Help me be more Edumacated.

October 26, 2006 12:09 PM

How do I get more technical knowledge at my job?

I'm a project/account manager at a small tech company (we build database driven websites, some e-commerce, etc, mostly in ColdFusion, some .NET). I think if I could get some more tech knowledge (not coding, just how the databases work, what new technologies are and how they work, etc) I could really get a lot further. I don't want to become a developer, though, I'd rather leave that to the guys.

My tasks involve time estimates (for which I use the developers to help quote), scheduling, budgeting, resource allocation (who does what). I have a good sense of what their strengths/weaknesses are (this one is good with clients, this one is more theoretical), but I'd like a better idea of what they're talking about most of the time.

I have done some html coding and have done this type of job for two years. I've been at this job four months. I am never clueless, but would like to learn more.

posted by sweetkid to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

One thing you may want to do is read some software development "process" books, like Code Complete or Debugging the Development Process. They both cover development from a higher level than the nuts-and-bolts (although Code Complete may be too low level for you). When I started moving beyond just coding, I found both books invaluable.
posted by stupidcomputernickname at 12:29 PM on October 26, 2006

Coming from the project management area, you may want to look into some of the classics in management of software development, such as The Mythical Man Month. But you should also look into the concepts behind most software development management techniques, such as the traditional Systems Development Life Cycle. Although the traditional "waterfall" methodology is often deprecated in these heady Web 2.0 SOAP driven days, it's still suprisingly useful as an understanding of the basic human psychology that underlies successful systems projects.

But in terms of "technical" knowledge, learning about RDBMS (Relational Database Management Systems) is a matter of reading and understanding E.F. Codd's fundemental principles, and then learning the specifics of various implementations of his ideas, as they've been built in actual products/systems, like MySQL, Oracle, DB2, and SQLServer. Not all products have the same feature set, and not every product even implements the full feature set for the various SQL standards group recommendations in exactly the same way. SQL 89, SQL 92, SQL 99, and SQL 2003 are all "snapshots" of the evolution of SQL from its foundations towards greater utility and interoperability with other types of software systems.
posted by paulsc at 1:53 PM on October 26, 2006

Go to Microsoft.com especially msdn and the patterns and practices site. The hard part will be sorting through all the info.
posted by MCTDavid at 2:49 PM on October 26, 2006

There's also lots of great classes listed on the MIT Open Course Ware site - including lecture notes, video and slide decks. Courses include Computer System Engineering, Database Systems, etc. etc.
posted by rmm at 5:04 PM on October 26, 2006

Take the smart guys to lunch, one at a time. Tell them you want to know more. They'll tell you.
posted by intermod at 9:48 PM on October 26, 2006

What intermod said. Technical folk in this industry love to talk, and love to explain things - at least in my experience.
posted by Jofus at 5:29 AM on October 27, 2006