These last few weeks have been quite a change for me. As you may know, I have changed workplace and consequently, my tools of the trade at work. After years working with Web technologies (PHP, Javascript) and Linux servers, I have now switched to C# mainly on the Desktop in an MS-dominated environment. There are challenges as well as advantages, just as there were before. As such I can’t rate this transition but I must admit I do miss the familiarity I had acquired. Still, this is a great opportunity for new experiences, which is what I was seeking in making my move.

So, how’s it been so far? Well, I found C# very easy to work with – the second script I wrote involved executing C# expressions on the fly (together with caching and code preprocessing). And guess what? It worked on my second run! Yeah, I’m that good. 😀 Seriously though, C# is a very modern language with a strong set of pre-built libraries and functionality. This means that a new developer only needs to be familiar with the syntax and know how to look things up in the docs… easy!

As part of my new job, I currently have to work a lot with SQL (MS and Oracle). Admittedly, this is not an area I like but on the bright side I get the opportunity to fill this knowledge gap. Oh, and I’m currently using this awesome tool from MS known as BIDS/SSIS – it basically makes database migration really easy.