Please help me to decide

[GauriShankar]

Hi,

I am working in progress technologies since last 3 years, my work by now has been with PROGRESS 4GL, ADM2, AppServer and Webspeed. Right now I am in a company where most of projects are done in the same sphere and that too onsite and offshore both....I know MFG/PRO is a PROGRESS-Based ERP.

Now I have been offered by a very very good company for career in mfg/pro.

I am not that much aware of the career options with mfg/pro. I am wondering :
1. Shall it limit my career to mfg/pro only or widen my future prospects, if yes, how.
2. Which & which progress tech (progress 4GL, adm2, appserver, webspeed etc) are used in MFG/PRO.
3. What are future prospects of mfg/pro & ERP Sector in future in india...
4. Also very few %age of the total ERP-Using-Companies in INDIA are using mfg/pro, others are mostly using SAP and Orcale...so shall it be wise to start with mfg/pro.
5. or domain knowledge of mfg/pro as an ERP will make it easy and possible to switch to some other ERP in future.
6. Does mfg/pro profile has onsite opportunities.
7. will it not be feasible to switch from mfg/pro to normal progress tech (adm2, appserver, webspeed) etc.

I request all of you to help me out in deciding shall I accept the mfg/pro career options or not...

Please help me to take a wise decision.

Kind Regards,
Gauri.

 

[Lee Curzon]

Hello Gauri.

This and similar questions (Progress/Career/MFGPro/India) has come up a few times recently. Have a look at the first few threads listed in General Announcements > Comments.

Any skills you can get are useful, but for me its a time/value choice: will it add more value to my career to spend my time learning MFG (poorly paid, obscure) or .Net (ok pay, popular) or even SAP (obscure, big bucks).

Like I've said before Progress is niche enough.

Personally, I would concentrate on developing generic Progress skills (back end 4GL/integration/administration/SQL) and reusable Front end skils (eg .Net), not spend valuable time learning one Progress application.

HTH

Lee

 

[joey.jeremiah]

Hi Lee,

Have you already started on your way to .NET ?

It's the first thing I want to look into, after I'll finish with some catching up.

 

[Lee Curzon]

No. I'm still 'catching up' as well.

I've got .Net and various other things (OE10, Web development, Mobile development, etc.) pencilled in to-do, though when I'll have time I've no idea.

I bought a load of books on .Net a few years back when it first came out. Found it very interesting to read about - but the actual process of how you created a working non-trivial program using OO principles was something I struggled with.

I'm old-school, but I'm definitely going to have another go at it, because I don't see much choice for me as a Progress programmer. Things are changing in this little world of ours...

 

[joey.jeremiah]

i know what you mean, it can certainly keep me from sleeping at night. don't
worry i'm not going to do another "ahhh, we're all going to die" david.

i'm studying computer sciences, so i'll get to study oracle, java, and what
not, but it really feels like starting over.

the progress we know is also going thru very significant changes, and i think
that alot of the complaints are more about v9.

doesn't sap seem more up our ally ? it makes sense with progress, combining
progress business logic and a .net interface, "best of both worlds" ?

i've changed my point of view. seems crazy for progress to do every thing
themselves, not that i wouldn't mind a kick *** native user interface.

well, see you around man

 

[Lee Curzon]

the progress we know is also going thru very significant changes, and i think that alot of the complaints are more about v9.

I suppose there were similar complaints about V8 when V9 was introduced. It certainly seems like V10 is moving into a modern domain, but there are a lot of technologies out there, and I don't want to delve much further into Progress. I won't say I've wasted my time - I've learnt a lot in the last few years, but I don't want to be left behind by the industry, and there is only so much time I want to spend on Progress (with salaries and vacancies as they are) - so I'll look into the integration/architecture side, while seeing how those concepts translate into other environments, particularly MS oriented (I like Windows), and develop MS based front end skills alongside.

doesn't sap seem more up our ally ? it makes sense with progress, combining progress business logic and a .net interface, "best of both worlds" ?

The wages are certainly more up my alley. I'm near the top end for what I do as a Progress programmer. SAP/ABAP vacancies start at my salary, and hit 3 times as much at the high end. Sickening. How the hell did I end up hitched to the poorest of the Ugly Sisters?

The truth is though, I know next to nothing about SAP, but I've looked into it a little over the break, and there seems to be a lot more info coming into view than a couple of years ago - of course this transparancy may mean more people get into it, driving wages down.

Then there's the question of buying a development license which will probably be HUGELY expensive, although you can get MiniSAP for a small outlay - may be worth a punt, just to see if its interesting.

There's also a question of finding time - if I can't make time to look into .Net/Web/etc., am I really going to be able work out SAP? Then you've got to get that first job...

As I write this, I’m starting to think it makes sense to combine SAP study with .Net, and see how the Progress application architecture translates both to SQL Server and Sap deployments. Maybe in a years time I’ll have better career options.

New Years resolution: Get organised.

​

 

[joey.jeremiah]

How the hell did I end up hitched to the poorest of the Ugly Sisters?

I've heard a million variations, including a few I came up with :lol:

I really want to learn how to dance, I think it will really in help me in life, you know ?