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I have learned Java, .NET, etc and now in iPhone development in my studies and work and I could make myself flexible in any domain I work with.

But as I am a fresher as an iPhone developer, I can't predict my future about my long term growth in the software industry.

Does one's working technology determine long term growth?

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You may want to consider improving your English. It will make you sound more professional. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Nov 10 '10 at 19:01
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I had to read this three times and I'm still not sure enough I understand it to edit it. – Jeremy Jun 24 '11 at 18:09
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No, what technology you work with doesn't really determine anything. When I started working for a dot-com back in 1998, I had never used classic ASP or knew other technology advancements that would change how I do my work.

What determines long-term growth is knowing what you want to do and can do well. Do you want to build systems? Do you want to build UI components or database components? Wherever one's strengths lie, that is the key to unlocking one's potential. After all, were there iPhone developers 5 years ago, outside of Apple? Whatever is top dog one day may not be top dog down the road,e.g. look at the history of Yahoo!, Netscape or AOL if you want some former Internet titans that have lost a lot of their power from where they originally were positioned. What mobile platforms will we have 5 years from now? Will there be a company that can claim a majority of market share among smartphones,e.g. could Android become huge or will it be a fad? Will SEO still be a big field 10 years from now or will something come along to replace it? These are just general rhetorical questions to ponder.

While I've only been working since 1998, there have been a lot of things that have changed, but there are also some things that haven't changed like I still use a version of Visual Studio, Internet Information Services and MS-SQL Server, though their guts have changed tremendously in the past decade.

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To add to your point even Nokia can be included in the list who market share was taken away by Apple and Android! – Karthik Sreenivasan Nov 19 '11 at 9:02
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up vote 9 down vote

@Karthik, No ONE Technology guarantees long term GROWTH. I think your question is more about Job SECURITY rather than Career GROWTH. If the main criterion is GROWTH than you need to understand that Technology is only a tool so if you master one doesn't mean you are insured for the rest of your life. A Career is composed of several essential skills including your Soft Skills/Attitude/Ambition/Domain experience/Technology etc etc. You need to have a holistic view of things for Career Progression and not just technology itself.

Work on improving yourself as an Engineer and there will be enough Job security and Growth. Good Luck !!

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You mentioned that one needs to have soft skills, attitude, ambition,domain knowledge. Can you please give some more details about how to improve in these things? What kinda attitude should one have? What kind of soft skills are needed? – Shekhar Nov 10 '10 at 19:04
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@Shekhar: Ican't, you need to find out for yourself what works for you. However I can mention some points generically available. Soft skills like not being reactive being open to the idea of networking not being introverted, never fight with your Manager :-). Attitudes like be interested in what the company is doing, being passionate about ALWAYS Learning, be a team player, always be one of the top two performers in the team, fiercely guard your career interests, be ambitious(if applicable). Always be a part of a domain not a language(like C++) after a while just coding skills dont earn a lot. – Geek Nov 14 '10 at 6:47
I am sorry, but I have one more question about being 'Team Player'. Everyone works in team so doesnt it make us team player? What are the characteristics of good team player? – Shekhar Nov 15 '10 at 5:17
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@Shekhar : Difficult to define but the guys who go that extra mile to make the Project successful who don't mind doing the odd job where there is no glory, who have no ego to learn from a junior developer in the interest of the Project, who talk amongst the team to make the environment light, who complete unfinish business, who take the initiative to followup on others so that work gets done,who enjoy the success of fellow programmers. To put it more precisely those who put the team and Project before thier own interests. You will find numerous examples in Sport which are team games. – Geek Nov 17 '10 at 18:29
thanks a million. I will really try to learn atlest few of these characteristics. – Shekhar Nov 18 '10 at 5:30
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up vote 1 down vote

It does, but you have no way to predict for sure which way the industry is going to go. Certainly, getting behind a heavy-hitter like Java or .NET will help.

But since you don't have a crystal ball, you should do your best to learn enduring computing concepts well; things like language structure and software patterns, not ephemeral concepts such as syntax and library calls.

Study languages. By studying languages, you learn everything that matters.

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Just two months back, we all witnessed HP plans to lay off approximately half of a thousand of webOS developers.. This indicates that each platform has a life cycle and this depends on a lot of factors. What we can learn is that, if we can focus on our core skills as a developer, we can survive any situation.

Good luck!

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