dev is one of Lyle's Great Ones Who Once Walked the Earth here
among us mere mortals! How could this be!!!!!

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/